Λίγες μέρες πριν την έναρξη του WWDC 2015, η Apple ανακοίνωσε ότι ο Jony Ive, ένα από τα πλέον δημοφιλή και ικανά στελέχη της, θα αναλάβει το νέο ρόλο του Chief Design Officer της εταιρείας από την 1η Ιουλίου.

Ο Jony Ive κατείχε μέχρι σήμερα τη θέση του Senior Vice President of Design και θα συνεχίσει να είναι επικεφαλής των τμημάτων industrial και software design της εταιρείας, πλέον όμως με τη συμβολή των Richard Howarth και Alan Dye σε ρόλους VP of Industrial Design και VP of User Interface Design αντίστοιχα.

O Tim Cook επιβεβαίωσε την προαγωγή του Jony Ive με επίσημη επιστολή προς τους εργαζομένους της εταιρείας:

Team,
I have exciting news to share with you today. I am happy to announce that Jony Ive is being promoted to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer at Apple.
Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5000 design and utility patents to his name. His new role is a reflection of the scope of work he has been doing at Apple for some time. Jony’s design responsibilities have expanded from hardware and, more recently, software UI to the look and feel of Apple retail stores, our new campus in Cupertino, product packaging and many other parts of our company.
Design is one of the most important ways we communicate with our customers, and our reputation for world-class design differentiates Apple from every other company in the world. As Chief Design Officer, Jony will remain responsible for all of our design, focusing entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives. On July 1, he will hand off his day-to-day managerial responsibilities of ID and UI to Richard Howarth, our new vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, our new vice president of User Interface Design.
Richard, Alan and Jony have been working together as colleagues and friends for many years. Richard has been a member of the Design team for two decades, and in that time he has been a key contributor to the design of each generation of iPhone, Mac, and practically every other Apple product. Alan started at Apple nine years ago on the Marcom team, and helped Jony build the UI team which collaborated with ID, Software Engineering and countless other groups on groundbreaking projects like iOS 7, iOS 8 and Apple Watch.
Please join me in congratulating these three exceptionally talented designers on their new roles at Apple.
Tim