Denise Young Smith

Denise Young Smith is Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Human Resources, responsible for attracting and retaining top talent at Apple. She reports to CEO Tim Cook.

Since joining Apple in 1997, Denise has served in several key HR roles. For over 10 years, she sat on the leadership team that built Apple’s retail organization, which now welcomes more than one million people every day. Apple stores have redefined the retail experience and their talented employees have become the face of Apple for customers around the world. Before retail, Denise ran HR for Apple’s Worldwide Operations and Corporate Employee Relations teams.

Prior to Apple, Denise offered talent, HR and management consulting expertise to early-stage businesses including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers portfolio companies.

Denise earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications and a master’s degree in Organizational Management from Grambling State University in Louisiana.