The General Counsel of Apple, Kate Adams, and its vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, are both retiring from the company, the iPhone maker announced on Thursday.
Apple said that Jennifer Newstead, the chief legal officer of Meta, will join Apple as the new general counsel in March, and Jackson’s government affairs staff will report to her starting late next year.
The two executives who both reported to Apple CEO Tim Cook are the most recent senior leadership to exit the company.
In the past few weeks, the head software designer of Apple has indicated that he was leaving to join Meta, and the company indicated that its AI chief was retiring with its chief operating officer.
Adams joined Apple from Honeywell as the general counsel in 2017 and has been in charge of legal matters such as litigation, global security, and privacy programs of the company.
During the tenure of Adams, Apple struggled to handle increased antitrust reviews and regulation across the globe, such as significant lawsuits in the U.S. over the restrictions and charges of the iPhone App Store.
However, Jackson became a part of Apple in 2013, and he headed the company’s diversity programs and most of the policy work in Washington, D.C.
Before that, she served four years as the administrator of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, which she was appointed by Former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Her skills in such areas as social justice and renewable energies made her job obsolete in the second Trump administration, which has publicly criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and criticized the fight against climate change.
The Trump administration has imposed more tariffs on Apple products, and Cook has been to visited President Donald Trump several times in an effort to sell the American-manufacturing plans of the company as a way of influencing the policy.
Jackson assisted Apple in the release of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative after the murder case of George Floyd in 2020.
A report published in 2023 indicated that she assisted in increasing the company’s equity and justice activities to other nations, such as the U.K., Mexico, and New Zealand.
Jackson wrote in a section of that report that “At Apple, we pledge that our resolve will not fade. We won’t delay action. We will work, each and every day, on the urgent task of advancing equity.”
Similarly, Jackson also worked on Apple’s environmental image. According to her bio on the company’s website, her job “focused on reducing greenhouse gases, protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination, and expanding outreach to communities on environmental issues.”
She discussed how Apple is going to be carbon neutral during events of the launch of the iPhone. Jackson also used to accompany Cook to various official events in Washington, as well as to state dinners.
Newstead, the upcoming Apple general counsel, has been in charge of legal and regulatory issues related to its family of apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, since 2019.
A spokesperson of Meta explained that Newstead will be remaining till the end of the year and that the company is desperately searching to replace her.
Before the selection of Meta, Newstead had worked as a Trump-appointed legal advisor at the State Department during the presidency in 2019.
Previously, she worked as a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and as general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, among other positions in the U.S. government.
