Tim Cook

Timothy Donald Cook grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, studied industrial engineering at Auburn University and later earned an MBA at Duke. He worked at IBM for about twelve years, then at Intelligent Electronics and Compaq, before Steve Jobs recruited him to Apple in March 1998 as senior vice president for worldwide operations.

At Apple he rebuilt the supply chain, shrank inventory and moved manufacturing partnerships to Asia. He later ran sales and operations, served as chief operating officer and handled day-to-day management during Jobs' medical leaves. On August 24, 2011, Apple named him CEO after Jobs resigned. His tenure brought the Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple Pay, Apple Park, Apple silicon, a major growth in services such as Apple Music and Apple TV+, and the Vision Pro. Annual revenue rose from about 108 billion dollars in fiscal 2011 to more than 400 billion dollars, and Apple passed 1, 2, 3 and 4 trillion dollars in market value on his watch.

Cook also made privacy, environmental targets and accessibility part of Apple's public identity. In 2014 he publicly said he was gay. On April 20, 2026, Apple announced that he would hand the CEO role to John Ternus. On September 1, 2026, Cook became executive chairman of the board, where he continues to help with matters including engagement with policymakers around the world.