Apple also elected to its board Robert A. Iger, the chief executive of the Walt Disney Company. That move comes at a time when the company is strengthening its connections to the entertainment business.
Apple said Arthur D. Levinson, the chairman of Genentech who has been on the Apple board since 2000, would become its nonexecutive chairman. The elevation of Mr. Levinson, one of the longest-serving Apple board members, could provide some continuity in the senior leadership of Apple as it seeks to maintain its success without Mr. Jobs, who died in October of cancer.
Apple did not have an official chairman after Mr. Jobs returned to the company in the late 1990s as chief executive. But Mr. Jobs was widely viewed as having all the authority and influence of someone with that title. Mr. Jobs took the title of chairman only after resigning as chief executive in late August, holding the position for the few weeks before his death.
By naming Mr. Levinson chairman, and not giving the title to Apple’s new chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, Apple is moving more into line with corporate governance practices at other companies, experts in the field said. Dividing the duties of chairman and chief executive is believed to provide more independent oversight of a company than if one individual holds both titles.
“For an organization, going through the kind of change Apple is going through it can be particularly helpful,” said Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. “You have changes in culture, lines of authority and changes in leadership. You want many eyes on that process and many talents being used.”
In a statement, Mr. Cook praised Mr. Levinson’s appointment.
“He has been our longest serving co-lead director, and his insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders,” he said.
Mr. Iger’s appointment to the board also harks back to Mr. Jobs’s era in a sense. Mr. Jobs founded Pixar Animation and sold it to Disney in 2006, thereby making him a board member and the largest individual shareholder at Disney.
Mr. Jobs’s involvement with Disney created a perception in Hollywood that the entertainment company was among the more enthusiastic backers of Apple’s efforts to bridge technology and entertainment. Deeper ties to Hollywood could help Apple’s plans for more ambitious products in areas like television.
“Over the years, I have come to know and admire the management team, now ably led by Tim Cook, and I am confident they have the leadership and vision to ensure Apple’s continued momentum and success,” Mr. Iger said in a statement.
One corporate governance expert, Charles M. Elson, professor of corporate governance at the University of Delaware, questioned whether Mr. Iger would be able to render impartial judgments on Apple’s strategy that could affect Disney. But Apple currently makes most of its money from hardware and not entertainment, so independence concerns are not likely to be much of a factor in Mr. Iger’s service.
Brooks Barnes contributed reporting from Los Angeles.