Starbucks Names Anand Varadarajan as CTO

Starbucks has brought on as its new executive vice president and Chief Technology Officer Indian-origin Anand Varadarajan, further strengthening its CXO leadership in an age of accelerated digital transformation.

Varadarajan will join the company on January 19, unofficially assume the role, be part of the Executive Leadership Team and report directly to CEO Brian Niccol, the company said. He replaces Deb Hall Lefevre, who retired in September. The appointment is an indication of Starbucks' further focus on reinforcing its CXO bench to drive innovation at scale.

Before Starbucks, Varadarajan worked at Amazon for almost 19 years, building and scaling large, customer-centric technology platforms. Most recently, he was responsible for technology and supply chain systems on Amazon's Worldwide Grocery Stores business. His previous career has been a stint at Oracle and several startups.

Starbucks highlighted that Varadarajan brings deep expertise in secure, reliable systems and enterprise-scale platforms, all of which were identified as being crucial for a modern CXO navigating through complex global operations. His leadership is expected to bring technology projects to a new speed and improve the digital initiatives across business.

An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumnus, Varadarajan holds a master's degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington and a master's degree in computer science from Purdue University. Starbucks said the CXO appointment is part of its long-term strategy to boost operational excellence and keep its customers at the center.