--- title: "Person of Interest: Meet Apple’s New Man-of-Mystery CEO" description: "What do we know about The company’s new enigmatic figure, John Ternus?" url: "https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazine/meet-apples-new-ceo-john-ternus" lastUpdated: "2026-09-01" --- ![](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=75,width=3072,fit=scale-down/https://images.ctfassets.net/v44fuld738we/sR6fucGgp5LY2YD1GOtJR/9ce9be8c07787517a42c67e131834d0f/JohnTernus_1080x1920.png) Illustration by Palesa Monareng News # Person of Interest: Meet Apple’s New Man-of-Mystery CEO What do we know about the company’s new enigmatic figure, John Ternus? Turns out, not much! Written ByJenna Benchetrit onSeptember 1, 2026 **_Wealthsimple_** makes powerful financial tools to help you grow and manage your money. [Learn more](/en-ca) The business world produces some, let’s say, interesting characters. Earlier this month, we told you about 24-year-old Rubik’s-Cube-enthusiast [Leopold Aschenbrenner](https://tldr-archive.wealthsimple.com/archive/33-%F0%9F%AB%B0-canadas-richest-ceo-is), who vapourized US$35 billion with leveraged AI bets. This week let’s meet someone who’s far more discreet but more consequential: John Ternus, the incoming CEO of Apple. He’s a hardware guy who worked his way up the tech giant’s ladder over 25 years, and he’s got some even taller challenges ahead when he ascends to the No. 1 job on Sept. 1. At the top of the list: Apple hasn’t delivered a new world-upending product on par with the iPod or iPhone in _many_ years. Ternus’s mandate is to fix that, fast, while preserving that classic Apple slickness on a company that just turned a dad-bod 50. Is he up to the job? Hard to say! He keeps an almost comically low profile, so we dug up _every detail_ we could find about him to get a sense of what the future might hold. Here’s what we definitely (probably) know: **He’s from California.** Orange County, specifically. **He’s definitely Gen X.** When Apple announced him as its next CEO, nobody could figure out how old he was … until it was revealed, in an April [regulatory filing](https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0000320193/91808dbf-ef51-4e87-a000-6af8b0fc1b32.pdf), that he was born in May 1975. Which makes him 51. **He might be married.** Ternus once wore a [wedding band](https://www.hellomagazine.com/us/897012/apple-ceo-john-ternus-what-we-know/) during a presentation; beyond that, there’s no public information about his family (assuming the ring wasn’t a ploy to make us _think_ he has a family).  **He likes making cars go** **_vroom_****.** Sounds like Ternus might be married … to his Porsche, which he rally-races on California’s Laguna Seca racing circuit. He [reportedly](https://www.wsj.com/tech/the-rise-of-apples-new-ceo-a-hardware-expert-takes-over-in-the-ai-era-bdc7046e?) drives a 1:40 lap, which ain’t too bad for an amateur. **He’s a “man of the people.”** One former boss noted that Ternus has [declined a private office](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/technology/apple-ceo-tim-cook-john-ternus.html) since the mid-2000s, choosing instead to sit with his team in a shared space. He’s also known [for working directly with engineers](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-08/apple-s-next-ceo-list-of-aapl-insiders-who-could-succeed-tim-cook) on products, rather than delegating through middle managers. Getting in the weeds helped him notch a long list of wins, including the [iPhone Air](https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2025/09/introducing-iphone-air-a-powerful-new-iphone-with-a-breakthrough-design/), the iPad, AirPods, and Apple Watches.  **He beefed with Jony Ive.** Ternus famously fought for (and achieved!) better product performance after standards slipped in the 2010s, when Apple’s [obsession with thinness](https://www.businessinsider.com/jony-ives-thinness-obsession-apple-butterfly-keyboard-issues-2019-7) resulted in slow-running gear. (Ternus is said to have gone tête-à-tête with famed designer Ive, the man behind Apple’s minimalism, more than a few times.)  **He might not differ all that much from Tim Cook.** Outgoing CEO Cook is a shrewd businessman who built a world-class supply chain, but he lacked a twinkle-in-the-eye innovative streak à la Steve Jobs. Ternus, similarly, is known more as a shepherd of other people’s ideas than an innovator. But, hey, he hasn’t even started yet! Let’s give the guy a chance. ![author](/cdn-cgi/image/format=auto,quality=75,width=128,fit=scale-down/https://images.ctfassets.net/v44fuld738we/3UqzbzgovLbgRme90AdxPc/58021bc71c926e27b948697c46f84a51/Jenna.png) Written By Jenna Benchetrit Jenna Benchetrit is the senior business & markets reporter at TLDR, Wealthsimple Media's flagship financial newsletter. She was formerly a senior business writer at CBC News, where she covered economics and consumer issues for a Canadian audience. ## Topics related to this article Click a topic to explore * [Work](/en-ca/magazine/tags/work) Share TWITTERFACEBOOKCopy link ## Related articles Money Diaries > "I DON’T KNEEL DOWN AT THE ALTAR OF THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR. THAT’S NOT FOR ME." 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