After 2 years, Apple’s Jony Ive will return to his design management role

Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, is taking over management of Apple’s design team. An Apple spokesperson told Bloomberg, “With the completion of Apple Park, Apple’s design leaders and teams are again reporting directly to Jony Ive, who remains focused purely on design.”

He was involved in designing the company’s ‘spaceship’ campus, while the day-to-day management of Apple’s hardware and software design teams was led by Alan Dye and Richard Howarth. Both reported directly to the company Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook. Dye and Howarth are no longer listed on Apple’s leadership page as well.

Ive, 50, will now return to managing the teams directly. He began leading the company’s design team in 1996, before Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the company as it was on the brink of bankruptcy.

He holds over 5,000 patents and has been recognized with many design awards, including the Design Museum London’s first Designer of the Year in 2003, the Design and Art Direction (D&AD) President’s Award in 2005 and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Product Design Award in 2007.