Starbucks Faces Personnel Upheaval: Legendary Female CTO Resigns, Sparkling Speculation about the Truth behind Her Departure

The tech guru personally hired by Starbucks founder Schultz has left.

According to a pre - dawn report on September 27 by Yiou, Reuters reported late on the 26th that an internal letter written by Starbucks' new Chief Financial Officer, Cathy Smith, revealed that Starbucks Chief Technology Officer Deb Hall Lefevre has announced her resignation, and Ningyu Chen has been appointed as the interim Chief Technology Officer. Ningyu Chen previously served as the Senior Vice President of Global Experience Technology at Starbucks.

The 36 - year cross - industry "tech legend" comes to an end

Deb Hall Lefevre graduated from Southern Illinois University in the United States, majoring in Computer Information Systems.

This executive with over 30 years of cross - industry technology management experience has connected the digital transformation processes of giants such as Motorola, McDonald's, and Circle K through her career trajectory.

Deb Hall Lefevre

In 1989, Lefevre joined Motorola. During her 12 - year tenure at Motorola, she held various information technology and e - commerce positions, laying the foundation for her technology leadership.

In 2001, Lefevre switched to the food service industry and joined McDonald's. She held multiple information technology positions at McDonald's, including Chief Information Officer of the US division and Corporate Vice President, responsible for global enterprise solutions and business transformation. After 15 years at McDonald's, she was in charge of the digital transformation of approximately 14,000 restaurants in North America. Thanks to her efforts, McDonald's launched its first app and introduced customer self - ordering kiosks and digital menu boards.

In 2017, after leaving McDonald's, she became the first global CTO of Canadian retail giant Couche - Tard. Circle K (OK Convenience Stores) is the core global convenience store chain brand under Couche - Tard, with operations in 31 countries and regions. As of 2025, it operates approximately 17,000 stores globally.

At Couche - Tard, she was responsible for leading the technology strategy for 15,500 stores and 125,000 employees. Through data - driven initiatives (analyzing the behavior of 9 million customers per day on average) and system standardization, she reconstructed the convenience store operations and promoted the forward - looking layout of AI and robotics technologies. This achievement earned Lefevre the industry evaluation of being a "top - notch technology leader with a global perspective".

Lefevre joined Starbucks in May 2022 as Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. She was one of the executives personally recruited by Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz when he returned. She replaced interim CTO Hans Melotte. Lefevre was the key figure in promoting the integration of Starbucks' "technology + coffee" mission.

During her tenure at Starbucks, Deb Hall Lefevre led multiple technological innovations, including drive - through services, online ordering, payment reforms, AI inventory management, employee virtual assistants, and the restructuring of the technology team. In 2024, she won the CIO ORBIE Leadership Award for these achievements, becoming a benchmark figure in the retail technology field.

Lefevre once emphasized in an interview that "Digital technology has reshaped lifestyles, and the essence of retail technology is to make operations simpler and experiences warmer."

This concept has run through her career: establishing a "store - first" technology mindset at McDonald's, understanding consumers through data at Circle K, and focusing on "partner empowerment" and "stable beverage quality" at Starbucks.

Starbucks in turmoil,

How to return to its roots?

Lefevre's departure comes at a time when Starbucks is in the deepening phase of its "Back to Starbucks" strategy.

The "Back to Starbucks" strategy emphasizes improving the in - store experience, optimizing operational efficiency, using technology to empower baristas to interact with customers, and enhancing digital and automation capabilities. Starbucks' senior management stated that these technology directions and priorities will continue to be implemented, regardless of the change in the CTO position.

Regarding Lefevre's departure this time, there are rumors that she is considering "retirement" as part of her personal career planning. Sources said that Lefevre will stay until the end of the year to assist with the handover. Lefevre did not respond to media inquiries.

Industry insiders told Yiou that Lefevre's departure may be related to the changes and adjustments under Starbucks' strategic shift.

In June 2025, Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol announced a series of major organizational changes - the operations of the Technology department will be "merged into / reported to" the Finance department.

As part of the adjustment, Lefevre was required to report to newly - joined Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith (who joined in March 2025). Brian Niccol believes that this move can "strengthen the synergy between technology and finance and accelerate the implementation of the Back to Starbucks plan."

This adjustment may have made Lefevre's role, authority boundaries, and resource allocation different from what she originally expected or was used to. This may be one of the factors for her to consider resigning.

In June 25, 2025, Starbucks elected Dambisa Moyo and Marissa Mayer to join its board of directors. Global economist Moyo was once the co - head of Versaca Investments, a family office focused on global growth investments. Moyo has also served as an executive and director at companies such as Goldman Sachs, Chevron, Barclays Bank, and 3M.

Mayer is the CEO and founder of Sunshine AI, a tech startup that uses artificial intelligence to automate daily tasks. She has served as the CEO, President, and board director of Yahoo. Before joining Yahoo, she worked at Google for 13 years. Mayer is currently a board member of Walmart, AT&T, and Hilton Hotels.

Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol clearly stated that Dambisa and Marissa's joining the board is crucial for Starbucks' future. They bring in extensive experience, including in technology, transformation, and globalization.

The Back to Starbucks strategy is a strong call to return to the brand's strengths, while embracing digital tools that will define the next - generation customer and partner experience.

Starbucks Chairman Brian Niccol has always emphasized that technology is a core investment area for Starbucks. However, currently Starbucks is in a troubled period, facing a series of problems such as global layoffs, significant cost - cutting, senior management restructuring, declining performance, increased operating pressure, falling stock prices, and the sale of Starbucks China.

These pressures may make Starbucks want to speed up the pace of change, and at the same time, may increase the work pressure on the CTO. The gap between Starbucks' investment in technology and the expected returns may also be one of the speculations for Lefevre's departure.

People familiar with the matter revealed that Starbucks' layoff of 1,100 employees in February this year hit the IT team particularly hard. Sources said that Starbucks is outsourcing more and more IT work to service provider teams in India.

Some also believe that with the rapid spread of emerging technologies such as large models and Agents, Starbucks may need a "new" technology leader to regroup and lead the company out of the "shadow".

Lefevre's departure leaves behind Starbucks' unfinished digital mission, and Starbucks' digital transformation has entered a new "uncertain phase".

This article is from the WeChat official account "Yiou Network" (ID: i - yiou), author: Liu Huan, published by 36Kr with authorization.