Following the recent retirement of former COO Jeff Williams, AI chief John Giannandrea stepping down, and the departure of head of design Alan Dye for Meta, Apple announced Thursday that environmental and policy lead Lisa Jackson is retiring and that Jennifer Newstead will replace Kate Adams as the company’s general counsel after Adams retires “late next year.”
Jackson, technically “vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives,” will retire in “late January 2026,” Apple says. Newstead, who is currently Meta’s chief legal officer, will take over Apple’s general counsel role on March 1st, 2026, from Adams, who has been Apple’s general counsel since 2017.
With Jackson’s retirement and Newstead coming on board, Apple is also making some organizational shifts and shifting some responsibilities to Williams’ COO replacement, Sabih Khan. As described by Apple:
The Government Affairs organization will transition to Adams, who will oversee the team until her retirement late next year, after which it will be led by Newstead. Newstead’s title will become senior vice president, General Counsel and Government Affairs, reflecting the combining of the two organizations. The Environment and Social Initiatives teams will report to Apple chief operating officer Sabih Khan.
Before joining Apple in 2013, Jackson led the EPA for part of President Obama’s time in office. Apple promoted Jackson to be policy lead in 2015. Adams came to Apple in 2017 after 14 years at Honeywell, according to Apple’s website.
