Along with Nadella, Starbucks has also nominated President and CEO of Sam’s Club, and executive vice president of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Rosalind Brewer as well as Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Executive Chairman of the LEGO Brand Group.
Starbucks has praised Satya Nadella, saying Microsoft’s CEO will bring “extensive experience and an understanding of how technology will be used and experienced around the world” to the company’s board.
Nadella expressed his admiration for Starbucks’ “focus and deep passion for its customers and the communities it does business in”, hoping his years of experience in the tech industry “will be of value to the company.”
Satya Nadella, a master of cloud computing
Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 and has since held various leadership positions at the Redmond giant. He became CEO of Microsoft in 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. Before that, he was Executive Vice President of the company’s cloud and enterprise groups.
The Indian-American business executive has led major projects at Microsoft, including the company’s move to cloud computing and the development of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world.
He was also President of the Server & Tools Division (2011-2014) and Sr. Vice President of Research and Development for the Online Services Division (2007-2011), among various positions he has held at Microsoft.
Microsoft and Starbucks, a prosperous “partnership”
Nadella will be among friends at Starbucks since the coffee giant’s future CEO is Kevin Johnson, ex-president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division. Currently, Johnson serves as Starbucks’ COO and will take over the top role from Howard Schultz in 2018.
Johnson is not the only person that has worked at both companies. Back in February 2016 Starbucks Environmental Director Jim Hanna joined Microsoft as Director of Datacenter Sustainability.
