Before he was Apple’s next CEO, John Ternus was a Penn swimmer who once nearly broke a campus machine
Before John Ternus became Apple’s incoming CEO, he was a swimmer and engineering undergraduate student at Penn.
Over the past 25 years, John Ternus climbed the ranks at Apple from designing products to leading hardware engineering to, as of Monday, becoming the company’s next CEO.
But before he became a technological trailblazer, helping roll out some of the most widely used products in the world including the iPad, AirPods, and numerous generations of the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch, he was an engineering student at the University of Pennsylvania mastering the fundamentals of the trade.
In 1997, Ternus earned his bachelor’s degree at Penn in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. He graduated from the Ivy League school the same year as Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Penn declined to participate in this story.
The beginning of Ternus’ time at Penn was largely marked by athletic achievements. He swam competitively at the school and, during a meet his freshman year, placed first in the 50 freestyle and the 200 individual medley. In 1994 he became an all-time letter winner in men’s swimming and diving.
In his last year at the school, he exercised his engineering prowess with an ambitious senior project — he developed a mechanical feeding arm for quadriplegics controlled by their head movements.
His last year was also one characterized by some light mayhem. During his senior year, he nearly broke the campus’ first and, at the time, only CNC milling machine, a computer-controlled device designed to cut and contour materials such as foam and wood.
“Let’s just say it was dramatic. They called me ‘Crash’ for the rest of that year,” Ternus joked during his 2024 keynote address at Penn Engineering’s undergraduate commencement ceremony.
During his speech he also emphasized the importance of learning from those around you, undertaking projects that better society, and embracing challenges.
“Build what interests you. Build what excites you. But, above all else, build it in a way that aligns with your values,” he told the graduating students.
Ternus is slated to step into the top role at Apple on Sept. 1, according to a company statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
