John Ternus’ biggest challenge as Apple CEO: Reshaping a decades-old leadership team

John Ternus will officially take over as Apple Chief Executive Officer (CEO) this week, on September 1, 2026. Whereas, Tim Cook will be transitioning to the Executive Chairman role, after 15 years of leading the company through a period of unprecedented growth, technological innovation, and expansion across hardware and services.

As Ternus steps into a leading role at Apple, he is set to face one of the biggest challenges as CEO, which is reshaping the senior executives across hardware, marketing, retail, and human resources, four very important areas of Apple’s business. According to a Bloomberg report, the transition will take place within the next three years.

Must read: Tim Cook leaves a trillion-dollar machine. John Ternus must build Apple’s next growth story

In addition to executive-level changes, Ternus may also change who reports to whom, giving some of his trusted senior executives more authority and responsibility. The biggest challenge for Ternus would be deciding which members of Cook's more than a decade-long leadership team stay and which are replaced.

Apple’s leadership changes: What to expect

As per the report, Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail and People, will likely leave Apple within the next few years after nearly 40 years at the company. Vanessa Trigub, Apple’s VP of all retail store operations, will likely take over O’Brien. For HR, Apple could either try hiring another outsider or promote an internal candidate such as Cynthia Bowman. Therefore, Apple may separate retail and HR again after O’Brien’s exit.

In the coming years, we could also see the departure of Johny Srouji, Chief Hardware Officer. He apparently considered leaving Apple last year, but stayed because he was given greater responsibilities and wanted to help with the transition to Ternus. With the exit, Apple may also split the hardware organisation between engineering and chip businesses.

Must read: Tim Cook’s exit isn’t the end: His next role at Apple will be…

Another departure we could expect is Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. He has also been in the company for over four decades, and he is expected to retire or leave within a few years. Bob Borchers, who oversees product marketing across iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, and other products, will likely replace him.

Former CFO Luca Maestri, 62, is also expected to leave Apple.

Who may get crucial roles?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman highlighted that three important leaders, Eddy Cue (Services), Kevan Parekh  (Finance), and Sabih Khan (Operations) will likely be transitioned to greater roles under Ternus. Parekh could become one of Ternus' key long-term lieutenants, similar to how Luca Maestri was for Cook.

COO Sabih Khan’s responsibilities could also expand beyond Apple's supply chain, and Priya Balasubramaniam, his No. 2 and VP of Product Operations, could eventually become senior vice president of operations.

Must read: Inside Tim Cook’s rise at Apple: The journey from operations to CEO

Apple is also expected to divide Services into different units, such as Entertainment, iCloud, and other underlying service operations.

Therefore, while Ternus inherits Apple's powerful old guard, his first few years could be defined by deciding who stays, who goes, and who gets more power.