John Ternus presents the new MacBook Pro during an online event unveiling new products at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, on October 18, 2021. HANDOUT/AFP
John Ternus first walked through Apple's doors in 2001. "I wasn't sure I belonged there," he admitted two years ago during a speech at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his engineering degree. "The people I met were so smart and so confident, and they knew so much more than me."
A quarter of a century later, the once-shy young man has been propelled to the top of Silicon Valley's iconic company. Ternus joined Apple at age 26, became a manager at 29, deputy head of engineering at 38 and director of the same division at 46. When his official appointment as CEO is made in early September, he will be 51 and will face the daunting task of succeeding two of Apple's towering figures.
First, there is the outgoing Tim Cook, who increased the company's value twentyfold over 15 years. Cook is a supply chain virtuoso, a skill Ternus also masters. But his true expertise lies in engineering: the pursuit of high-performance or innovative components and their assembly, working closely with what he described to TechRadar as "the best design team in the world." In this respect, Ternus is closer to Apple's products than Cook ever was.
