Lerman’s appointment is Starbucks’ first senior hire under Narasimhan’s leadership | Photo credit: Jiawei Zhao

Starbucks has appointed Brad Lerman as Executive Vice President and General Counsel to help ‘protect and advance’ the Starbucks brand globally. 
 

Lerman has three decades of legal and regulatory experience in both the public and private sector, most recently as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of healthcare technology provider Medtronic. 

“To serve the partners of Starbucks, one of the world’s most admired brands, is a true honour. The strength of Starbucks’ leadership team and board of directors, coupled with the talented Starbucks Law and Corporate Affairs team, is what excites me most as we look to advance a bold mission and vision for the future of Starbucks,” Lerman said. 

He will serve on the US coffee chain’s executive leadership team, reporting directly to new CEO Laxman Narasimhan, and lead on legal and regulatory affairs, global security, and ethics and compliance. 

Lerman replaces Zabrina Jenkins who has served as Acting General Counsel since April 2022. In a note to staff, Narasimhan said Jenkins ‘will lead a successful transition’ and will soon take on a new role which ‘maximises her depth of experience, capabilities and leadership in the future’. 

“Through my immersion at Starbucks, I quickly learned we have a highly skilled team of partners (employees) that make up our Law and Corporate Affairs team. We are excited to welcome Brad who brings a tenure of experience leading companies through some of their most challenging issues across international markets and working closely with regulators around the world. His expertise in both the public and private sectors will strengthen our decision making, protect and advance the business and brand of Starbucks in the markets in which we operate, and further develop our legal and compliance talent,” said Narasimhan. 

Lerman’s appointment is Starbucks’ first senior hire under Narasimhan’s leadership and comes as the coffee chain seeks to reach 55,000 stores across 100 international markets and achieve its ambitious sustainability goals by 2030. 

Starbucks, which currently operates more than 36,000 outlets globally, achieved 11% full-year revenue growth in 2022 to reach $32.25bn.