{"id":61299,"date":"2026-10-29T10:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/?p=61299"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T07:23:06","slug":"shantanu-narayen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/shantanu-narayen\/","title":{"rendered":"Shantanu Narayen, Adobe Chair and CEO Who Moved Its Software to Subscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shantanu Narayen is the chair and chief executive officer of Adobe<\/a>, the software company behind Photoshop, Acrobat and the PDF format. He has led the company since 2007 and has chaired its board since 2017.<\/p>\n

His tenure is now entering its final months. In September 2026 Adobe named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and chief executive from December 1, 2026, with Narayen moving to the role of executive chair.<\/p>\n

Education<\/h3>\n

Narayen holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from Osmania University. He went on to earn a master’s degree in computer science at Bowling Green State University in the United States.<\/p>\n

He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, according to his Adobe biography.<\/p>\n

Career<\/h3>\n

Narayen began his career in Silicon Valley in product roles. He held senior manager positions at Apple Computer, and later served as director of desktop and collaboration products at Silicon Graphics.<\/p>\n

In 1996 he co-founded Pictra Inc., a company that made software for sharing digital photos online. Adobe’s filings describe it as a digital photo sharing software company.<\/p>\n

He joined Adobe in January 1998 as vice president and general manager of its engineering technology group. A year later, in January 1999, he was promoted to senior vice president of worldwide products.<\/p>\n

In March 2001 he became executive vice president of worldwide products. On January 17, 2005, Adobe announced his appointment as president and chief operating officer, reporting to then chief executive Bruce Chizen.<\/p>\n

Narayen became chief executive of Adobe in 2007. Ten years later, in 2017, he was also named chairman of the board.<\/p>\n

On the board of Adobe he now holds the title of chair and CEO. Outside the company, he sits on the board of the drugmaker Pfizer and previously served as a director of Dell.<\/p>\n

In September 2026, Adobe’s board unanimously chose Anil Chakravarthy, who runs the Customer Experience Orchestration business and worldwide field operations, as the next chief executive. Narayen will stay on as executive chair and work with him on the handover. “The Board has unanimously determined that Anil is the right leader for Adobe’s next chapter of growth,” said Frank Calderoni, the lead independent director.<\/p>\n

Current Roles<\/h3>\n