Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson to Retire
Mar 16, 2022 By MarketDepth
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) has reported that President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Johnson intends to retire after a 13-year tenure at the company. This includes his last five years as CEO. Johnson will transition on April 4th, 2022 from CEO as a Starbucks partner and special consultant to the company and Board of Directors through September. The company board has been engaged in CEO succession planning, assisted by Russell Reynolds Associates since 2021 and plans to select a new leader by Fall. The board has appointed Howard Schultz as interim chief executive officer beginning April 4th, 2022. “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to express our sincerest thanks to Kevin for his leadership of Starbucks. Kevin and the entire executive team stepped up to the challenge of the pandemic and navigated one of the most difficult periods in modern history. The economic certainty provided to partners during the early months of the COVID shut down, as well as during mandatory quarantines, underscores our core values and will be an enduring legacy for the company. During Kevin’s tenure, Starbucks scaled an industry leading digital offering spanning nearly 45 million Starbucks Rewards members in the U.S. and China,” said Mellody Hobson, Independent Starbucks Board of Directors chair.
“A year ago, I signaled to the Board that as the global pandemic neared an end, I would be considering retirement from Starbucks. I feel this is a natural bookend to my 13 years with the company. As I make this transition, we are very fortunate to have a founder who is able to step in on an interim basis, giving the Board time to further explore potential candidates and make the right long-term succession decision for the company. I have enjoyed every minute of the job and am proud of what we have achieved together. It has been an honor to serve the 400,000 Starbucks green apron partners around the world and I want to thank them for their service, resilience and optimism.”
Kevin Johnson
