Apple’s shaking up its senior management. Today, the electronics behemoth announced that Jeff Williams, a company veteran who joined Apple in 1998 and who’s headed supply chain management over the past five years, will graduate to chief operating officer. Additionally, longtime executive Phil Schiller will become head of the company’s App Store and retain his current position as senior vice president of worldwide marketing. And finally, two new additions to the management roster, Johny Sruouji and former Grey Group ad firm chief Tor Myhren, will assume the roles of senior vice president for hardware technologies and vice president of marketing communications, respectively.
The promotion of Williams’ promotion is significant, as it marks the first time Apple’s formally filled the role of COO since current CEO Tim Cook vacated the position in the wake of Steve Jobs’s death. A former IBM employee, Williams’ responsibilities at Apple have gradually expanded since his elevation to vice president of operations in 2004: According to his company bio, he currently plays a key role in iPhone launches, heads the Apple service and support, oversees development of the Apple Watch, and “[drives] the company’s health initiatives.” As COO, he’ll oversee an even larger slice of Apple’s device supply chain.
Schiller will assume the role as manager of Apple’s App Store, a software repository that continues to widen in scope. Most recently, the App Store expanded to encompass apps and games for the Apple Watch and the new Apple TV, and now boasts more than 11 million active developer accounts across all platforms. “[The] App Store … has grown from a single, groundbreaking iOS store into four powerful platforms and an increasingly important part our our business,” said Tim Cook in a statement. Schiller will take on “new responsibilities for advancing that ecosystem.”
Myhren, meanwhile, the former award-winning chief creative officer and president of the Grey Group’s New York office, will lead “an award-winning team that spans abroad range of … disciplines,” including but not limited to “packaging” and “retail store display.” And Srouji, a longtime Apple engineer who contributed to the development of Apple’s A4 chip, will supervise a broader range of hardware R&D.
“We are fortunate to have incredible depth and breadth of talent across Apple’s executive team. As we come to the end of the year, we’re recognizing the contributions already being made by two key executives,” said Apple CEO Tim cook in a statement. “Jeff is hands-down the best operations executive I’ve ever worked with, and Johnny’s team delivers world-class silicon designs which enable new innovations in our products year after year.”
