Dive Brief:
- Starbucks has hired Cathy Smith, Nordstrom’s chief financial officer and treasurer, as its CFO. She replaces Rachel Ruggeri, who has held the position since early 2021, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Ruggeri, who has worked at Starbucks for 20 years, will help with the transition, CEO Brian Niccol said in a statement. He did not mention the exact date of her departure.
- Ruggeri’s departure is the latest change to the company’s executive leadership and corporate structure since Niccol took power in September.
Dive Insight:
The first six months of the Niccol era have seen a succession of changes to Starbucks’ C-suite.
Niccol’s changes have largely fallen into three categories. The first are alterations to the company’s structure and operations. Within weeks of Niccol’s appointment, the brand’s North America CEO Michael Conway announced his retirement, and his role was dissolved.Starbucks let go of 1,100 corporate employees in late February, in a move intended to increase efficiency by removing managerial layers and duplication of responsibilities.
Cuts and operational changes extend to the store level: Starbucks is in the process of eliminating about 30% of its menu and Niccol has shifted the chain toward a coffeehouse brand identity. Those changes were a clear retreat from the brand’s scattershot, product-heavy approach to driving traffic both during Laxman Narasimhan’s period as CEO and Howard Schultz’s third turn as chief.
Niccol has also focused on hiring executives who have worked with him in the past: in October, Starbucks appointed Tressie Lieberman — who had worked with Niccol at Chipotle — as chief brand officer.
In January, the chain hired two Taco Bell alums to replace departing executives in the roles of executive vice president and president of North America and chief of customer solutions and supply chain. Shortly thereafter, Niccol hinted that the coffee chain may try to double its U.S. storecount.
The third category of change undertaken in the Niccol era is the hiring of C-suite leaders from outside the immediate restaurant industry: in November, Starbucks hired a new chief sustainability officer from Mars.
Smith’s hiring falls into this third category. She joins the coffee chain after about two years at Nordstrom, where she was CFO when the Nordstrom family secured control of the company in a $6.25 billion deal late last year. Prior to that, she was chief financial and administrative officer for Bright Health Group from 2020 to 2023, after significant tenures at both Target and Walmart International, according to the SEC filing.
Starbucks offered the CFO post to Smith on Feb. 27, according to the SEC filing, complete with a $925,000 yearly salary, a $5 million signing bonus and more than $10 million in equity to compensate Smith for payment forfeited by departing Nordstrom.
