Brendan Humphreys has stepped down as chief technology officer of Canva after 12 years with the company. In a LinkedIn post, he said he will leave the role on June 19 and continue working with Canva in an advisory capacity thereafter.
Humphreys said he plans to take time off to work on other “crazy big projects” and become more involved in progressive politics and social justice.
“When I joined Canva in 2014, there were just 12 of us. I don’t think any of us could have imagined the scale or pace of what we’d build together, and I’m so proud to have been part of it. It’s been an enormous privilege and an obvious career highlight,” he wrote.
Canva confirmed to SmartCompany that Humphreys’ second-in-command, Simon Newton, will take over as head of technology, leading the company’s global technology organisation rather than formally assuming the CTO title. Newton, who previously worked at Google and Uber, has been leading Canva’s platform group.
“Brendan has been an exceptional leader and a huge part of Canva’s journey over the past 12 years, helping build and scale one of the world’s leading technology organisations,” a Canva spokesperson said.
“He has played a key role in scaling Canva from a small team with an early idea into one of the most widely used products on the internet, while also building a world-class leadership team to take things forward. We’re incredibly thankful for his many contributions over the past decade and wish him all the best for a well-deserved break.”
The departure comes as Canva pushes ahead with a major expansion of its AI features. Earlier this month, the company launched its AI 2.0 update, repositioning the platform as a broader work environment rather than just a design tool. The update introduces new capabilities in conversational creation, background task automation, and integrations across workplace software.
Before joining Canva, Humphreys was an experienced entrepreneur and developer, best known as a co-founder of Cenqua, a software tools company acquired by Atlassian in 2003. At Atlassian, he worked as a principal developer, contributing to core tools that underpin engineering workflows globally.
He joined Canva in 2014 as employee #12 and a founding engineer, at a time when the company was still in its early stages. Over the next decade, he rose to become CTO, growing the engineering team from a handful of developers into a global operation of more than 2,300 people, while guiding the platform’s technical evolution and its shift toward AI-first design.
The technology industry is undergoing a major leadership shake-up in 2026, driven by a generational transition and a sharp shift toward artificial intelligence.
Among the most notable changes, Tim Cook is set to move into the role of executive chairman of Apple on September 1, 2026, with John Ternus expected to step in as CEO. Meanwhile, Shantanu Narayen has announced plans to step down as Adobe reshapes its business around AI.
The wave of departures also includes Daniel Ek, who left his role as CEO of Spotify at the start of 2026, and Reed Hastings, who is completing his exit from the board of Netflix this June.
The trend extends to companies such as GitHub, where Thomas Dohmke recently stepped down after the platform was folded into Microsoft’s CoreAI team, and Tableau, where Ryan Aytay has also resigned. The changes reflect a broader pattern of veteran executives making way for new leadership better equipped to navigate AI-driven growth.
Bangladesh has reopened visa operations for Indian citizens, with all visa centres now functional. Over 13,000 visas have been issued since February 2026. India plans to gradually restore visa operations for Bangladeshi nationals, which is expected to enhance economic cooperation, energy connectivity, and cross-border travel and tourism.
