A Major Apple Executive is Leaving the Company

Shares of Apple saw a slight drop on Thursday after Wall Street learned that the company’s chief design officer, Jony Ive, is leaving the company.

Ive is known for being responsible for the industrial design of Apple’s iPhone and Mac and he is regarded as one of the most important people to have worked with the tech giant. He has been with the company for over twenty years.

According to a Financial Times report, the executive is leaving Apple to start his own design business called LoveFrom. Apple will become a client of the company.

“While I will not be an employee, I will still be very involved — I hope for many, many years to come. This just
seems like a natural and gentle time to make this change,” Ive said to the Financial Times.

“Jony is a singular figure in the design world and his role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998′s groundbreaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park, where recently he has been putting so much of his energy and care,” remarked Apple CEO Tim Cook.

There is no immediate successor to take Ive’s place but Evans Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will assume additional design responsibilities.

It was in May that Apple opened its new headquarters, Apple Park, which Ive’s took part in the construction.
“There were some significant projects that I feel like I’ve completed. For example Apple Park — this was a project that started in 2004 . . . A couple of weeks ago we had our official opening of the Park. That was a really significant project, that was unlike many of our others, because it was for us,” Ive told the Financial Times.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and have not been compensated for this article.