American coffeehouse giant Starbucks has unveiled a strategic leadership reshuffle to enhance its geographically focused senior management structure.
The company's former group president of international and channel development Michael Conway has been elevated to the newly created position of North America CEO.
The move is part of a broader initiative to establish a leadership framework with distinct geographic responsibilities, underpinned by global functions with profound functional expertise and the capacity for global impact.
Conway, who joined Starbucks in 2013, will assume his new role on 1 April.
Current executive vice-president and North America president Sara Trilling will continue in her role with an emphasis on improving employee experience. She will report directly to Conway.
Brady Brewer will transition from executive vice-president and chief marketing officer to CEO of Starbucks International.
Brewer will oversee teams and stores across Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
In China, Belinda Wong and Molly Liu will maintain their leadership with Wong continuing as chairwoman and co-CEO and Liu continuing as co-CEO.
Joining the Starbucks executive team is Lynn Castonguay, who becomes the company's first executive vice-president, chief merchant and product officer.
Castonguay's focus will be on developing new products and growth platforms. She most recently served as chief operating officer of Saputo.
Starbucks has decided to dissolve the position of global chief marketing officer.
Marketing efforts will now be decentralised, with each geographic area establishing its own marketing team to address the specific needs of North America, China and other international locations.
Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said: “We are making strong progress against our Triple Shot with Two Pumps re-invention plan. To further accelerate progress, consistent with our ambitions, we are realigning the organisation to balance clear geographical focus with investing in functional capabilities to scale around the world, generating productivity and re-invigorating our partner culture.”
Earlier this year, the coffeehouse reported a 19.8% increase in attributable net earnings for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024, reaching $1.02bn compared to $855.2m in the same quarter of the previous year.
Its total net revenues also saw a notable rise, climbing 8.2% to $9.42bn for the quarter ending 31 December 2023, up from $8.71bn a year previously.
