Indian-origin Laxman Narasimhan was on Thursday named as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of coffee giant Starbucks. He was previously the?CEO?of?Reckitt, which also makes Durex condoms.?
Starbucks Corporation said that Laxman Narasimhan will join the company on October 1 but will take the helm in April 2023. Until then, he will?work closely with interim CEO Howard Schultz?and learn about the company and its "reinvention" plan.?
"He is a strategic and transformational leader with deep experience in building powerful consumer brands," Schultz said? ?
Now, Anand Mahindra has reacted to the news and he seems as proud as any other Indian.?
Taking to Twitter, Mahindra wrote how the appointment of Indian-origin CEOs at the world¡¯s most iconic companies has now become an ¡°unstoppable trend¡±.
Narasimhan has joined the growing cohort of Indian-origin business leaders such as Parag Agrawal, Leena Nair, Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai who are currently at the helm of major multinational corporations.
¡°What was initially a trickle of water has turned into a Tsunami. The appointment of Indian-origin CEOs at the world¡¯s most iconic companies is now an unstoppable trend. International boardrooms consider them to be almost ¡®safe¡¯ leadership bets," Anand Mahindra¡¯s tweet read.??
Since being shared, the post has garnered more than 1,900 likes and several comments.?
Laxman Narasimhan's appointment comes at a time when?Starbucks faces a turbulent period. More than 200 of its US?stores have unionised in the past year, with workers pushing for better benefits and wages at a time of surging inflation.
Narasimhan is a graduate from the University of Pune and completed his master's degree in German and international studies from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has a master's in business administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania¡¯s Wharton School.??
He joined Reckitt in September 2019 and was the first external candidate to take the helm at Reckitt since it was formed in 1999. He has previously served as global chief commercial officer at PepsiCo and also looked after the operations in Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.
On Thursday, Reckitt announced that Laxman Narasimhan would step down as its CEO, following which FTSE-listed Reckitt's shares fell 4 per cent.??
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