Apple financial conference calls will start to sound a little different later this year, as the company announced on Tuesday that chief financial officer and senior vice president Peter Oppenheimer will retire, effective the end of September.
Oppenheimer, who first started at Apple in 1996, will be replaced by Luca Maestri, who currently serves as the company’s corporate controller and vice president of finance. Maestri will take over the CFO gig in June, and will assume the rest of Oppenheimer’s responsibilities over the remaining three months of the former executive’s tenure.
Since taking up the mantle of CFO ten years ago, Oppenheimer has presided over immense growth at Apple. “Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade,” said Tim Cook in a statement, “as Apple’s annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically.” Cook also added that Oppenheimer’s “contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs.”
Those aren’t mere platitudes: The CFO position has at times been a contentious one for Apple. Oppenheimer’s predecessor, Fred Anderson, became mired in the the SEC’s probe of backdated stock options, eventually resulting in his resignation from Apple’s board in 2006—he later pointed a finger at then CEO Steve Jobs.
Maestri, for his part, brings 25 years of experience to the job, including stints as CFO at Xerox and Nokia Siemens Networks; prior to those appointments, he served as CFO of General Motors’s European division. He officially joined Apple in March of 2013 and even made an appearance on the company’s quarterly conference call this past January.
“When we were recruiting for a corporate controller, we met Luca and knew he would become Peter’s successor,” said Cook. “His contributions to Apple have already been significant in his time with us and he has quickly gained respect from his colleagues throughout the company.”
So what will Oppenheimer do with his newfound retirement? According to Apple’s press release, he plans to move to the central coast of California and get more involved with his alma mater, Cal Poly, as well as spending more time with his wife and sons. And he’ll soon be flying the friendly skies, as he finishes the requirements for his pilot’s license.
And lest you think he’s out of the finance game entirely, Oppenheimer also recently accepted a position on the board of directors for Goldman Sachs, a place where his vaunted integrity might prove to be a positive influence.
