Chief People Officer Left the Chat
Carol Surface is out as the Chief People Officer at Apple. It was less than two years ago when I commented on Chance Miller’s post about her joining the executive team:
I’m a bit surprised to see Apple hire an “outsider” for this high-profile role. I thought they had learned their lesson last time. Hopefully, Surface fits within Apple’s culture better than other external hires.
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Surface certainly has the receipts to be successful in this role. Apple’s been dropping down the “best places to work” list, so they could use a change up in that regard. I wish Surface all the best, and hope we hear positive feedback from Apple employees about her tenure. I’m extra rooting for her since I see she earned her Ph.D. from Central Michigan University; it’s also my alma mater.
While we don’t know much about why Surface is leaving (besides the many jokes I’m sure were made about her name sounding like she should be an executive at Microsoft instead), the trend would say that executive leadership hired outside of Apple don’t tend to last. Despite all her years of experience in similar roles elsewhere, Surface’s less than 20 months at Apple doesn’t seem great.
It was Chance Miller again who weighed in today at 9to5Mac on the news:
Bloomberg notes that with Surface’s departure, [Deirdre] O’Brien, a 30-year Apple veteran, will once again take the reins on manning both the retail and people teams at Apple.
I wish I had more insight on how Apple employees feel about Surface’s reign as CPO. Maybe she made a bunch of internal improvements, but those kinds of rumors aren’t often the ones that leak. If there’s anything we know about Deirdre O’Brien, it’s that she’s in it for the long haul.