Apple COO Jeff Williams is retiring this year

Jeff Williams is stepping down from his post as chief operating officer at Apple, the company announced today. Sabih Khan, senior vice president of operations for the company, will take over the COO title later this month. Following Williams’ retirement later this year, the design team that he had overseen will report directly to CEO Tim Cook. He also leads the teams for the Apple Watch and the company’s Health initiatives, but no details have been shared yet about who will head up those sections.

Williams joined Apple in 1998. He was named to the COO position in 2015, the first to hold the title for the company after Cook left the role to become CEO. “Jeff and I have worked alongside each other for as long as I can remember, and Apple wouldn’t be what it is without him,” Cook said of the outgoing exec.

Khan is another longtime Apple employee, with three decades at the tech giant. After joining the executive team in 2019, he helmed Apple’s global supply chain. According to Cook, Khan “has advanced our ambitious efforts in environmental sustainability, helping reduce Apple’s carbon footprint by more than 60 percent.”