Apple’s executive shake-up continues. Days after announcing AI chief John Giannandrea’s departure, and the loss of design exec Alan Dye to Meta, the iPhone maker shared the news of two more exec retirements.
Kate Adams, who has served as Apple’s general counsel since 2017, will retire late next year, while 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, where she led the team advising the Secretary of State on legal issues affecting the conduct of U.S. foreign relations.
She also held other government positions in the past, including as general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as a principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice, as associate White House counsel, 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, noted Cook.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Jennifer join our team,” he said. “She brings an extraordinary depth of experience and skill to the role, and will advance Apple’s important work all over the world.”
During Adams’s time at Apple, the company faced increased antitrust regulation and lawsuits, largely focused on increasing competition in the app market.
Meanwhile, 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.
“I am deeply appreciative of Lisa’s contributions. She has been instrumental in helping us reduce our global greenhouse emissions by more than 60 percent compared to 2015 levels,” said Cook, in a statement. “She has also been a critical strategic partner in engaging governments around the world, advocating for the best interests of our users on a myriad of topics, as well as advancing our values, from education and accessibility to privacy and security.”
Apple has seen a number of changes in leadership in recent months, having also announced the departure of chief operating officer Jeff Williams in July, with duties shifting to Sabih Khan, who had previously served as the senior vice president of operations. Before 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 left for Meta earlier this year.
The leadership changes 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 under the hood. Apple has also been criticized by designers for losing its sharp attention to detail that the company has long been known for. This reportedly led to some celebration of Dye’s departure among Apple employees, per a report from Daring Fireball, who are glad that a career interface and interaction designer, Stephen Lemay, has taken over the role.
