--- description: One of the key players in the Steve Jobs era at Apple is stepping down from her post. Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice president for worldwide... title: Apple PR Head Retiring After 18 Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93504172305ce55b/69868e48adae4431ae542f3e/181311774.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # One of Apple's Most Powerful Executives Is Leaving by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2014 6:44 PM CUT  Katie Cotton and Tim Cook Katie Cotton and Tim CookJustin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 7, 2014 6:44 PM CUT One of the key players in the Steve Jobs era at Apple is stepping down from her post. Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice president for worldwide communications, is retiring after 18 years. A member of Jobs’ inner circle, Cotton helped establish Apple’s well-known veil of secrecy around its products. She was also protective of the company’s executives, especially Jobs. Late in Jobs’ life, Apple was criticized for not being more forthcoming to shareholders about his condition as he battled pancreatic cancer. After he died, Cotton organized his memorial service at Apple’s main offices. Apple has not named a replacement for Cotton. Other executives of the Jobs era, such as Apple Store head Ron Johnson, chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer and mobile software lead Scott Forstall have left Apple or are planning to leave the company. \[[Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-07/apple-s-media-strategy-architect-katie-cotton-to-retire.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/91283/apple-katie-cotton-retiring-after-18-years/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/91283/apple-katie-cotton-retiring-after-18-years/"},"headline":"One of Apple's Most Powerful Executives Is Leaving","datePublished":"2014-05-07T18:44:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:10.590Z","description":"One of the key players in the Steve Jobs era at Apple is stepping down from her post. Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice president for worldwide...","url":"https://time.com/91283/apple-katie-cotton-retiring-after-18-years/","keywords":["Companies","Tech","Apple","Steve Jobs"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93504172305ce55b/69868e48adae4431ae542f3e/181311774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93504172305ce55b/69868e48adae4431ae542f3e/181311774.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Apple's Latest iPhone Models Go On Sale Across U.S.","caption":"Apple's Latest iPhone Models Go On Sale Across U.S.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/91283/apple-katie-cotton-retiring-after-18-years/","name":"One of Apple's Most Powerful Executives Is Leaving"}}]}] ```