Apple won't be the same in 2026. Meet the company's next generation of leaders and rising stars after its biggest executive exodus in years | Fortune

"The iPhone maker announced last week that Lisa Jackson, its vice president of environment, policy, and social initiatives, will retire in January, while Kate Adams, who has served as general counsel since 2017, will retire late next year. These departures follow a cascade of recent exits including AI chief John Giannandrea, who announced his retirement this month, and Alan Dye, the head of user interface design since 2015, who left to join Meta."

"Speaking of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's social media empire has been the beneficiary of Apple's exodus. Billy Sorrentino, another senior design director, chose to leave for Meta with Dye, and Ruoming Pang, who headed Apple's AI foundation models team, also left for Meta in July, taking approximately 100 engineers with him. Ke Yang, who led AI-driven web search for Siri, and Jian Zhang, Apple's AI robotics lead, also left for Meta this year."

"But perhaps the biggest change at the top this year has been Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams, who decided to retire in July after 27 years with Apple. He was long considered the top candidate to succeed CEO Tim Cook. Also this summer, CFO Luca Maestri stepped back from his role to instead oversee corporate services starting in the new year, while Kevan Parekh took over as CFO."

Apple is undergoing a sweeping leadership transformation across artificial intelligence, design, legal, operations, and finance. Senior executives announcing departures include Lisa Jackson and Kate Adams, following recent exits by AI chief John Giannandrea and design head Alan Dye. Johny Srouji was reported to be considering exit but denied the rumor in a staff memo. Several departing leaders have joined Meta, including Dye, Billy Sorrentino, Ruoming Pang—who reportedly took about 100 engineers—Ke Yang, and Jian Zhang. Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams retired after 27 years, Luca Maestri shifted to oversee corporate services, and Kevan Parekh became CFO. The turnover coincides with active succession planning.

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