Laxman Narasimhan joins Starbucks as its new CEO, starting in April


By MYBRANDBOOK


Laxman Narasimhan joins Starbucks as its new CEO, starting in April

Starbucks has on Thursday appointed Laxman Narasimhan as its next chief executive officer.

 

Narasimhan, who previously served as CEO of health and hygiene company Reckitt, which owns brands such as Lysol, Durex and Mucinex, announced his decision of stepping down from that role earlier on Thursday.

 

The new CEO joins Starbucks in October, taking his time to learn about the company and its reinvention plan, before assuming the top job in April. Until then, Howard Schultz will continue as interim CEO of the coffee chain he grew into a global giant. Schultz will remain on Starbucks' board after Narasimhan succeeds him.

 

After Kevin Johnson retired in April having served as Starbucks’ CEO five years, Schultz has remained at the helm ever since. In the meantime, Schultz and the Starbucks board hunted for a long-term successor, with the intention of announcing the new CEO in the fall.

 

Schultz has previously stated his intent of wanting to reinvent the employee, customer and store experience to reckon with how the world has changed since the pandemic. The company is holding an investor day on Sept. 13 in Seattle, where it's expected to unveil more details about the bold changes it plans to make.

 

Starbucks said in a news release that Schultz will remain "closely involved" with the plan and act as an advisor to Narasimhan.

 

Narasimhan previously worked at PepsiCo, serving as its global chief commercial officer among other roles. Before that, he was a senior partner at McKinsey.

 

After assuming the role of the CEO, Narasimhan will have to tackle a number of challenges. In its home market, Starbucks is facing a union push, with more than 200 stores in the U.S. voting to organize under Workers United. The battle has resulted in negative headlines and legal battles. China, which happens to be its second-largest market, is struggling to bounce back from the pandemic, hampered by the country's zero Covid policy.

 

"His deep, hands-on experience driving strategic transformations at global consumer-facing businesses makes him the ideal choice to accelerate Starbucks growth and capture the opportunities ahead of us," Starbucks board chair Mellody Hobson said in a statement.

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