After nearly 15 years as Apple CEO, Tim Cook is stepping down. He will continue to operate in the role until Sept. 1, when he will be replaced by John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering.

The openly gay soon-to-be-former CEO of one of the largest tech companies in the world had his critiques about his home state of Alabama’s lack of LGBTQ+ equality. On Monday, it was announced that Tim Cook is stepping down from the helm of Apple after leading the company following Steve Jobs’ death in 2011.

Tim Cook laid the groundwork for Apple’s transition into a service-based powerhouse and grew the company to be worth about $4 trillion.