Former Steve Jobs confidant leaves Apple's board, replaced by BlackRock founding partner

One of the most trusted advisers to late Apple CEO Steve Jobs is retiring from the iPhone maker's board of directors.

Bill Campbell's departure after 17 years on Apple Inc.'s board cleared the way for the company to appoint Susan Wagner, a founding partner of money manager Blackrock, as a director.

The changes announced Thursday come against a backdrop of criticism about a shortage of women in key positions at major technology companies.

Wagner becomes the second woman on Apple's eight-person board. Andrea Jung, the former CEO of Avon Products Inc., has been on Apple's board since 2008.

The 73-year-old Campbell worked in marketing as an Apple executive in the 1980s and joined the board in 1997 shortly after Jobs returned as the company's CEO.