Laxman Narasimhan will become Starbucks' chief executive officer.
Narasimhan will join Starbucks as incoming CEO on October 1, 2022, after relocating from London to the Seattle area and will work with Howard Schultz, interim CEO. Narasimhan is expected to assume CEO role and join Starbucks' Board of Directors on April 1, 2023.
This is the latest step in a succession plan that began earlier this year. The need for a new Starbucks CEO was triggered when Kevin Johnson retired from this position in April 2022.
Narasimhan most recently served as chief executive officer of Reckitt, an FTSE-12 listed multinational consumer health, hygiene and nutrition company. As part of a career that spans more than 30 years, Narasimhan has previously held various leadership roles at PepsiCo, including as global chief commercial officer. He also served as CEO of the company’s Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa operations, and previously as the CEO of PepsiCo Latin America, and the CFO of PepsiCo Americas Foods. Prior to PepsiCo, Narasimhan was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company.
