Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer to retire at end of September

Posted:
in AAPL Investors edited March 2014
Peter Oppenheimer, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Apple, will retire from the company at the end of September, after spending 18 years with the Mac maker, it was announced on Tuesday.

Oppenheimer


Upon Oppenheimer's departure, Luca Maestri, Apple's current vice president of Finance and corporate controller, will serve as the company's new CFO. A transition between the two employees will begin in June.

"Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade as Apple's annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically," said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook. "His guidance, leadership and expertise have been instrumental to Apple's success, not only as our CFO but also in many areas beyond finance, as he frequently took on additional activities to assist across the company. His contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs.

Outgoing Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said he plans to spend more time with his family, travel, and finish the requirements for a pilot's license."Peter is also a dear friend I always knew I could count on. Although I am sad to see him leave, I am happy he is taking time for himself and his family. As all of us who know him would have expected, he has created a professional succession plan to ensure Apple doesn't miss a beat."

Oppenheimer's retirement comes as the outgoing CFO was announced on Monday to be joining the board of directors at Goldman Sachs. He has spent the last decade as Apple's chief financial officer, and has been with the company since 1996.

"I love Apple and the people I have had the privilege to work with and after 18 years here, it is time for me to take time for myself and my family," Oppenheimer said in a statement. "For quite some time, I have wanted to live on the central coast of California and get more involved at Cal Poly, my alma mater; spend more time with my wife and sons; travel to interesting parts of the world; and something I have wanted to do for years-- finish the requirements for my pilot's license."

During Oppenheimer's tenure, Apple has seen its annual revenue grow more than twentyfold. The company credits him with overseeing development of "a disciplined global financial strategy, robust systems and procedures, and a very strong balance sheet."

Oppenheimer is a graduate of California Polytechnic and he has an MBA from the University of Santa Clara. In addition to Goldman Sachs, Oppenheimer also serves on the boards of the California Polytechnic State University Foundation, as well as Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton, Calif.

Controller


His replacement, Maestri, has over 25 years of experience in building and leading finance teams in global companies, Apple said. He previously served as CFO of Xerox before joining Apple in early 2013.Apple's next CFO, Luca Maestri, has been with the company since early 2013. He previously served as CFO at Xerox, Nokia Siemens Networks, and General Motors.

Prior to Xerox, Maestri worked for 4 years at Nokia Siemens Networks, and 20 years at General Motors, where he handled financial operations for the company in a variety of roles across the globe. Maestri received a bachelor's degree in economics from Luiss University in Rome in 1988, and a master's degree of science from Boston University in 1991. He is also a board member of The Principal Financial Group.

"Luca has over 25 years of global experience in senior financial management, including roles as a public company CFO, and I am confident he will be a great CFO at Apple," Cook said. "When we were recruiting for a corporate controller, we met Luca and knew he would become Peter's successor. His contributions to Apple have already been significant in his time with us and he has quickly gained respect from his colleagues throughout the company."

Apple on Tuesday touted Maestri's "broad international background," in which he has spent time living and working in Italy, Poland, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand, Brazil, Germany and the U.S. While at GM, he was part of the team that established the automaker's regional operations in Asia Pacific, while he also helped restructure operations in Brazil and Argentina, returning them to profitability.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 56
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member
    Exciting news. Good call.

    He did wonders for Apple over his tenure, but it was time.
  • Reply 2 of 56
    nchianchia Posts: 124member
    Great to have something to look forward to beyond work.
  • Reply 3 of 56
    pedromartinspedromartins Posts: 1,333member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Exciting news. Good call.



    He did wonders for Apple over his tenure, but it was time.

    Why?

     

    I read some of your posts saying that he was great when Apple was smaller, but not anymore. Lots of posters agree with you, but I don't get it. As far as $ goes, Apple has 0 problems.

  • Reply 4 of 56
    freshmakerfreshmaker Posts: 532member

    Surprised to see Peter go, but good for him.  Family's what's important.  He had a great run at Apple - best of luck to him in semi-retirement.  I'm not familiar with his replacement, but I can't imagine him falling too far from the tree.

  • Reply 5 of 56
    sudonymsudonym Posts: 233member

    Anybody who would leave Apple voluntarily is a bum.  If he doesn't enjoy it, he should never have been there in the first place.

  • Reply 6 of 56
    gigatelgigatel Posts: 12member

    Surely I can't be the only one annoyed with this kind of writing:

     

    Quote:


    after spending 18 years with the Mac maker,


  • Reply 7 of 56
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member

    Somebody called this yesterday in the article about him joining the Goldman Sachs. Spot on!

     

    Hopefully the person they're putting in place of Peter will do just as well, if not better. 

  • Reply 8 of 56
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Exciting news. Good call.



    He did wonders for Apple over his tenure, but it was time.

     

    Why did I know you'd be the first person to comment. :)
  • Reply 9 of 56
    hydrogenhydrogen Posts: 314member
    Apple's CFO seem like artists : they never get old, since the public only knows them through the same old photographs ...
  • Reply 10 of 56
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member

    Rat abandoning a sinking ship¡¡

  • Reply 11 of 56
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Contrast this to Apple's last organizational announcement when they announced Scott Forstall was leaving. He got one sentence, and it didn't even wish him well in his future endeavors. Just shows how much he must have been disliked at Apple, at least amongst the executive team.

    [QUOTE]Apple also announced that Scott Forstall will be leaving Apple next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim.[/QUOTE]
  • Reply 12 of 56
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    sudonym wrote: »
    Anybody who would leave Apple voluntarily is a bum.  If he doesn't enjoy it, he should never have been there in the first place.
    WTF?
  • Reply 13 of 56
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Exciting news. Good call.

    He did wonders for Apple over his tenure, but it was time.
    The next thing I'd like to hear is Apple no longer providing sales figures or guidance to Wall Street. :)
  • Reply 14 of 56
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SudoNym View Post

     

    Anybody who would leave Apple voluntarily is a bum.  If he doesn't enjoy it, he should never have been there in the first place.


    /s surely?

     

     

    From all reports, working at Apple is really hard work, while people change and want to do new things.

  • Reply 15 of 56
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    sudonym wrote: »
    Anybody who would leave Apple voluntarily is a bum.  If he doesn't enjoy it, he should never have been there in the first place.

    You can enjoy it, but the high-growth tech industry has an overarching way of consuming alll your attention and time.

    After a decade at the center of Apple Finance, I suspect Peter is suffering from burnout.

    I speak from personal experience -- though, to a much lesser degree than that which Peter experienced.  When my late wife and I sold our interest in our Silicon Valley computer stores in 1989, after 11 years -- we played for 7 years and never touched a computer. It preserved our family, health and our sanity.
  • Reply 16 of 56
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member

    Good news. Goldman Sachs can't have a snitch at Apple.

     

    Lol I don't know that new guy, but doesn't he look a bit like a vampire?

  • Reply 17 of 56
    phone-ui-guyphone-ui-guy Posts: 1,019member
    macxpress wrote: »
    Somebody called this yesterday in the article about him joining the Goldman Sachs. Spot on!

    Hopefully the person they're putting in place of Peter will do just as well, if not better. 

    It was called out in financial news last week that we shouldn't be surprised if he retires in September. Not sure which news agency it was, but they obviously got a tip.
  • Reply 18 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Phone-UI-Guy View Post





    It was called out in financial news last week that we shouldn't be surprised if he retires in September. Not sure which news agency it was, but they obviously got a tip.

    Forbes is where I saw it last week... http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2014/02/27/dont-be-surprised-if-apples-cfo-announces-his-retirement-at-the-shareholder-meeting/. Recently the magazine has been gone above and beyond being negative towards Apple, I just figured the story was being added to the fire. Well, the magazine missed its announcement date, but it never the less was correct about the retirement happening.

  • Reply 19 of 56
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member

    Maestri helped Xerox change direction to a services company. Maybe he'll help Apple head into being a more service oriented company... hmmmm... that didn't sound quite how I intended... I mean, not that Apple will be a services company any time soon, just that services will take on a greater role.

  • Reply 20 of 56
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member

    Dear Pete:

     

    Please take Bill Campbell with you.

     

    Signed,

     

    All Quicken for Mac Users

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