Aaron LaBerge

As CTO, Disney Entertainment & ESPN Aaron LaBerge is responsible for driving all technology and product development in support of The Walt Disney Company’s two media divisions – Disney Entertainment and ESPN. He is responsible for helping set the vision and strategic leadership for how the Company uses technology to enable storytelling and innovation, drive its business, and create amazing consumer experiences with entertainment and sports content.

In the role, he leads a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists and more who are charged with keeping Disney at the vanguard of media technology. Under LaBerge, the Technology & Product team for Disney Entertainment & ESPN is responsible for the design, development, engineering, and deployment of a portfolio of more than 90 consumer-facing streaming and digital products for the Company globally – including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN digital products, (including ESPN+), as well as products for ABC, ABC News, National Geographic, Marvel, and many more. Additionally, his team leads the development and deployment of all advertising technology and products; software and media engineering across a wide range of the company’s products and businesses; development and operation of the Company’s distribution platforms and technologies, technical operations for The Walt Disney Company’s television networks globally; creating next-generation video and audio platforms; visual technologies that enhance viewer and consumer experiences with entertainment and sports content, and the continual evolution and operation of several of the most sophisticated media production and distribution facilities in the world.

LaBerge and his teams work with groups and leaders across The Walt Disney Company to consistently evolve and reimagine the technological and media touchpoints that fans and families around the world have with Disney’s unmatched content and characters. Technology & Product also explores and invents emerging technologies and techniques to enable Disney’s unmatched creators and creative engines, enable its storytellers; deliver and advance scalability, flexibility and efficiency for its businesses; and unleash the benefits of its world-class technological infrastructure.

LaBerge works in close coordination with technology leaders at Disney Parks, Experiences & Products and Disney Enterprise Technology shaping the strategic use of technology to drive company-wide growth, the use of data to smartly and securely engage and entertain consumers, leverage shared services to reduce risk and maximize best practice, and utilize Disney’s size and scale while developing and integrating key technologies into new and expanding areas of business.

LaBerge has spent more than 20 years at The Walt Disney Company, in two stints separated by five and a half years as a technology entrepreneur. He was previously Chief Technology Officer for Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, where he led a global team of engineers, product managers, and designers responsible for the development of a portfolio of consumer-facing digital products, software and media engineering in support of an array of the company’s products and businesses, next-generation content supply chains, media production facilities, advertising technology, and production and technical operations for The Walt Disney Company’s television networks.

From 2015 to 2018, LaBerge was Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, ESPN. At ESPN he played an instrumental role in the growth of ESPN’s consumer-facing digital media products and services – leading many of ESPN’s most ambitious and challenging projects and helping establish ESPN’s position as the leader in digital sports and innovative sports technology development. He was a key architect in the design, development, and engineering of ESPN’s state-of-the-art facilities in Bristol, CT; Los Angeles, CA; Charlotte, NC; and Austin, TX, as well as data centers and infrastructure that connect those facilities around the world, and the technology design and development to support the launch of the multi-platform SEC Network.

Between 2007 and 2012, LaBerge was co-founder and CEO of Fanzter Inc. – a venture-funded consumer software and digital product development company. At Fanzter, he directed all day-to-day operations and led the development and launch of a variety of consumer-focused internet and mobile products, ground-breaking social and commerce technologies and more.

LaBerge originally joined The Walt Disney Company in 1997, through Disney’s acquisition of Starwave Ventures, the company founded by technology and business legend Paul Allen that produced ESPN’s earliest Internet products. Before joining Starwave, he worked as a senior software engineer at Renaissance Interactive, an early Internet development and consulting firm, specializing in publishing and content management systems.

A passionate technologist, innovator, and an avid sports fan, LaBerge is a native of Charleston, S.C. and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of South Carolina. He lives in Connecticut and works regularly in New York, Los Angeles and other locations.