Apple’s industrial and software design teams now effectively report directly to CEO John Ternus, replacing an arrangement that placed both groups under former Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams. The reporting change gives design a shorter path to the company’s top decision-maker.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the teams began answering to Ternus after Williams retired last year. Apple initially said they would report to Tim Cook, but Cook gave Ternus practical responsibility for design as part of the planned CEO transition.
During the transition period between April and September, Apple’s design leaders were reportedly Ternus’s only direct reports. That gave him time to learn the organization before taking responsibility for the entire company and made design a central part of his preparation for the CEO role.
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The structure removes an operating layer
Williams was a manufacturing and operations specialist who oversaw design largely because of his close relationship with Cook. The new structure puts the teams under an executive with a hardware engineering background and years of experience working with the studio on product development.
Industrial design and human interface design still have separate day-to-day leaders. Molly Anderson oversees the physical side, while Steve Lemay leads software interfaces. Ternus provides the shared authority for choices that affect both groups, such as how a foldable display changes controls or how touch input alters a Mac’s physical design.
Apple’s leadership structure already placed Ternus at the center of product decisions. The direct design reporting line makes that influence more concrete and reduces the chance that important creative questions are filtered through executives whose main responsibility lies elsewhere.
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