Starbucks’ comeback is taking shape — and a leaked internal organizational chart shows exactly who CEO Brian Niccol is relying on to build on the momentum.
The chart from early January, obtained by Business Insider, lays out the people who report directly to the CEO, including several longtime Niccol allies from Chipotle and Taco Bell, as the coffee giant’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround gains traction and its stock starts to rebound.
Since Business Insider viewed the chart, the company has made some leadership changes. Most notably, Anand Varadarajan started as chief technology officer on January 19, reporting to Niccol. Business Insider was unable to determine how often the org chart is updated.
Representatives for Starbucks declined to comment for this story.
Take a look at Niccol’s direct reports and their responsibilities, according to the internal org chart:
Who’s who in the Starbucks C-suite
As of mid-January, the org chart showed that Niccol’s direct reports included his executive assistant and eight current executives who are helping him reverse the coffee chain’s slumping sales and usher in a new era of streamlined customer service and coffeehouse redesigns.
- Cathy Smith, chief financial officer, joined Starbucks in March 2025. She is responsible for the organization’s financial health and held the same title at companies including Nordstrom, Target, and Walmart International. Smith has nine direct reports, according to the org chart, and oversees a staff of more than 2,000.
- Sara Kelly, chief people officer, has one of the longest tenures of Niccol’s direct reports. She worked her way up from a human resources coordinator to holding the chief title over the last 24 years. She oversees talent acquisition and aligns Starbucks’ organizational goals with its employee experience. Kelly has seven direct reports and leads a staff of nearly 600, the org chart shows.
- Brady Brewer, CEO of international, has also been with Starbucks for more than 24 years. His roles have included running the marketing and operations departments across Starbucks’ international business, and he ascended to the role of international CEO in April 2024, shortly before Niccol joined the company. Brewer’s seven direct reports oversee an international staff of nearly 6,500, according to the org chart.
- Tressie Lieberman, chief brand officer, was among Niccol’s first appointees from Chipotle. Lieberman left Yahoo to join Starbucks in November 2024 and had served as Chipotle’s vice president of digital marketing while Niccol was CEO. At Starbucks, she oversees marketing and brand consistency. She has five of her own direct reports managing a staff of over 600, the org chart shows.
- Dominic Carr, chief communications officer, joined the company in January 2024 after two years at Lyft and nearly 20 years at Microsoft, where he ran corporate communications, his LinkedIn shows. As the voice of the brand, Carr is responsible for managing Starbucks’ external reputation and managing its communication strategy. Carr manages six direct reports and leads a team of 117, according to the org chart.
- Pilar Ramos, chief legal officer, is the newest Starbucks appointee listed on the org chart. Ramos joined the company in October 2025. She oversees the company’s legal and compliance strategies, and has previously served as the general counsel for companies including MasterCard and Univision. The org chart shows Ramos’s five-person team spearheads Starbucks’ 249-member legal staff.
- Mike Grams, chief operations officer, is rounding out his first full year at Starbucks after joining the company in February 2025, following more than 30 years at Yum! Brands and Taco Bell, where he worked directly with Niccol. Grams, as second-in-command to the CEO, is in charge of Starbucks’ day-to-day operations. He oversees more than 24,000 staff, with 10 direct reports, according to the org chart.
- Scott Peppel, vice president of business strategy, has worked with Starbucks for nearly a decade and is Niccol’s only VP-level direct report. Prior to joining Starbucks in 2016, he worked as a consultant for the Parthenon Group and as director of strategy at the toy company Schylling. Peppel helps guide the company’s long-term strategic direction. The org chart shows he has three direct reports leading a total team of 11 Starbucks staff.
The org chart also included former chief legal officer Brad Lerman among Niccol’s direct reports. He left the role in November and remained as an advisor for a period to support the transition, according to a securities filing.
A Chipotle-era turnaround team
Including those listed above, Niccol has hired at least half a dozen executives who worked with him on his prior turnaround campaign at Chipotle — and his stint as Taco Bell’s chief executive before that. Most of those hires joined Starbucks at the vice president role or higher since Niccol took the helm in late 2024, Business Insider reported in September.
Lieberman became Starbucks’ chief brand officer after holding senior marketing roles under Niccol at both Taco Bell and Chipotle. Grams, the former Taco Bell operating chief, came out of retirement to take the same role at Starbucks, and Meredith Sandland, Taco Bell’s onetime chief development officer during Niccol’s tenure, also joined as EVP of coffeehouse design and development under Grams — driving a key piece of Niccol’s turnaround plan.
The chart reveals another one of Niccol’s Chipotle-era executives has joined the coffee giant: Ryan Guthrie, the coffee brand’s VP of government affairs, who led the same department while Niccol was CEO of Chipotle, joined Starbucks in September 2025.
The executive leadership team is in charge of steering Starbucks’ turnaround effort, which has recently begun to accelerate. Starbucks’ stock is up more than 13% so far this year, and the company has stabilized since Niccol took over, breaking a six-quarter comparable sales slump as of October.
A report from the location intelligence and foot traffic data software firm Placer.ai found that the week of November 10, which includes Red Cup Day — one of the chain’s busiest sales days of the year — saw visits spike by 5.8% year over year. The prior week, when the collectible Bearista cup launched, visits were up 11.6% year over year.
Placer.ai also found that Starbucks’ growth in visits during the second half of 2025 outperformed the wider coffee category during the final stretch of the year.
More than just a corporate diagram, the chart underscores a familiar playbook for Niccol: surround himself with trusted lieutenants from past turnarounds as he engineers Starbucks’ revitalization.
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