Starbucks announced on Friday that Anand Varadarajan, an Indian national, will become the company’s new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from January 19. This appointment supports CEO Brian Niccol’s push to upgrade store technology and improve labour efficiency. Varadarajan replaces Deb Hall Lefevre, who resigned in September. Since then, Ningyu Chen served as interim CTO. CEO Brian Niccol shared the news online: "I’m proud to share that Anand Varadarajan will join us as executive vice president and CTO, starting January 19. He’ll be part of the Executive Leadership Team, lead the Starbucks Technology organization, and will report directly to me." Niccol added a personal touch: "Outside of work, he’s an avid runner aiming to complete all seven World Marathon Majors. He’s also a coffee enthusiast and starts most days with a tall latte or brewed coffee, followed by an order of Starbucks egg bites for lunch." Anand Varadarajan joins Starbucks after 19 years at Amazon, where he led technology and supply chain operations for its global grocery business. He also held software roles at Oracle and startups. Early in his career, Varadarajan worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Viquity Inc. (1999–2001), designing delivery protocols for B2B supply chain messaging. Starbucks recently posted gains in comparable sales for the first time in 18 months, reflecting some success from Niccol’s turnaround efforts in the US. Varadarajan holds a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Washington and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Purdue University. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology.