Apple’s vice president of retail has quit the company. Jerry McDougal left his post last week, ifoAppleStore reported Wednesday. McDougal was widely thought to be in the running to take over as senior vice president of retail following the departure of John Browett in October 2012.
Whereas the Cupertino company’s top retail job has remained vacant for many months, Apple has wasted little time in finding a replacement for McDougal, with the tech firm’s former vice president of finance, Jim Bean, taking the post.
The news of McDougal’s departure was confirmed to AllThingsD by Apple spokesperson Steve Dowling. “Retail has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level, and they will continue the excellent work they’ve done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services and a focus on the customer that is second to none,” Dowling said. “Jim [Bean] has been at Apple for 15 years and is a great leader who understands our culture and focus on customer service.”
The story behind McDougal’s departure isn’t entirely clear, though according to infoAppleStore, it was “not work-related, but rather so he could spend more time with his family.”
McDougal, who’d been at Apple for 15 years, had worked alongside Browett’s predecessor, Ron Johonson, with the pair helping to conceive and launch Apple’s retail store strategy over 10 years ago. Johnson left his post in 2011 to take over at department store chain JC Penney.
Browett’s tenure at the tech giant was short lived. When he was given the boot in October, many believed McDougal was in the running to head up Apple’s retail division. However, upon Browett’s departure, the company announced CEO Tim Cook would assume Browett’s responsibilities until a replacement was found. The post of senior vice president of retail remains vacant today.
The management team of Apple’s retail division may be in a state of flux just now, but that hasn’t stopped it raking in the cash. Some 400 stores in 12 countries have generated billions of dollars in revenue since the first one opened in 2001, with a report late last year ranking Apple top among US retailers in terms of revenue generated per square foot.
