A number of Apple-focused websites noticed late Sunday that a prominent member of Apple’s leadership team has disappeared from the company’s website. The executive profile for Bob Mansfield, who joined Apple in 1999 as part of the company’s acquisition of graphic chip designer Raycer Graphics, vanished from Apple’s PR website without explanation at some point during the past 24 hours.
Update [10:42 PM EDT]: Reuters journalist Poornima Gupta reports a statement from Apple:
Apple says Bob Mansfield is no longer on Apple’s exec team but will remain at Apple working on special projects reporting to Cook.
Mr. Mansfield holds (as far as we still know) the position of Senior Vice President of Technologies, a role he assumed late last year following the abrupt departure of Apple executives Scott Forstall and John Browett last October. Prior to that transition, Mr. Mansfield was Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, a position that saw him manage the development of multiple hardware products and components, including the MacBook Air and iMac.
It was announced last June that Mr. Mansfield was preparing to retire, a move that was reportedly met with significant criticism from within the company over concerns about the capabilities of Mr. Mansfield’s proposed replacement, iPad Engineering chief Dan Riccio. This pushback from employees, along with the aforementioned executive shakeup, caused CEO Tim Cook to approach Mr. Mansfield with a very lucrative offer to stay with the company through 2014, an offer which Mr. Mansfield reportedly accepted.
Apple has made no other public statements regarding Mr. Mansfield, and we have no explanation for his removal from the company’s Leadership website. We, along with countless other websites, have contacted able for clarification. We’ll update this article if they respond. Until then, given SEC regulations and Mr. Mansfield’s vital role within the company, we expect Apple to make at least some statement regarding Mr. Mansfield in the coming days.
