Starbucks added a pair of new executives on Tuesday, and said goodbye to two others, as part of a change in the company’s North American operating model.
The company split the role overseeing North America, with one role overseeing store operations and the other development.
Mike Grams, the former Taco Bell executive, was named North America chief stores officer. He will be responsible for the company’s retail teams and store performance, CEO Brian Niccol said in a system message on Tuesday.
Meredith Sandland, currently CEO of the software company Empower Delivery, was named chief store development officer.
In the process, Sara Trilling, who had been president of Starbucks North America, is leaving the company after more than 20 years after her role was split in two. Niccol noted that Trilling “believes this is the right decision for the company” but she fell that “neither new role was right for her.”
Arthur Valdez, the company’s chief supply and customer solutions officer, is also leaving the company as the customer solutions team he oversaw is integrated into the role Grams will take on. “With this change in scope, Arthur decided it was time to hand things over to a supply chain new leader,” Niccol said.
Niccol said it has identified a new chief supply chain officer, who will be announced in the coming weeks.
The changes are just the latest in a flurry of moves at the Seattle-based coffee giant in the past few months as Niccol makes his mark on the company.
Grams spent more than 30 years at Taco Bell, most recently as its president and chief operating officer. Niccol, who worked with Grams when he was the CEO at Taco Bell, called Grams a “people-first leader who understands everything we do starts and ends with the team in our stores.”
Sandland, meanwhile, also spent time at Taco Bell and has also worked with the ghost kitchen company Kitchen United and with Bain and Company. Niccol called her a “strategic thinker and agent of change.”
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