Tech giant Apple has a new Chief Operating Officer (COO) and it’s none other than Sabih Khan – company insider and its current senior vice president of operations, with roots in India.
Khan, 58, will succeed Jeff Williams and take on his new role later this month, said a company statement. Williams will remain at Apple to oversee the design team and Apple Watch, and will continue to report to its CEO, Tim Cook. After Williams’ retirement, the design team will report directly to Cook.
Cook, who calls Khan a “brilliant strategist”, said the new appointment is part of a long-planned succession.
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Moradabad-born Khan joined the iPhone-maker’s procurement group in 1995. The Tuft’s University graduate was an applications development engineer and key account technical leader at GE Plastics before he took charge of Apple’s global supply chain, operations teams, and supplier responsibility programmes.
Khan’s family moved from western Uttar Pradesh to Singapore when he was still in school, later having relocated to the US. He went on to earn a dual bachelor’s degree in economics and mechanical engineering from Tuft’s University, and then a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York, states the Apple website.
Having played an important role in delivering Apple’s most innovative products, Khan shaped the company’s global operational strategy and was a “key architect of Apple’s supply chain”, in Cook’s words.
In 2019, Khan was named senior vice president of operations, where he was responsible for changing supplier’s operations during the pandemic and establishing partnerships with green manufacturing suppliers. Cook says Khan’s commitment to the cause of environmental sustainability helped the company reduce almost 60 per cent of its carbon footprint.
The Apple CEO welcomed his new COO “who leads from the heart and his values” with a statement in honour of Khan’s 30-year-role at Apple.
“Sabih is a brilliant strategist who has been one of the central architects of Apple’s supply chain. While overseeing Apple’s supply chain, he has helped pioneer new technologies in advanced manufacturing, overseen the expansion of Apple’s manufacturing footprint in the United States, and helped ensure that Apple can be nimble in response to global challenges. Above all, Sabih leads with his heart and his values, and I know he will make an exceptional chief operating officer".
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