John Ternus will take over as Apple CEO from Tim Cook on September 1, beginning a leadership transition that could reshape the company’s top ranks. Several longtime executives, including retail chief Deirdre O’Brien, hardware chief Johny Srouji and marketing chief Greg Joswiak, are reportedly nearing exits, while internal successors are being positioned.

Apple is set for a leadership transition as John Ternus takes over as chief executive officer (CEO) from Tim Cook, one of his first major tasks will be reshaping a management team that has largely stayed intact for over a decade.

Tim Cook's exit caps years-long succession plan

Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs 15 years ago, managed to retain most of Apple's senior leadership throughout his tenure. Mark Gurman, in his latest PowerOn newsletter, notes that Cook kept design chief Jony Ive at Apple in a full-time capacity until around 2015, and the two later worked out an arrangement that kept Ive involved through 2019 in a reduced role as chief design officer, done partly to avoid alarming investors.

The current leadership shift began building in 2024, when four senior figures - Cook himself, the operations chief, the finance chief, and the general counsel - all signalled intentions to step back or retire around the same person. Since then, former CFO Luca Maestri has largely withdrawn from daily operations, ex-COO Jeff Williams departed at the end of 2025, and long-serving executives Kate Adams (general counsel) and Lisa Jackson (environment) have also exited. Cook officially becomes executive chairman on September 1, handing day-to-day control to Ternus.