Disney Entertainment CTO Aaron LaBerge Exits to Join Penn Entertainment

Disney has lost one of its top streaming executives.

Aaron LaBerge, the chief technology officer for Disney Entertainment and ESPN, will leave at the end of June to become the CTO of Penn Entertainment, the gambling company that is partnered with Disney on the ESPN Bet sports betting platform.

According to a memo to staff Monday from Disney Entertainment chiefs Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, as well as ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, the move was a “personal decision,” and they are beginning to look for a new CTO, witjh Chris Lawson taking over in the interim.

At Penn, LaBerge will be tasked with leading technology and execution for the company’s digital efforts, including the nascent ESPN Bet platform. Penn announced ESPN Bet last year, in a $2 billion deal with ESPN.

“We are thrilled to have someone of Aaron’s caliber join our Penn executive team,” said Penn CEO Jay Snowden. “Having overseen a global organization of thousands of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, and data scientists that created some of the largest scale and most successful media properties in the world, there is no better candidate to lead our Technology and Interactive division into its future.” 

Still, LaBerge’s departure comes at a critical moment for Disney, which is integrating Hulu into Disney+ and also developing a direct-to-consumer offering for ESPN, both of which the executive was closely involved in.

You can read the memo from Walden, Bergman and Pitaro, below.

We wanted to share the news below about Aaron LaBerge leaving Disney in June. As Aaron explained, this was a personal decision — one that we have discussed with him and understand and support him in making.

We want to thank Aaron for the contributions he has made and the leadership he has provided at Disney over his 20 years. It is a silver lining that he will continue to help Disney and ESPN win, as he transitions to a role at PENN Entertainment — where he will be a key partner in the continued growth and success of ESPN BET (and the rest of their Interactive business).

As Aaron noted, we have an incredibly talented team, and our work to identify the permanent Technology leadership is already underway, with Chris Lawson assuming interim oversight. Chris is a fantastic leader who will ensure that we maintain our momentum building on the great strides already made. We look forward to working with Aaron and Chris during this transition as we continue to focus on a bright future for our media businesses.

Alan, Dana, and Jimmy