Apple’s New CEO John Ternus Faces Test Leading Former Rivals and Senior Peers
After years of speculation and quiet succession planning, Apple announced yesterday (April 20) that Tim Cook will step down as CEO in September and be replaced by John Ternus, Apple’s current head of hardware engineering. Cook will transition into the role of executive chairman and welcome Ternus to the board. Needless to say, this is perhaps the most consequential leadership change in the tech world in years. A new leader at the helm of Apple will, in many ways, shape the future look and feel of devices used by billions of people worldwide.
Ternus is 51—about the same age Cook was when he took over as CEO in 2011, succeeding Steve Jobs. He has spent 25 years at Apple, rising entirely through the hardware ranks. In the CEO role, he has big shoes to fill and a lot to prove. Not only will he face pressure to carry forward the formidable legacy left behind by Cook, who grew Apple’s market cap more than 20 times during his 15-year tenure, but he will also manage an executive team of similarly seasoned leaders, many of whom are older than him and were, until recently, contenders for the top job.
“My biggest question is how he will be able to retain the people he has worked with in the past as peers,” Om Malik, a venture capitalist and an influential tech writer, told Observer. In particular, Malik pointed to Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of software. “He didn’t get the job. So will he stay? Or will he go?” he asked. “The same goes for others in the leadership team and how he handles that transition. It would be pretty interesting to see.”
Other senior executives under Ternus include services chief Eddy Cue, chief operating officer Sabih Khan, retail chief Deirdre O’Brien, and newly joined Amar Subramanya, Apple’s VP of A.I. While Subramanya reports directly to Federighi, observers will be watching closely to see how Ternus steers Apple’s A.I. strategy, an area where the company is widely seen as lagging behind its peers.
How John Ternus got the job
During succession planning, Apple’s approach seemed to be finding someone similar to Cook in both experience and temperament. For years, Jeff Williams, Apple’s former chief operating officer who was described as “the closest thing to Tim Cook,” was a top contender. However, one factor against him was age. At just three years younger than Cook, he likely didn’t fit Apple’s preference for long-serving CEOs. Williams retired last summer and later joined Disney’s board.
Ternus fits that mold closely and is significantly younger. He is “well-liked” within Apple’s leadership ranks and is known as a meticulous engineer, according to Bloomberg, citing former colleagues.
“John Ternus has the mind of an engineer, the soul of an innovator, and the heart to lead with integrity and with honor,” Cook said in a statement yesterday. “He is without question the right person to lead Apple into the future.”
Still, some former Apple executives have raised concerns about Ternus’s lack of a track record in making hard decisions. Two areas that will be closely watched are Apple’s next wave of product innovation and the evolution of its A.I. strategy. The company hasn’t released a truly groundbreaking product in years, and its A.I. efforts are widely seen as trailing competitors.
Ternus joined Apple’s product design team in 2001. In 2013, he was promoted to VP of hardware engineering, overseeing development across the iPad, Mac and AirPods product lines. In 2021, he was promoted again to SVP of hardware engineering. In late 2022, his responsibilities expanded to include Apple Watch hardware.
Prior to Apple, Ternus worked as a mechanical engineer at Virtual Research Systems. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also a competitive swimmer and earned an all-time letterwinner distinction on the men’s team.