Longtime YouTube and Google executive Adam Smith has been named Chief Product & Technology Officer of Disney Entertainment and ESPN.

He takes over the executive post following the June departure of Aaron LaBerge, who is now chief technology officer at PENN Entertainment, Disney’s partner in ESPNBet. Smith’s hiring was announced by Disney Entertainment co-chairmen Alan Bergman and Dana Walden and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro, to whom he will jointly report.

In the previous leadership structure, Jerrell Jimerson served as Chief Product Officer for Disney Streaming until his departure in 2023 as part of company-wide layoffs.

After officially taking office on Sept. 3, Smith will lead the company’s global product and technology group, which includes Disney’s entertainment and sports media businesses. He will be responsible for “driving technology strategy, development, delivery and continuous innovation across the company’s streaming platforms and networks, portfolio of digital consumer touchpoints, proprietary advertising technology, emerging technologies and more,” according to a press release. Under his aegis will be a team of technologists, including engineers, product managers and designers, data scientists and technical operations teams.

Smith comes to Disney from YouTube, where he most recently served as VP, Product Management, responsible for Music and Premium, and Subscriptions and Commerce since 2016. During his more than 20 years at Google and YouTube, Smith has held leadership positions across numerous departments. At YouTube, he played a central role in building the company’s largest consumer-facing products, growing the Music and Premium offerings to over 100 million subscribers. He also led Global Content and Product across Kids, Sports, News and Education, and the Asia Pacific region. At Google, he led development and strategy for a number of key products and groups, including Google Fiber, Google APAC, and a portfolio that included Google Books, Google News, Google Finance, and Google Scholar.

“We are thrilled to have Adam join the Disney team in this key role,” the executives said in a joint statement. “We have aggressively advanced our technology capabilities to better support our world-class media, streaming and advertising businesses, and Adam brings a bold, consumer-focused vision for the future and has a proven ability to effectively lead global teams in implementing ambitious, scalable and flexible products and technologies that will continue to put storytelling at the center of the Disney experience.”

Smith previously worked at Random House/Bertelsmann.

“Disney has built and maintained an unparalleled portfolio of brands that bring joy and delight to fans of all ages, thanks to a creative culture that embraces innovation,” said Smith. “I believe Disney is uniquely positioned to succeed in the next evolution of media and has made significant progress in a very short period of time with storytelling at its core. I look forward to working closely with Alan, Dana and Jimmy and their world-class teams and am excited to bring my expertise in using technology to create compelling consumer experiences that drive engagement and discovery among fans, family and friends.”