Whether planned or not, the high-profile personnel changes keep coming, with two more emerging this week.
First, Apple internally announced the retirement of Jennifer Bailey, who has been at the company for more than two decades, most recently as head of Pay and Wallet services. In an article revealing the move, Gurman claimed Bailey’s exit “is seen as a major loss within Apple, according to people with knowledge of the move” and that staff fears it will “presage a broader exodus of senior leaders in their 60s.” Bailey will retire in October, although services boss Eddy Cue (current age: 61) insists she will continue in an advisory role and that a succession plan will be announced nearer the time. The current lack of a succession plan (or disinclination to reveal one) hints that this departure was less orchestrated, but there may be other factors we don’t know about.
Second, and more positively, it was announced (again by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg) that Apple is hiring a new head of government affairs. Nate Gatten, formerly an exec at American Airlines, will take on this “delicate role,” for which his Republican ties are likely to be seen as an advantage.
A big-name signing is a win, of course, but there are complications. For one thing, this is connected to another retirement: legal chief Katherine Adams is leaving at the same time as Jennifer Bailey, and she currently serves in a similar but lower-profile role of senior VP of government affairs. For another, the need for a full-time head of government affairs reflects the murky political waters Apple currently has to navigate.
Some pundits (including this one) have speculated that this year’s biggest personnel change–Tim Cook stepping down as CEO–will see the current boss spend more time liaising with the White House, but even Cupertino’s most famous workaholic may not be able to handle the workload on his own.
Finally, Gurman reported last week that incoming CEO John Ternus will be rehiring Laura Legros, who served as a vice president of hardware engineering until she retired in 2022. Legros will assume a vice president role, “working cross-functionally with different parts of the company,” according to the report.
