Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) has announced that former COO Troy Alstead will not be returning to the company.
Troy Alstead, who was the company’s chief operating officer, resigned from the company after coming back one year after his indefinite leave from the company as indicated by the firm in one of its filings. Alstead was viewed the subordinate to Starbuck’s CEO, Howard Schultz and his resignation took effect on February 29.
Alstead took his break from the company one year ago to spend more time with his family. At the time of his leave, he stated that the talent in the company was deep enough to allow him an indefinite leave without much worry. He has been working at Starbucks for more than two decades since 1992 when the firm was still under private ownership with 100 stores. He was involved in the company’s leadership for eight years.
Starbucks has been doing well regardless of his absence. Its sales have been on an upward trend in the United States over the last year and has also been expanding its global operations. Alstead took up the COO position in 2014, and the company had also listed him as one of the people who were best suited to take over the CEO position after Schultz. He was also the CFO for six years and group president for Starbucks global business services units.
During Alstead’s leave, Starbucks had appointed Kevin Johnson, the former CEO of a tech company called Jupiter to hold temporarily down the COO position. Alstead was also a darling to the Wall Street community, and the announcement of his leave was received as a surprise.
Starbucks has operations in about 70 countries with 23,000 stores and is still expanding. The firm is yet to reveal further details about the situation and whether Johnson will continue filling in temporarily. Currently, there has been no mention of the next person to occupy the COO position permanently.
