Ondrej Holzman Bill Campbell, who was its longest-serving member, is leaving Apple's board of directors after 17 years. CEO Tim Cook found a replacement in Sue L. Wagner, co-founder and director of investment firm BlackRok. Among other things, she owns over two percent of Apple shares.
Bill Campbell joined Apple back in 1983, then as vice president of marketing. He moved to the board in 1997 and thus experienced the entire era of Steve Jobs after his return to Cupertino. “It has been exciting to watch the past 17 years as Apple has become a leading technology company. It was a pleasure to work with Steve and Tim," commented the XNUMX-year-old Campbell on his departure.
"The company is in the best shape I've ever seen it in today, and Tim's leadership of his strong team will allow Apple to continue to flourish," said Campbell, whose seat on the eight-member board will now be filled by a woman, Sue Wagner. "Sue is a pioneer in the financial industry and we are thrilled to welcome her to Apple's board of directors," said CEO Tim Cook. Fifty-two-year-old Wagner will join Andrea Jung, the only woman on the apple company's board of directors.
"We believe in her great experience - especially in the field of mergers and acquisitions, and in building a global business across developed and developing markets - which will be very valuable to Apple as it grows around the world," he added to Wagner's address, which the magazine Fortune ranked among the 50 most powerful women in business by Tim Cook.
"I have always admired Apple for its innovative products and dynamic leadership team, and I am honored to join its board of directors," said Wagner, who holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. "I have tremendous respect for Tim, Art (Arthur Levinson, chairman of the board - editor's note) and the other members of the board and I look forward to working with them," added Wagner, who will now improve the average age of the board.
Before this change, six of the seven members of the board of directors (not including Tim Cook) were 63 or older. In addition, four of them served for over 10 years. After Campbell, Mickey Drexler, chairman and chief executive of J.Crew, who joined Apple's board in 1999, is now the longest-serving member.
The big change comes for Apple's board of directors after almost three years, in November 2011, Arthur Levinson was appointed non-executive chairman and Disney executive Robert Iger as a regular member.
