Apple will have a new guy in charge of its overflowing coffers as Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer retires September.
The iPhone and iPad manufacturer has announced that Italian-born Lucas Maestri will take stewardship of the $160 billion cash pile of the company. Maestri joined Apple in March 2013 as its corporate controller and vice president of finance, coming from his CFO roles at Xerox and Nokia Siemens Networks. He will be reporting directly to chief executive Tim Cook and will be transitioning to his new role starting June.
"Peter has served as our CFO for the past decade as Apple's annual revenue grew from $8 billion to $171 billion and our global footprint expanded dramatically. His guidance, leadership and expertise have been instrumental to Apple's success, not only as our CFO but also in many areas beyond finance, as he frequently took on additional activities to assist across the company. His contributions and integrity as our CFO create a new benchmark for public company CFOs," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Oppenheimer plans to spend more time with his family, travel, and be involved with projects of his alma mater California Polytechnic State University. He was also named to the board of directors of Goldman Sachs on Monday.
At Apple, Oppenheimer has served as CFO of the company since 2004. He was considered as a strong force that helped drive the growth phase of the company after joining it in 1996 from Automatic Data Processing.
Cook also expressed his full confidence in the company's new CFO.
"Luca has over 25 years of global experience in senior financial management, including roles as a public company CFO, and I am confident he will be a great CFO at Apple. When we were recruiting for a corporate controller, we met Luca and knew he would become Peter's successor. 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," Cook added.
The company continues to feel the pressure from its investors to be more more aggressive in spending its cash pile that is even bigger than economies of some countries. They are pushing for more significant acquisitions that may help drive innovation. It is inevitable to compare how other technology giants such as Facebook and Google spend to have promising startups under their umbrella.
Luca's flourishing career started with General Motors where he had important operating and financing roles in different markets of the vehicle manufacturer. His last role with this firm was as CFO for its European operations before he left in 2008 to join Xerox.
The 49-year-old successor will take over the responsibilities of Oppenheimer and oversee investor relations, treasury, controller, internal audit, facilities functions, and information systems.
