Anaconda Names David DeSanto as Chief Executive Officer

Former GitLab executive will accelerate Anaconda’s commitment to help organizations advance AI innovation at enterprise scale with trusted, open source software and infrastructure

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anaconda, Inc., a leader in advancing AI with open source, today announced that its board of directors has appointed David DeSanto as Chief Executive Officer and to its board of directors. DeSanto brings more than 25 years of product and engineering experience to Anaconda and will guide the company as it empowers organizations to accelerate AI innovation while maintaining the security, compliance, scalability, and reliability enterprises need to be successful and meet governance requirements.

Most recently, DeSanto served as Chief Product Officer at GitLab, where he led the global product organization to deliver a comprehensive AI-native DevSecOps platform, driving secure innovation for millions of developers worldwide. Throughout his six years of leadership at the company, DeSanto was instrumental in guiding the company from a promising startup to a publicly traded, industry-defining leader of the DevOps Platform category. Under his leadership, GitLab launched key initiatives including GitLab Duo, an AI-powered solution embedded into its DevSecOps platform spanning the entire software development lifecycle; GitLab Dedicated, a secure, single-tenant SaaS solution for regulated industries and the public sector; and natively integrated security and compliance into its DevSecOps platform, helping customers secure their software supply chain.

The appointment comes as enterprises increasingly recognize the challenge of scaling AI initiatives, with industry research showing that 80% of AI projects fail - twice the rate of traditional IT projects - while 95% of generative AI pilot programs are failing to deliver meaningful results due to technical complexities and resource drains that overwhelm even well-funded teams. Despite Python powering the majority of AI development, these scaling challenges persist because organizations need infrastructure that preserves the Python environment driving breakthrough discoveries while adding the integrity, performance, and governance required for enterprise AI.

“David is a world-class leader who shares our customer obsession and commitment to the broader Anaconda community,” said George Mathew, Managing Director at Insight Partners and Anaconda board director. “With his track record of building impactful AI products and scaling businesses, David is well-positioned to accelerate Anaconda’s transformation and expand its role in helping enterprises unlock the full potential of AI. Under his leadership, Anaconda will continue building great products, supporting its community, and helping customers win.”

At Anaconda, DeSanto will lead innovation, strategy, and execution to help organizations build and deploy AI with confidence, enabling them to innovate faster and more securely at enterprise scale with full visibility and governance. His leadership will enable Anaconda to support technology and data executives - including CTOs, CIOs and Chief AI Officers - as they drive AI transformation, as well as practitioners like data scientists, AI developers, security teams, and platform engineering teams as they build increasingly sophisticated AI solutions. This is critical in today’s rapidly evolving software ecosystem and a requirement for organizations to stay competitive within their market and industry vertical.

“We believe Anaconda has a truly unique position in the software world,” said DeSanto. “The company’s AI platform not only simplifies and accelerates development with its ease of use and interoperability, but its powerful security risk management capabilities enable organizations to move fast while staying secure and meeting their stringent compliance requirements. I’m excited to extend Anaconda’s impact across the AI development lifecycle and I look forward to working alongside this world-class team, our amazing community, and our incredible customers and partners to deliver the next chapter of innovation.”

Open source is the foundation of modern AI and data science, but it wasn’t designed for enterprise complexity. Today’s enterprises need a trusted partner that enables rapid AI innovation without compromising security or compliance while at enterprise scale. Earlier this year, the company unveiled the Anaconda AI Platform to address this growing divide between discovery and delivery, helping preserve the freedom of open innovation while ensuring every build, dependency, and environment is verified, optimized, and reproducible at scale. The company also recently announced a $150 million Series C funding round, fueling investment in AI innovation and enterprise growth, as well as a partnership with Databricks designed to bridge critical security and governance gaps in enterprise AI development.

About Anaconda

Anaconda is built to advance AI with open source at scale, giving builders and organizations the confidence to increase productivity, and save time, spend and risk associated with open source. 95% of the Fortune 500 including Panasonic, AmTrust, Booz Allen Hamilton and over 50 million users rely on the value The Anaconda AI Platform delivers through a centralized approach to sourcing, securing, building, and deploying AI. With 21 billion downloads and growing, Anaconda has established itself as the gold standard for Python, data science, and AI and the enterprise-ready solution of choice for AI innovation. Anaconda is backed by world-class investors including Insight Partners. Learn more at https://www.anaconda.com.