Apple’s return-of-the-Jobs-era senior execs: Where are they now?
When Apple CEO Gil Amelio was booted in July 1997, “strategic advisor” Steve Jobs was enlisted to help the company find a new CEO. We all know what happened next: Jobs became Apple’s CEO again and led the company to glory before resigning this week.
But what about the other seven Apple executives listed in the press release announcing Amelio’s departure? Three stuck around and were important leaders in Apple’s comeback; four didn’t last long. Here they are, including their 1997 titles, as well as a short summary of what they’ve been up to:
- Fred Anderson – executive vice president and chief financial officer – Was Apple’s CFO until 2004, caught the worst of Apple’s options backdating mess, then became co-founder and managing director of Elevation Partners, which made a huge investment in Palm. Currently on the boards of eBay, Move, and Yelp.
- Jon Rubinstein – senior vice president, Hardware Engineering – Played a huge role at Apple for years, including leading engineering for key products like the iMac and iPod. Retired from Apple in 2006, but then Fred Anderson convinced him to join Palm in 2007. Sold Palm to HP, and is still an executive there — though maybe not for long, as HP plans to get out of the hardware business.
- Avie Tevanian – senior vice president, Software Engineering – Led the team that made Mac OS X, becoming Apple’s Chief Software Technology Officer in 2003 before retiring in 2006. Joined Elevation Partners in 2010 as Managing Director. On the board of Dolby Labs.
- Guerrino De Luca – executive vice president, Marketing – Became Logitech’s president and CEO in 1998, led it until 2008, then became chairman. As of last month, is now acting CEO again, trying to right the ship after Logitech burned itself on Google TV.
- Dave Manovich – executive vice president, Worldwide Sales and Service – Left Apple later in 1997, worked at an investment banking/consulting firm, became COO of a wireless company called @Road. A LinkedIn profile supposedly belonging to Manovich says he is retired.
- Jack Douglas – senior vice president, General Counsel and Secretary – Vice chairman at embedded software provider Green Hills Software, was SVP and General Counsel at Millennium Pharmaceuticals from 1999 to 2003.
- Jim McCluney – senior vice president, Operations – Also left Apple later in 1997, now CEO of Emulex, a network gear maker. I met him once a few years ago; he has a brilliant Scottish accent.
Earlier: The only question about Tim Cook: Will he be as good as Steve at saying “no”?
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