As key talent leaves the apple, meet a new generation of leaders taking over from the old guard
Start the music. Players move clockwise in a circle. When the music stops, everyone sits down. Big Tech is planning its Next Gen Designers strategy for inventors, engineers, AI chiefs, and CEOs.
In Chartino, Apple’s familiar faces retire or reduce responsibilities. Who’s in and who’s out? Yes, acting chief executive Jeff Williams retired in November, along with speculation that CEO Tim Cook could follow in Timing Term. Lisa Jackson, who has led Apple’s sustainability efforts since 2013, is now set to retire in January as well.
There is also a group of Apple employees who have been brought back to work with OpenAI, especially the Apple Design Officer Chief Design Officer after his independent stint at Uthando. In 2024, Molly Anderson was named the leader of Industrial Design, heading for a group of very fresh faces. Others have gone meta, such as Apple’s VP of virtual human design, Alan Dye, who was just this week spotted referencing the virtual reality Labs Design Studio. At Apple, he was replaced by longtime designer Stephen Lemay. Phew.
In this swirl of dynamic talent, John Ternus, who has worked for Apple since 2001, and served as SVP of Hardware Engineering for the past four years, reports directly to TIM Cook, coming from Frontrunner to succeed as CEO of Apple, reportedly as soon as next year. The Wire asked Apple for comment but did not hear back after publication.
Next to the strong drip “leakage” instead of Ternus planning and organizing at the front of the pack, from 2023, Ternus has been given more prominence in product launch events. He announced the iPhone Air Onstage this past September, and appeared alongside other top Apple leaders in press conferences and Apple events in stores.
“I think they tested to see what emotions are like this. So the apples like to control the narrative. So” this ‘leakage, analyst,’ suggests a senior analyst at Moor Innights & Strategy. “Apple has lost a lot of people. I think it might actually be a good benefit because it will create a new crop of people who have more power than they did before.”
New words to know
There is always the illusion of taking individual contributions to Apple, beyond the unpleasant details, such as John Ternus himself is reported to be behind the MacBook’s Touchbar. Bertrand Nepveu worked in the Apple Vision Pro team from 2017 to 2021, after Apple acquired its VR HeadSet startup, and now makes a solid VC investment based on VC Trivetyq. In his three and a half years, mainly working on the skills of Vision Pro’s Pass-using skills, the group included in 300 reaches 1,200. “John Ternus, although I had never worked with him, the feedback I received is that he is a great product person, and I think that is what is needed in the next phase of apple, especially with XR.”
At this time in mind, Nepveu sees the combination of Ternus-As-CEO working well with other employees who leave Apple, including the news in March that took the development of Siri from the head of AI, John Giannandrea. In another major back-to-back, Gianandrea was replaced this week by Amar Subramanya, who spent 16 years at Google, including stints at Gemini and Depmind, before a six-month stint at Microsoft.
“Mike Rocwell, I worked with him at Vision Pro Group, I think he’s the right person for that because [XR and AI] Work in Tandem, “said Nepveu.” He used to joke that Siri used it. I liked him because he didn’t drink the kool-aid. I was happy when I saw that he encouraged. I think it’s in tandem with someone who is very product oriented [Ternus]it’s a way to get an apple. “
