Goodbye Bertrand - Senior VP of Mac Software Engineering Leaves Apple

The man who has pretty much shaped your Mac OSX experience has announced that he is stepping down as VP of Mac Software Engineering. After 14 years working at Apple, Bertrand Serlet is stepping down and leaving Craig Federighi in charge of the day-to-day work.

From the statement released by Apple, Serlet is going on to pursue other endeavors in the field of Science (Serlet has a doctorate in Computer Science). Also of note, Serlet does not see his absence creating any waves and all should be "seemless" for the upcoming release of OS X - Lion.

As a user I can appreciate all the work that went into OS X all the way up to Snow Leopard. So to that end, thank you Mr. Serlet.

You can read more about Bertrand Serlet here.

Full press release after the jump.

Apple via Mashable

Bertrand Serlet to Leave Apple

CUPERTINO, California—March 23, 2011—Apple® today announced that Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Mac® Software Engineering, will be leaving the company. Craig Federighi, Apple’s vice president of Mac Software Engineering, will assume Serlet’s responsibilities and report to Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. Federighi is responsible for the development of Mac OS® X and has been managing the Mac OS software engineering group for the past two years.

“I’ve worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Craig has done a great job managing the Mac OS team for the past two years, Lion is a great release and the transition should be seamless.”

Federighi worked at NeXT, followed by Apple, and then spent a decade at Ariba where he held several roles including vice president of Internet Services and chief technology officer. He returned to Apple in 2009 to lead Mac OS X engineering. Federighi holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Serlet joined Apple in 1997, and has been involved in the definition, development and creation of Mac OS X, the world’s most advanced operating system. Before joining Apple, Serlet spent four years at Xerox PARC, then joined NeXT in 1989. Serlet holds a doctorate in Computer Science from the University of Orsay, France.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.