Dave Walker is in as Apple’s new VP of M&O, and some interesting SVP of Retail rumors [Updated: Fake]

Update: The Twitter account that posted this information appears to be a fake and actually appears to be the account of an Apple Genius. We apologize for the misleading information being repeated here.

Apple’s Dave Walker, formerly Vice President of Retail, has been given a new position as VP of Marketing and Operations according to his profile on Twitter and a tweet about the appointment.

We should hear an announcement about that soon, but there is another interesting tidbit that we’re also hearing. We’re taking this with a huge grain of salt as the information in Walker’s stream is less than clear, but Apple may have appointed Egon Zehnder himself as its new Senior Vice President of Retail.

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There are two tweets specifically, one that mentions a meeting with Apple’s SVP
of Marketing, Phil Schiller, SVP of iOS software, Scott Forstall and SVP of Internet Software, Eddy Cue about the SVP appointment, and one that refers to Zehnder as ‘my boss.’ Unfortunately, Walker follows up those tweets with one that says Egon Zehnder, presumably the firm itself, is ‘still searching‘.

It could be that Walker is just covering his tracks about the earlier tweets, but if so, why not just delete them? It’s a tad confusing.

Egon Zehnder is the founder and former head of Egon Zehnder International, the talent scout firm that Apple had hired to help it find a replacement. Zehnder founded the firm in 1964 and retired as CEO of the firm in 1992 and as Chairman in 2000.

The three immovable pillars on which the long-term success of Egon Zehnder International was founded in the opinion of the firm’s founder, were an absolute focus on its clients, a commitment to quality, and, crucially, the principle of a partnership of equals.

The thing that makes us most skeptical about the Zehnder news is that it was reported earlier today that Apple had selected Steve Cano as SVP of Retail to replace outgoing Ron Johnson. Following that, Apple replied that it had not made any appointments and had no announcements regarding the matter.

Added to that is the odd concurrence of Apple hiring on the former CEO of the talent firm it hired to help it look for a replacement for Johnson.

If anything could, an offer like head of Apple retail might have the power to coax Zehnder, a respected founder of one of the best executive talent scouting agencies in the world, out of retirement.

We’re continuing to follow up on this story and will let you know if we receive any confirmation of these moves. We have reached out to Apple for comment.