Laxman Narasimhan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Laxman Narasimhan

• Laxman Narasimhan is an Indian American business executive. He has held several senior appointments with global companies like PepsiCo, Reckitt, and McKinsey & Company. He made headlines after he became the CEO of Starbucks on 21 March 2023.

• Laxman Narasimhan began his corporate career with McKinsey & Company in 1992, where he began climbing the ladder of promotions, and by 2012, Laxman had become the company’s director. He left McKinsey & Company in 2012.

• From 2012 to 2014, Laxman Narasimhan worked with PepsiCo as its Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). In 2014, he was promoted and made the CEO of PepsiCo in Latin America. He remained the CEO of PepsiCo in Latin America till July 2017.

• In June 2016, Laxman Narasimhan became a member of the board of trustees at the Brookings Institution.

• In July 2017, Laxman Narasimhan became the CEO of PepsiCo in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Laxman held the post of CEO of Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa till May 2019.

• In January 2018, Laxman Narasimhan became a member of the board of directors of the Nature Conservancy Latin America Conservation Council (NCLACC). He remained a member of the board of directors till June 2019.

• In March 2019, Laxman Narasimhan became PepsiCo’s global chief commercial officer. As a global chief commercial officer, he looked after the company’s sales and marketing, and he also made strategies related to the advertising of the products that were made by PepsiCo in different nations.

• In July 2019, Laxman Narasimhan left PepsiCo and joined the United Kingdom-based Reckitt Benckiser Group, which makes health, hygiene, and nutrition products. He joined the company as its CEO. Talking about his appointment as the CEO, Laxman, during an interview, said,
  

  I come in with very big ambitions but also come in with a lot of humility. Those ambitions include delivering a faster growth and sustained outperformance by building a very strong, potent and better business.”

• While giving an interview once Laxman Narasimhan claimed that in 2021, just a day before he was to give a presentation to the clients on the potential multibillion-dollar sale of Reckitt’s baby formula, he fell from the stairs of his house and broke his ribs and shoulders as a result of which he had to undergo emergency surgery. He further claimed that after the surgery, with a small amount of rest, he was able to give the presentation to the clients for four hours straight. He said,
  

  The doctor said it looked like I had been in a car crash, I arrived home at around 6 am after an emergency operation in the small hours and had just enough time to lie down on the sofa before starting nearly four hours of back-to-back presentations and Q & As with the staff, investors and the media.”

• In June 2021, Laxman Narasimhan became a member of the board of directors of Verizon, which is an American wireless network operator.

• On 1 September 2022, Starbucks announced that Laxman Narasimhan would join the company on 1 October 2022; however, the company said that Laxman would initially work with the company’s CEO Howard Schultz as an advisor to get to know more about the company’s functioning. The company further said that Laxman would officially take over as its CEO and replace Howard Schultz on 1 April 2023. Talking to the media about Laxman’s appointment, Howard Schultz said,
  

  Narasimhan brings nearly thirty years of experience of leading and advising global consumer-facing brands. He is also well known for his considerable operational expertise, and he has a proven track record in developing purpose-led brands. Building on companies’ histories, he has succeeded in rallying talent to deliver on future ambitions by driving consumer-centric and digital innovations. Laxman is also an inspiring leader. His deep, hands-on experience regarding to the driving of strategic transformations at global consumer-facing businesses makes him the ideal choice to accelerate Starbucks’ growth and capture the opportunities that lie ahead of us. His understanding of our culture and values, coupled with his expertise as a brand builder, innovation champion, and operational leader will be true differentiators as we position Starbucks for the next fifty years, generating value for all our stakeholders.”

  However, he assumed the post of CEO on 21 March 2023.

• Apart from working as the CEO of several global companies, Laxman Narasimhan has served as a member of several councils of the British government the Council of Foreign Relations and the Prime Minister’s Build Back Better Council.

• Laxman Narasimhan is a polyglot. He is fluent in speaking five languages Marathi, Hindi, English, German, and Spanish. According to Laxman, he learnt Spanish on weekends while working as the CEO of PepsiCo in Latin America.

• According to Laxman Narasimhan’s college friend Mukul Sutaone, Rajiv Bajaj, the Managing Director (MD) of Bajaj, is his batchmate from the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP).

• In August 2024, Laxman was replaced as the CEO of Starbucks by Chipotle chief Brian Niccol.