Adam Smith is the Chief Product & Technology Officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN. In the role, he oversees the Product and Technology group that builds and advances the digital products and technological backbone for Disney’s media businesses globally. He is responsible for driving technology strategy, development, deployment and continued innovation across the company’s streaming platforms and portfolio of consumer digital touch points, networks, proprietary advertising technology, emerging technologies and more. 

 

More than ever, Disney’s products and technology serve as one of the signature doorways for fans’ connections with the company’s brands, content, and coverage. In his role, Smith leads a global team of engineers, product managers, designers, data scientists, and technical operations teams. Together, they are charged with building world-class products and platforms that power the company’s entertainment and sports, advertising, and distribution businesses, while enhancing and enabling its storytelling capabilities, and driving velocity and innovation across Disney. 

 

Smith joined Disney from YouTube, where he most recently served as Vice President, Product Management, leading Music and Premium as well as Subscriptions and Commerce since 2016. During more than 20 years at Google and YouTube, Smith held executive roles across numerous divisions, throughout significant growth trajectories of both companies. At YouTube, he played an integral role in building out its biggest consumer-facing products, driving its Music and Premium offering to over 100 million subscribers, as well as stints leading Global Content and Product across kids, sports, news and education (2013-14) and serving as the regional head for Asia-Pacific (2011-13). Within Google, he led development and strategy for a series of key products and groups including Google Fiber (2014-16), Google APAC (2009-11), and a portfolio that included Google Books, Google News, Google Finance and Google Scholar (2003-09). He previously held roles at Random House/Bertelsmann. 

 

Smith has served on the board of REDF since 2009. He earned a bachelor’s in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA from Stanford University.

–

30-