Peter Oppenheimer Serving as Interim Head of Apple's Retail Division?

[MacRumors]

With Apple still searching for a new head of retail operations in the wake of Ron Johnson's departure to become CEO of department store chain J.C. Penney, 9 to 5 Mac claims that Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer is overseeing the division on an interim basis.

Oppenheimer, a financial guru has been put in charge of Apple's retail operations according to sources familiar with the search for Ron Johnson's successor. Oppenheimer is obviously an interim leader with a lack of retail experience, but his executive leadership experience is enough to give orders to his new troops: [Jerry] McDougal, [Bob] Bridger, and [Steve] Cano - who have immense retail experience. Oppenheimer won't stay retail chief forever, and is simply holding the spot until the new Senior Vice President of Retail is selected. Oppenheimer's title at Apple has not changed from Senior Vice President and CFO, he has just gained the new responsibility of the Apple retail division for the time being.

A report from last month claimed that Steve Cano had been selected to assume Johnson's former role as head of retail. Apple quickly denied the report, however, noting that the search for Johnson's successor was still ongoing.

Oppenheimer has been at Apple since 1996, and took the reins as Chief Financial Officer in 2004.

Today's grand opening of the company's new Grand Central Terminal store is the first major store opening since Johnson's departure as of November 1st. Obviously the store's development was nearly complete by the time Johnson left the company, and there are a number of key executives within Apple's retail division keeping things running, but it appears that Apple has turned to Oppenheimer's expertise in financial issues to steady things until a new retail chief can be brought on board.

Apple has made a few changes to its leadership team since Tim Cook became CEO in late August, with Johnson's departure being the most significant move remaining unsettled. In another change, Eddy Cue was elevated to the senior vice president level as his role has expanded to oversee the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, iCloud, and iAd. The company is also looking to fill vacancies in other executive positions at slightly lower rungs, including head of government sales Ron Police, who has reportedly left the company.

Article Link: Peter Oppenheimer Serving as Interim Head of Apple's Retail Division?

 

[Andronicus]

iAd, I had almost forgotten about that one.

 

[pwhitehead]

He should be Santa at Apple University for Christmas!

 

[illegalprelude]

I just hope that LA one day gets a flagship, 24hour store. Please?

 

[Bonch]

Son of Robert?

 

[gglockner]

Slow news day.

 

[macnerd93]

why on earth would he leave to be CEO of JC Penny? Apple & JC Penny are worlds apart. I'd much rather be apart of (as well as in a lower position) of one of the worlds most valuable and famous companies as opposed to being the head of one major failure lol.

With me being from the UK its a name I don't hear of too often and well I thought it had gone bust months ago

 

[hobo.hopkins]

why on earth would he leave to be CEO of JC Penny? Apple & JC Penny are worlds apart. I'd much rather be apart of (as well as in a lower position) of one of the worlds most valuable and famous companies as opposed to being the head of one major failure lol.

With me being from the UK its a name I don't hear of too often and well I thought it had gone bust months ago

He probably just thought that if he could help JC Penney become even larger/better it would be an enormous opportunity for self-growth.

 

[Mal]

why on earth would he leave to be CEO of JC Penny? Apple & JC Penny are worlds apart. I'd much rather be apart of (as well as in a lower position) of one of the worlds most valuable and famous companies as opposed to being the head of one major failure lol.

With me being from the UK its a name I don't hear of too often and well I thought it had gone bust months ago

JC Penney's isn't a failure, not currently. They are certainly struggling like many companies, but they are hoping Johnson can help the company regain it's former position as a big name in shopping. I see ads for them constantly here, and they certainly seem to still be trying to hold onto a premium spot among the department stores (if such a thing truly exists). I never shop there myself, but I don't think they're headed for imminent failure.

jW

 

[britboyj]

I've met him. He's a nice guy. He regularly took trips to the Apple Campus in Austin.

 

[rdowns]

JC Penney's isn't a failure, not currently. They are certainly struggling like many companies, but they are hoping Johnson can help the company regain it's former position as a big name in shopping. I see ads for them constantly here, and they certainly seem to still be trying to hold onto a premium spot among the department stores (if such a thing truly exists). I never shop there myself, but I don't think they're headed for imminent failure.

jW

He's already started to implement change at JCP. He signed a deal with Martha Stuart to do stores within a store. Today's JCP won't look anything like JCP in 2-3 years.

 

[FrizzleFryBen]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm sure Apple thinks it's making the best decisions for Apple. But I can't help but wonder why it's alway a white guy. And yes, I am an exectutive and a whit guy.

 

[Steve's Barber]

Don't know about the rest of you but this sure is a load off my mind.

 

[writingdevil]

not sure why?

I just hope that LA one day gets a flagship, 24hour store. Please?

I don't know where in LA you live, but the Apple Store at the Grove is in the sweetest possible spot. The parking lot you use has thousands of spots, easy in and out, and you can be in the store from any place in it in less then two minutes. Tons of associates, products galore, I've made Genius appointments same day, often, and have been in there weekly, time to time and never had a wait for anything.
And if all else fails, walk one minute West through the Grove/Disneyland atmosphere to the Old Farmers Market for some of the best ethnic food stands of soft shell crab, New Orleans po-boy, my Pops favorite crawfish-oysters-beer, Brazilian BBQ, homemade ice-cream.
And if you're so inclined, the top floor of the parking lot has the best 360° view of LA and never fails as a make out spot for the ladies who have suffered me as I stalked technology in the Apple store.

 

[iLoveiTunes]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm sure Apple thinks it's making the best decisions for Apple. But I can't help but wonder why it's alway a white guy. And yes, I am an exectutive and a whit guy.

You probably are exectutive and a "Whit" guy....

 

[ownamac]

why on earth would he leave to be CEO of JC Penny? Apple & JC Penny are worlds apart.

An opportunity to call all the shots as CEO vs Sr VP Retail at Apple. He was at Target prior to Apple so some commonality. For Johnson, building a struggling department store to prominence was the draw.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Whenever I see his name, it makes me think of (in a quick voice), "Sagman, Bennett, Robbins, Oppenheim and Taff":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ZBlzwO6P0

 

[Nostromo]

Just names in the article.

But what the names mean in regards to Apple retail and marketing strategy, this would have been the actual interesting point.

 

[wizzerandchips]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

I'm sure Apple thinks it's making the best decisions for Apple. But I can't help but wonder why it's alway a white guy. And yes, I am an exectutive and a whit guy.

You have a valid point, but I've yet to see a black guy in a design studio here in the uk.

 

[rdlink]

why on earth would he leave to be CEO of JC Penny? Apple & JC Penny are worlds apart. I'd much rather be apart of (as well as in a lower position) of one of the worlds most valuable and famous companies as opposed to being the head of one major failure lol.

With me being from the UK its a name I don't hear of too often and well I thought it had gone bust months ago

Prior to being head of retail sales at Apple, Johnson worked at Target, where he completely turned around the company's image. If you go into a modern Target you will see the similarities between them and the Apple Store. And if you're old enough to remember, you'll know what a change it is from the Target of old.

When Johnson was working to bring the Apple Stores on line, he and Jobs clashed on several fronts, including the genius bar (Hint: Johnson won that one). Not to walk on Steve's grave, because I think he was a genius on many fronts, including elegant design, but I believe Johnson had as much to do with the success of the Apple Store concept as Steve.

I haven't bought anything at JC Penney for years, but I am quite interested to see whether Johnson can do for them what he helped to do for Target and Apple.

 

[paul4339]

.... I'd much rather be apart of (as well as in a lower position) of one of the worlds most valuable and famous companies as opposed to being the head of one major failure lol.
...

Johnson was approached by Apple in 1999 (joined in 2000) ... Back then, it was Target that was the valuable one and Apple was re-bounding from being the 'major failure'.

.

 

[Ironduke]

im not happy with this apple is supposed to be a green company now
didn't this guy work on the manhattan Project?

 

[Tofaha]

i wonder how a job at jcpenny compares to one at apple lol

 

[caoimhin]

He should be Santa at Apple University for Christmas!

This was my thought too. He just looks jolly!

 

[ChrisTX]

He probably just thought that if he could help JC Penney become even larger/better it would be an enormous opportunity for self-growth.

Actually Apple sent him over to JC Pennys so he could distribute iOS devices amongst the top brass, and get iPods, iPads, and iPhones into all of their stores. /sarcasm However that probably will end up happening at some point.