Apple’s board of directors received a slight change yesterday when Sue Wagner was elected and Bill Campbell retired from the board. Apple’s chairman, Art Levinson, says the election of Sue Wagner to Apple’s board comes after an exhaustive search by the company, in which they sought to “further strengthen our board’s breadth of talent and background”.
Sue is a pioneer in the financial industry and we are excited to welcome her to Apple’s board of directors,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We believe her strong experience, especially in M&A and building a global business across both developed and emerging markets, will be extremely valuable as Apple continues to grow around the world.
Wagner is the co-founder and director of BlackRock, one of the world’s most successful asset-management companies, and also serves on the boards of BlackRock, DSP BlackRock (India), Swiss Re, Wellesley College and Hackley School.
I have always admired Apple for its innovative products and dynamic leadership team, and I’m honored to be joining their board,” said Wagner. “I have tremendous respect for Tim, Art and the other board members, and I look forward to working with them.
Bill Campbell’s retirement comes after 17 years of service on Apple’s board after previously working as Apple’s vice president of marketing in 1983. Tim Cook wrote in Apple’s press release that Campbell’s contributions to Apple “are immeasurable and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude”, noting that when he joined the board Apple was on the brink of collapse. Whilst Campbell wrote of the joy of working with Steve Jobs and Tim Cook, stating that Apple today is “in the best shape that I have seen it, and Tim’s leadership of his strong team will allow Apple to continue to be great going forward”.
Be sure to read Adam Lashinsky’s Fortune article about Bill Campbell which goes into detail about his background and also has an interivew with Bill Campbell, which has some great tidbits.
The highest-profile danger zone was his dual role on the Apple board and advising Schmidt and Google. “Steve would say, ‘If you’re helping them you’re hurting me.’ He would yell at me,” recalls Campbell, whose normal banter typically needs to be sanitized for most publications. “ I’d say, ‘I can’t do HTML, come on. I’m just coaching them on how to run their company better.’” He continued in both roles for years.
Read Apple’s full press release.
