Highlight

• Apple announces CFO transition for next year.
• Apple current CFO Luca Maestri to step down in 2025.
• The company names Kevan Parekh as Luca Maestri’s successor.

 Apple yesterday announced a major shakeup in its core executive team.

The company’s current CFO (Chief Financial Officer), Luca Maestri, will step down from his in 2025. 

The announcement of Luca Maestri’s departure from his long-held position in the Cupertino Giant came on the same day the company sent invites for its September iPhone event.

Apple named relatively unknown Kevan Parekh, currently VP of Financial Planning and Analysis, as his replacement.

In a press statement, the company said, “Apple today announced that Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri will transition from his role on January 1, 2025. Maestri will continue to lead the Corporate Services teams, including information systems and technology, information security, and real estate and development, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. As part of a planned succession, Kevan Parekh, Apple’s Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis, will become Chief Financial Officer and join the executive team.”

Luca Maestri is known to be a fixture for Apple since he started in the position in 2014.

Maestri has administered the growth and success of Apple in the last decade, which turned out to be the most profitable decade of all time for the company.

“Luca has been an extraordinary partner in managing Apple for the long term. He has been instrumental in improving and driving the company’s financial performance, engaging with shareholders, and instilling financial discipline across every part of Apple,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Cook also said Parekh’s “sharp intellect, wise judgment and financial brilliance make him the perfect choice to be Apple’s next CFO.”

Kevan Parekh, on the other hand, has been working under Maestri’s leadership in the financial team. Noting Parekh’s experience, Apple said in the statement, “Parekh has been at Apple for 11 years and currently leads Financial Planning and Analysis, G&A and Benefits Finance, Investor Relations, and Market Research. Prior to this role, Parekh led Worldwide Sales, Retail, and Marketing Finance. He began his tenure leading the financial support of Apple’s Product Marketing, Internet Sales and Services, and Engineering teams.”

To those who have been following Apple News, it is no surprise that this change of guard announcement came on the day when the September 9 Glowtime event announcement was making headlines.

It looks like the company is following the same strategy that worked for them at the time former design chief Jony Ive departed from his role.

Change makes investors nervous unless it is something they are actively unhappy about.

Apple wants a smooth transition from Maestri’s exit from the role to the new guard joining.

Maestri during his decade-long tenure has been able to keep investors and analysts happy.

Parekh, while undoubtedly is suitable choice, has a low profile and might not be unfamiliar with top brass.

This drives Apple to paint a picture as an assurance nothing major is changing at the core.

Apple, following the same playbook that worked for it during Jony Ive’s exit in 2019, is drafting a narrative about Maestri’s continued involvement even after he departs from the CFO position.

Alluding to Maestri’s “continued involvement”, the statement read, “Maestri will continue to lead the Corporate Services teams, including information systems and technology, information security, and real estate and development.”

Tim Cook furthered, “We’re fortunate that we will continue to benefit from the leadership and insight that have been the hallmark of his tenure at the company.”

Something similar transpired in the case of Jony Ive in 2019 when Apple claimed that the design chief would still be working for the company.

Tim Cook in 2019 said, “Apple will continue to benefit from Jony’s talents by working directly with him on exclusive projects, and through the ongoing work of the brilliant and passionate design team he has built. After so many years working closely together, I’m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future.”

In reality, there was no sign of this ever happening.

Apple insiders indirectly revealed that there never was any real intention.

What Apple was trying to achieve was keeping investors’ confidence during the transition phase.

The narrative seems to be similar in Maestri’s case.

While it is highly unlikely that a CFO after completing a decade in a company takes a demotion to any secondary role.

Media reports suggested Maestri would remain on the payroll for a while even after he exits from the CFO position.

Though there won’t be any real duties for him and within a year or so, we may hear about his retirement or other pursuits.

Adam Clark for Barron’s: Luca Maestri will step down as the long-serving chief financial officer next year after more than a decade in the role but will stay on in a reduced role. This will be an inevitable reminder that Apple needs to do some succession planning for CEO Tim Cook. That is not to suggest that Cook is necessarily stepping down soon. Despite having been in charge of Apple since 2011, he still looks to have an appetite for the role as he seeks to guide the company into the age of artificial intelligence… Still, shareholders might feel more comfortable if there were a clearly designated successor to face the company’s future challenges. Cook’s record in growing Apple’s revenue and market capitalization can hardly be criticized, but at the same time he isn’t seen as a visionary as his predecessor Steve Jobs was. If AI-equipped smartphones prove not to be a hit, there could be more pressure for Cook to line up the next leader of the company, especially one who might hold the key to launching a hit new product category… That could put John Ternus, Apple’s 49 year-old senior vice president of hardware engineering, in a good position, assuming the successor comes from within. Cook is likely to remain in place for at least another three years, and if he does so then Ternus is the most probable long-term successor, Bloomberg reported in May, citing people close to the Apple CEO and people within the company.

FAQs

Q1. Who is Luca Maestri?

Answer. Luca Maestri is Apple’s current CFO (Chief Financial Officer).

He has been known to be a fixture for Apple since he started in the position in 2014.

Maestri has administered the growth and success of Apple in the last decade, which turned out to be the most profitable decade of all time for the company.

Apple recently announced that Maestri will step down from his position in 2025.

Q2. Who is Kevan Parekh, announced as Luca Maestri’s Successor?

Answer. Kevan Parekh has been at Apple for 11 years and currently leads Financial Planning and Analysis, G&A and Benefits Finance, Investor Relations, and Market Research.

Prior to this role, Parekh led Worldwide Sales, Retail, and Marketing Finance.

He began his tenure leading the financial support of Apple’s Product Marketing, Internet Sales and Services, and Engineering teams.

Q3. Why is Luca Maestri leaving Apple?

Answer. As of the current update, Luca Maestri is not leaving Apple.

The company has only announced the transition of CFO position for 2025, which means Luca Maestri will step down as CFO of Apple but he will continue to be a part of the company in other roles.

Q4. Did Luca Maestri resign from Apple?

Answer. No, Luca Maestri is still very much part of Apple.

The company has only announced his exit from the role of CFO.

He will step down as the CFO in 2025.

Q5. What is the educational background & work experience of Kevan Parekh?

Answer. Parekh has finished his Bachelor’s degree in Engineering form the University of Michigan.

He studied MBA from the University of Chicago from 1997-1999.

Parekh has been working in Apple for 11 years.

He started his job at apple as a led of financial support of Apple’s Product Marketing, Internet Sales and Services, and Engineering teams.

Before being the vice president he was heading the Worldwide Sales, Retail, and Marketing Finance.

Before joining Apple, he was with Thomson Reuters and General Motors, where he worked in finance and product marketing roles.

He served as Director of Business Development in New York and Regional Treasurer in Zurich.

His diverse background positions & experience makes him a worthy candidate & sets him well for the responsibilities of his new role.

Parekh’s role expanded late last year when Maestri’s other top deputy, Saori Casey, departed to become CFO at Sonos Inc.

Q6. How is Maestri tenure in Apple described as & what was he known for ?

Answer. Maestri, joined the company in March of 2013 as corporate controller, has held Apple’s finance side since May of 2014, according to his LinkedIn account.

Before that he worked in CFO roles at Xerox, Nokia Siemens Networks and General Motors Europe.

During his time ,Maestri was known for keeping Apple finances lean, with keeping a control on Apple’s expenses and corporate research .

Many others at his posting in the technology industry spent huge amounts on big projects, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Apple also did not hire extensively during the pandemic as some competitors did, avoiding “large-scale layoffs,” the report said.

Given Maestri’s accomplishments, investors may not be altogether keen to see him step down from the seat, some analysts said. “Even though this is part of a planned succession, we expect investors will be mildly disappointed given the significant progress Apple has made on several fronts under the leadership of Luca Maestri,”JPMorgan analysts led by Samik Chatterjee said in a Tuesday report.

Under Maestri’s guidance, the company has positioned itself as a services company, enabled a higher valuation multiple, consistently executed to targets, and maintained “robust operational and financial discipline,” according to the report. “With the appointment of Kevan Parekh, who has worked extensively in a senior role with both Tim Cook and Luca Maestri, investors will likely be looking for ‘more of the same’ and a seamless CFO transition,” the report said.

Maestri’s work was rewarded by Apple; the long-time finance chief was one of the top 10 highest paid CFOs by total compensation in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal.

In 2023 Maestri’s compensation totaled $26.9 million, comprised largely of $22.3 million in stock awards, $3.57 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation and $1 million in salary, according to a Jan. 11 proxy filing that listed his age at 60. Apple did not respond to a request for information about Parekh’s future pay.

Maestri in a statement in the release called it the “greatest privilege” of his professional life to serve at Apple and work with Tim Cook. He also said he had “enormous confidence” in Parekh.

While there are always risks when hiring new executives, internal candidates carry lower risks because they bring institutional knowledge of the business, said Josh Crist, a co-managing partner at Crist|Kolder.

“Apple gets an ‘A’ for succession planning. This move ‘de-risks’ the hire…you know exactly what you are getting in a very important chair,” Crist stated through an email .

Q7. Who are the Indian origin executives in global firms ?

Answer. Microsoft Chief Satya Nadella; Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai; Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen; Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja; Kevan Parekh Apple .

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Also Read: John Ternus Emerges as Potential Successor to Apple CEO Tim Cook