Apple Vice President of Retail Jerry McDougal resigned from Apple as of the end of business Friday, according to a new report from ifoAppleStore. The former vice president, who was said to be former Senior Vice President of Retail Ron Johnson's "right hand man," reportedly said the departure was prompted by a desire to spend more time with his family, and not to the recent executive shake-up that led to the ouster of SVP of Retail John Browett.

McDougal spent ten years in sales at IBM and two years as Vice President of Product Marketing at PC Connection before moving to Apple in 2000. McDougal worked with Johnson since then, and he was involved in the conception and execution of Apple's retail efforts.

McDougal may have been considered as a possible replacement for Johnson, who departed in June 2011 to become CEO of JC Penney. Apple CEO Tim Cook instead hired former Dixons Retail CEO John Browett. From the outset, Browett's tenure seemed troubled, as the retail executive oversaw what many saw as a serious downturn in customer service and quality at Dixons' UK-based electronics chains like Curry's and PC World.

Despite slight improvements to Apple's retail performance, though, Browett's missteps likely led to his firing just seven months after taking over for Johnson.

Meanwhile, Apple is still looking for a replacement to fill the SVP role, which is a critical hire for Cook. A couple sources inside Apple's retail division have pointed to another VP of Retail, Steve Cano, as a likely candidate internally. Executives from Coach, Nike, Starbucks, Burberry, and Disney are also reportedly being considered. With Apple down two top executives, however, the company may not have the luxury of waiting much longer to hire someone to fill both the VP and SVP positions.

Apple did not respond to our request for comment on McDougal's departure at the time of publication, but did confirm to All Things D that McDougal had resigned.

"Retail has an incredibly strong network of leaders at the store and regional level, and they will continue the excellent work they’ve done over the past decade to revolutionize retailing with unique, innovative services and a focus on the customer that is second to none," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling told All Things D. "Jim Bean is moving to Retail to help support our store teams. Jim has been at Apple for 15 years and is a great leader who understands our culture and focus on customer service."