Following an extensive search that lasted much longer than anyone expected, Apple has finally secured a top-tier talent to lead the company’s juggernaut retail operations.
Angela Ahrendts is Apple’s new retail chief. Prior to landing at Apple, Ahrendts was Great Britain’s highest paid Chief Executive Officer who thrived at the helm of Burberry.
On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook formally announced the arrival of Angela Ahrendts and praised her experience and prowess as an accomplished executive.
“I am thrilled to announce that Angela Ahrendts will be joining Apple as a senior vice president and member of our executive team, reporting directly to me,” Cook wrote in a note to Apple employees.
Earlier this year, Ahrendts placed number 53 in the 2013 edition of Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful Women list.
She will lead both our retail and online teams. I have wanted one person to lead both of these teams for some time because I believe it will better serve our customers, but I had never met anyone whom I felt confident could lead both until I met Angela. We met for the first time last January, and I knew in that meeting that I wanted her to join Apple. We’ve gotten to know each other over the past several months and I’ve left each conversation even more impressed.
“She shares our values and our focus on innovation,” Cook continued. “She places the same strong emphasis as we do on the customer experience. She cares deeply about people and embraces our view that our most important resource and our soul is our people… I am sure as all of you meet her, you will see why I am so excited that she is joining our executive team. I’d like to add a special thanks to all of our retail leaders. Your strength, talent and leadership afforded me the luxury of taking the time to perform an exhaustive search to find the best person in the world for this role.”
