Who was Apple Computer’s first chief executive officer?

Michael Scott was Apple Computer’s first chief executive officer.

Scott became Apple’s first CEO in 1977, when the young company was formalizing its business after its founding by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. He was recruited partly because the founders needed experienced management as demand for Apple products grew.

Scott remained CEO until 1981. He is associated with the internal “blue Christmas” memo, in which he announced that Apple would no longer treat employees’ birthdays as company holidays. The memo is frequently cited in accounts of Apple’s early corporate culture.

John Sculley became CEO later, in 1983, after Apple’s board recruited him from PepsiCo. Michael Spindler and Gil Amelio led Apple much later, during the years before Jobs returned in 1997.