Anil Chakravarthy has been named the next president and CEO of Adobe, succeeding longtime chief executive Shantanu Narayen as the software company faces growing competition and rapid changes driven by artificial intelligence.
Chakravarthy will succeed as CEO and join Adobe’s board on Dec. 1, the business said on Thursday. Narayen, who has led Adobe for more than 18 years, will move to the role of executive chair and work with Chakravarthy to help guide the leadership transition.
Chakravarthy is currently the head of Adobe’s Customer Experience Orchestration business and global field operations. He came to Adobe in 2020 from cloud-data company Informatica, where he was chief executive. Previously, he held senior positions at Symantec and VeriSign, among others.
The leadership change comes amid increasing pressure on Adobe from artificial intelligence tools and rivals such as Canva and Figma. Adobe shares fell in after-hours trading after the announcement, a sign of investor concern over how well the company will be able to adapt to the shifting technology landscape.
Adobe said Chakravarthy will help lead Adobe’s strategy as AI continues to transform creative and business software.
In 2007, Narayen took over as CEO of Adobe and oversaw the company’s transition from traditional desktop software to cloud-based subscriptions and digital services.
