Who is Anand Varadarajan? The Indian-origin, 18-yr Amazon veteran appointed as Starbucks new executive VP and CTO

Multinational coffee chain Starbucks has appointed Indian-origin Anand Varadarajan as its new executive vice president and chief technology officer (CTO), the company said in a statement.

Anand Varadarajan, a veteran at Amazon, who spent close to 19 years building the e-commerce giant's large-scale, customer-focused technology platforms, will report directly to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, PTI reported.

The appointment comes after Starbucks' Deb Hall Lefevre retired in September. Anand Varadarajan will take charge from January 19, as per the statement. Starbucks executive Ningyu Chen is currently serving as interim CTO.

What role will Anand Varadarajan play at Starbucks?

An Indian-origin techie, Varadarajan spent close to 19 years building large-scale, customer-focused technology platforms for Amazon, including overseeing technology and supply chain for its Worldwide Grocery Stores business.

Starbucks in its statement said that the executive “brings deep experience in developing secure, reliable systems and scaling technology to support operational excellence while keeping customers at the centre”.

The coffee chain said that he expected to accelerate Starbucks' technology initiatives and strengthen digital capabilities across its global business.

The time of joining is crucial as Starbucks posted ‌its first quarter of gains in comparable sales after nearly ​a year and a half in late October, Reuters reported. The company is beginning to ‍see ⁠some returns from CEO Brian Niccol's extensive turnaround efforts in the United States, it added.

Who is Anand Varadarajan?

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (1992-1996), Anand Varadarajan holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue University (1996-1998) and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Washington (2009-2011).

His LinkedIn profile describes Anand Varadarajan as a “Senior technology and operations executive with enterprise-scale leadership experience across global retail, grocery, and supply chain networks”.

He described his work at Amazon as “building resilient, data-driven operating systems at scale-spanning omnichannel retail, logistics, Al-enabled forecasting, and large-scale transformation in complex, regulated environments”.

Anand Varadarajan profile adds that he is “particularly interested in contributing to boards seeking expertise in digital transformation, technology risk, supply chain resilience, and consumer-facing operations.”

Prior to Amazon, Anand Varadarajan has privously also worked as technical staff for Oracle and software lead at Motorola, as per his LinkedIn.

(With inputs from Agencies)