Starbucks taps Amazon veteran Anand Varadarajan as Global CTO

Starbucks has appointed Anand Varadarajan, a longtime technology executive at Amazon, as its new chief technology officer, bringing a veteran of large-scale digital systems to lead the coffee chain’s global technology operations.

Varadarajan will join Starbucks on January 19 as executive vice president and chief technology officer, the company said. He will report to Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol and become a member of the executive leadership team. He succeeds Deb Hall Lefevre, who retired in September.

Varadarajan spent nearly 19 years at Amazon, where he helped build customer-focused technology platforms at global scale. Most recently, he oversaw technology and supply chain systems for Amazon’s Worldwide Grocery Stores business, a role that placed him at the intersection of retail operations, logistics and digital infrastructure. Earlier in his career, he worked as a software engineer at Oracle and with several startups.

Starbucks said Varadarajan brings deep experience in developing secure and reliable systems and in scaling technology to support operational excellence while keeping the customer at the center.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Varadarajan holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Washington.

The company said the appointment is expected to accelerate its technology initiatives and strengthen digital capabilities across Starbucks’ global business.