Apple Names Jeff Williams COO In Executive Shakeup

iPad Pro Review: Bigger Isn't Always Better

Apple announced a series of promotions and executive appointments this week, including Jeff Williams being named chief operating officer (COO). Johny Srouji is also joining Apple's executive team as senior vice president for hardware technologies.

The appointment marks the return of the company's first COO since 2011, a title Tim Cook relinquished to succeed Steve Jobs as chief executive.

Williams joined Apple in 1998 as head of worldwide procurement. In 2004, he was named vice president of operations.

Since 2010 he has overseen Apple's entire supply chain, service, and support -- as well as the company's social responsibility initiatives, which cover more than one million workers worldwide.

After receiving his education at Israel's Institute of Technology -- Technion -- Srouji joined Apple in 2008 to lead development of the A4, the first Apple-designed system-on-a-chip.

Srouji has spent nearly eight years at Apple as vice president of hardware technologies, building a team of silicon and technology engineers.

His team has been responsible for developing Apple technologies including batteries, application processors, storage controllers, sensors silicon, display silicon, and other chipsets across the company's entire product line.

"We are fortunate to have incredible depth and breadth of talent across Apple's executive team. As we come to the end of the year, we're recognizing the contributions already being made by two key executives," Cook wrote in a Dec. 17 statement. "Jeff is hands-down the best operations executive I’ve ever worked with, and Johny's team delivers world-class silicon designs which enable new innovations in our products year after year."

In addition to those changes, Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, will see his role expanded to include leadership of the App Store across all Apple platforms.

Schiller, who now leads nearly all developer-related functions at Apple, in addition to his other marketing responsibilities -- including worldwide product marketing, international marketing, education, and business marketing -- will be focusing on extending the company's application ecosystem.

[Read more about Tim Cook's recent defense of the iPhone battery.]

Apple also announced that Tor Myhren will join Apple in the first calendar quarter of 2016 as vice president of marketing communications, replacing Hiroki Asai, who earlier announced plans to retire after 18 years in graphic design and marketing communications roles.

As vice president of marketing communications, Myhren will be responsible for Apple's advertising efforts. He will lead a team spanning a broad range of creative disciplines from video, motion graphics, and interactive Web design to packaging and retail store displays.

Myhren joins Apple from Grey Group, where he served as CEO and president of Grey New York. Under his leadership, the firm was named Adweek's Global Agency of the Year for both 2013 and 2015.

"These strategic moves fit like a glove as Apple needed to fill the COO vacancy heading into a pivotal 2016," Daniel Ives, managing director at FBR Capital Markets, said in an interview with Bloomberg Business. "They really need to boost that bench behind Cook."

**Elite 100 2016: DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN. 15, 2016** There's still time to be a part of the prestigious InformationWeek Elite 100! Submit your company's application by Jan. 15, 2016. You'll find instructions and a submission form here: InformationWeek's Elite 100 2016.