Riccio to Receive Distinguished Achievement Award

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This story was first published by the UMass News Office.

Daniel J. Riccio Jr. ’86BS, ’24MS, an Apple product designer, innovator and leader, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Undergraduate Commencement ceremony on Friday, May 16, at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

Riccio has been a leader in designing, developing and engineering nearly all of Apple’s products for almost 30 years. In 2020, he transitioned from his role as senior vice president of hardware engineering to focus exclusively on Apple’s newest product category, spatial computing, and delivered the Apple Vision Pro – reporting directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook as vice president of engineering. “Every innovation Dan has helped Apple bring to life has made us a better and more innovative company,” noted Cook.

Starting at Apple in June 1998 as director of desktop product design, Riccio and his team delivered the first iMac in August 1998 and the G3 Tower in January 1999. He quickly moved up the ranks at Apple, first overseeing portables product design, then all product design, for the company. After serving as vice president of the iPad division, Riccio was promoted to senior vice president of hardware engineering, joining Apple’s executive team in 2012.

Prior to Apple, Riccio worked at Compaq in Houston from February 1997 as senior manager of mechanical engineering. He was responsible for the mechanical design for all its consumer PC business, elevating Compaq to the top spot in the global PC market.

His long, successful career began at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in Maynard, Massachusetts, in 1987, working in engineer management in power systems design and workstations and server designs, incorporating DEC’s Alpha CPU and high-end Intel microprocessors.

Riccio earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and master’s degree in manufacturing engineering, both from UMass Amherst. Recently retired, he has been an active member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Engineering since 2023. He was also the recipient of a 2025 College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award.