Apple’s leadership shakeup continues. Days after announcing the resignation of AI chief John Gianandrea and design executive Alan Dye’s firing from Meta, the iPhone maker announced the news that two more executives are leaving the company.
Kate Adams, who has served as Apple’s general counsel since 2017, will retire in the second half of next year, and Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives, will retire at the end of January 2026.
The company also announced the hiring of Jennifer Newsted, who will take over the role from Adams and become general counsel, reporting directly to CEO Tim Cook, effective March 1, 2026.
Newstead comes from Meta, where she was chief legal officer. Previously, he served as General Counsel for the U.S. Department of State, where he led a team that advised the Secretary of State on legal issues affecting the operation of U.S. foreign relations.
She has previously held other government positions, including General Counsel in the White House Office of Management and Budget, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Policy, Assistant White House Counsel, and Law Clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer of the United States Supreme Court.
Newstead will oversee both the legal and government affairs organizations, Cook said.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Jennifer join our team,” he said. “She brings an exceptional depth of experience and skills to this role and will advance Apple’s important work around the world.”
During Mr. Adams’ time at Apple, the company focused primarily on increasing competition in the app market and faced increased antitrust regulations and litigation.
Meanwhile, Jackson was appointed to the EPA staff before joining Apple in 2013, where he worked on DEI-focused initiatives such as Apple’s climate change efforts, sustainability efforts, environmental impact, and racial equity and justice efforts. Under the Trump administration, such efforts are no longer supported by major corporations.
“We are deeply grateful for Lisa’s contribution. She has helped reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% compared to 2015 levels,” Cook said in a statement. “She has also been a key strategic partner in our engagement with governments around the world, advocating for the best interests of our users on a myriad of topics, as well as advancing our values, from education and accessibility to privacy and security.”
Apple has undergone a number of leadership changes in recent months, including the announcement in July of the resignation of chief operating officer Jeff Williams, who was replaced by Sabi Khan, who previously served as senior vice president of operations. Before Gianandrea’s departure, Apple hired Mike Rockwell, a former Vision Products Group vice president, to replace him as head of the Siri team.
The company also lost Ke Yang, the executive who led Apple’s AI-powered web search efforts, to Meta. And Ruoming Pang, Apple’s former head of AI modeling, left for Meta earlier this year.
The leadership changes come as Apple has fallen behind in the AI race and delayed the launch of AI-powered Siri. Siri will now run Google’s model internally. Apple has also been criticized by designers for losing the keen attention to detail the company has long been known for. Daring Fireball reports that this led to celebrations of Dye’s departure among Apple employees, who were happy to see career interface and interaction designer Stephen Lemay take over the role.
