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Starbucks’ New Leadership Structure to Support International Growth

To help support aggressive international growth plans that call for three of four new store openings to occur outside of the U.S., Starbucks has updated its leadership structure. These changes will go into effect April 1, 2024 and support Starbucks' plan of growing to 55,000 locations globally.

Michael Conway will take on the newly created role of CEO, North America. Conway has been with Starbucks since 2013, most recently serving as group president, international and channel development.

Sara Trilling will remain executive vice president and president, North America, focused on “enhancing the retail partner experience while growing the North America store portfolio” and Starbucks North America licensed store business.

Brady Brewer will become CEO of Starbucks International, with oversight of the teams across Asia Pacific, EMEA, Japan and LAC, as well as the company’s international licensed partners. He’s been with the company more than 20 years, most recently serving as executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Belinda Wong, chairwoman and co-CEO and Molly Liu, co-CEO will both continue to lead Starbucks' China team.

Starbucks will not replace the global chief marketing position most recently occupied by Brewer. Rather, each geographic CEO will have regional marketing support. In addition, Lyne Castonguay will join Starbucks in the newly created position of executive vice president, chief merchant and product officer. This role will oversee a newly created global function focused on global product strategy, developing new products and growth platforms. She will lead Starbucks' Global Channel Development team and Siren Retail. At a later date, Starbucks plans to appoint a global brand creative leader.

“We are making strong progress against our Triple Shot with Two Pumps Reinvention plan,” Laxman Narasimhan, Starbucks chief executive officer, shared with global partners earlier today. “To further accelerate progress, consistent with our ambitions, we are realigning the organization to balance clear geographical focus with investing in functional capabilities to scale around the world, generating productivity and reinvigorating our partner culture.” 

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