Apple’s executive shake-up continues. Days after announcing the departure of AI chief John Giannandrea and the loss of design executive Alan Dye to Meta, the iPhone maker shared the news of two more executive retirements. Kate Adams, who has served as Apple’s general counsel since 2017, will retire late next year. Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives, will retire in late January 2026.
The company also announced the hiring of Jennifer Newstead, who will become its general counsel on March 1, 2026, reporting to chief executive Tim Cook after a transition of duties from Adams. Newstead arrives from Meta, where she was chief legal officer. Before that, she served as the legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State, leading the team advising the secretary of state on legal issues affecting the conduct of U.S. foreign relations. She also held other government positions, including as general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget and as a law clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court. Newstead will oversee both the Legal and Government Affairs organizations.
During Kate Adams’ time at Apple, the company faced increased antitrust regulation and lawsuits, largely focused on increasing competition in the app market. Meanwhile, Lisa Jackson, who had previously been appointed to the EPA before joining Apple in 2013, was involved with Apple’s climate initiatives, sustainability efforts, environmental impact, and DEI-focused endeavors like its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative. Such efforts have fallen out of favor at corporate giants under the Trump administration.
Apple has seen a number of changes in leadership in recent months. The company announced the departure of chief operating officer Jeff Williams in July, with duties shifting to Sabih Khan. Before John Giannandrea’s exit, Apple had replaced him as head of the Siri team with Mike Rockwell, who had been VP of the Vision Products Group. The company also lost Ke Yang, the executive leading Apple’s work on AI-driven web search, to Meta, and it saw the departure of Ruoming Pang, Apple’s former head of AI models, who also left for Meta earlier this year.
These leadership changes come as Apple has fallen behind in the AI race, pushing back the launch of an AI-powered Siri, which will now run Google’s models. Apple has also been criticized by designers for losing its sharp attention to detail. This reportedly led to some celebration of Alan Dye’s departure among Apple employees, who are glad that a career interface and interaction designer, Stephen Lemay, has taken over the role.