Apple has finally found someone to oversee its retail and online stores following the departure of Ron Johnson. The company has hired Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to fill the newly created position of senior vice president of retail and online stores.
It’s the latest move in the fallout from the 2011 departure of former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson, who built Apple’s strong retail presence with Steve Jobs but left to become CEO at retailer JCPenney. Johnson was fired by JCPenney’s board in 2013; Apple hired John Browett (previously CEO of tech retailer Dixons and supermarket chain Tesco) as a replacement in 2012, but that hire fizzled and Browett was fired later that year.
Prior to her stint at British fashion retailer Burberry, Ahrendts was an executive at Liz Claiborne and Donna Karan International. Ahrendts, a U.S. citizen born in Indiana, adds a female ingredient to an Apple executive mix that is was entirely male.
Ahrendts brought down total pay of roughly $27 million last year with Burberry, (including stock options; her current Burberry salary is reportedly just under $11 million.) So it’s certain that the new hire didn’t come cheap for Apple.
Ahrendts won’t be joining Apple immediately. She is scheduled to begin her new position in the spring of 2014. Burberry chief creative officer Christopher Bailey will replace her as Burberry CEO.
Our readers may recognize the Burberry name from the news last month that just prior to the public release of the iPhone 5s, Burberry used the new device’s camera to capture this year’s edition of its annual fashion show.
