Who Is Laxman Narasimhan? Starbucks’ Newly Appointed CEO

New CEO of Starbucks, Laxman Narasimhan, will be taking on his new office on October 1 succeeding Howards Schultz.

Starbucks Appoints New CEO: World’s largest coffee chain, Starbucks has announced that the the company has appointed its new, Indian-origin, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Laxman Narasimhan. The coffee giant said on Thursday that Laxman Narasimhan will join Starbucks on October 1 after relocating from London to Seattle, where Starbucks is based. Reportedly, Schultz will continue to serve as the interim chief until April 2023.

HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT LAXMAN NARASIMHAN

• Narasimhan, 55, was most recently CEO of Reckitt, a U.K.-based consumer health, hygiene and nutrition company that makes Lysol cleaner and Enfamil formula, among other products.
• Prior to that, Narasimhan 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.
• Narasimhan has also served as a senior partner at the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he focused on its consumer, retail and technology practices in the U.S., Asia and India.
• Speaking of his educational background, Narasimhan holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pune in India and a master’s degree in German and international studies from The Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has a master’s in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

“We really do believe that we have found an exceptional individual to be our next CEO. He’s a tested leader,” Starbucks board chairwoman Mellody Hobson said in an interview on Thursday, reported Wall Street journal. He will work closely with Starbucks’ interim CEO Howard Schultz through April 1, when he will assume the CEO role and join the company’s board.

Schultz, a longtime CEO who helped shape Starbucks after buying it in 1987, came out of retirement and assumed the interim CEO job in March after the company’s former CEO, Kevin Johnson, announced his retirement. Although Schultz had not planned to return, but he wanted to help reshape the company after the pandemic, which upended Starbucks’ coffee shops and sped changes including a heavier mix of drive-thru orders.

But Starbucks also has challenges. Schultz has been working on a plan to remake store layouts, upgrade equipment and bolster employees, who came out of the pandemic feeling harassed and underappreciated. Starbucks announced a $1 billion investment in employee wages and benefits last fall and added $200 million more for pay, worker training and other benefits in May. Still, the company faces an unprecedented unionization effort, which it opposes. At least 233 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last year.

(With agency inputs)