Formerly a CCTV host and former Alibaba executive joined the Starbucks board of directors

On September 13th local time in the United States, Starbucks announced on its official website that founder Howard Schultz has resigned from the board of directors and will enjoy the honorary chairman honor for life. With Howard's withdrawal, the Starbucks board of directors elected former Alibaba executive Zhang Wei as the new director.

▲ Zhang Wei previously served as the President of Alibaba Pictures

Zhang Wei, born in 1970, bears the halo of being a "Harvard academic powerhouse" and has worked for well-known companies such as General Electric, Bain Capital, Alibaba, and Ralph Lauren in his career. His resume is very impressive. However, what made Zhang Wei well-known to the public was her side job. During her time as a part-time host of CCTV's "Dialogue" program many years ago, Zhang Wei had wonderful exchanges with heavyweight guests such as Sun Zhengyi and Li Kaifu. Her impressive performance on stage also left a deep impression on many viewers of this young face.

Starbucks founder retires

Shift focus towards family and charity

On September 13th, local time in the United States, Starbucks announced that founder Howard Schultz would resign from his position as a board member and officially retire. Howard was also awarded the title of Lifetime Honorary Chairman of Starbucks in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the company.

In the 1970s, Starbucks was just a small company selling coffee beans. After Howard took over, he insisted on creating Starbucks stores as the "third space", allowing customers to have a relaxed and business office space outside of their homes and offices. Howard's strategy has been extremely successful, with Starbucks now having over 36000 stores worldwide, including over 6500 stores in China. Since its listing on NASDAQ in 1996, Starbucks has brought investors a cumulative return of 410 times, while the total return on the S&P 500 index during the same period was about 10 times.

The Starbucks board of directors delivered a speech stating that Howard's motto is "Dream bigger, dream bigger", and his passion, vision, and dreams have always inspired the company to move forward. Howard himself said, "My gratitude to Starbucks' millions of partners and customers is immeasurable. Looking back on my 41 years at work, I have had the privilege of embarking on a wonderful journey from the grassroots level of the company. As Honorary Chairman, I look forward to supporting this generation of directors in the future. I will be a loyal customer, supporter, and advocate of Starbucks."

Howard said that after retirement, he will shift his focus to family life. At the same time, he and his wife Xie Li run the Schultz Family Foundation, which will collaborate with entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and others to promote innovation and expand employment, aiming to help everyone achieve their dreams.

The board of directors welcomes Zhang Wei to join

Starbucks struggles to recover in the post pandemic era

Starbucks also announced that former Alibaba executive Zhang Wei will serve as a member of the board of directors from October 1st. According to current board member Hobbes, "Zhang Wei is considered an innovator and innovator in the industry, and we are delighted that she has joined Starbucks. Her rich experience, broad perspective, and wholehearted commitment to business development will help us continue to grow. Zhang Wei's joining, combined with the inspiring strategic vision of the new board of directors, makes me believe that our best days are really ahead.".

According to the Starbucks official website, Zhang Wei is responsible for international business and media strategy at Alibaba Group and has over ten years of experience in this area. She is currently a board member of Ralph Lauren Corporation and has also served as a board member of organizations such as the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission and the Jack Ma Foundation.

According to public reports, Zhang Wei joined Alibaba as a senior executive in 2008 and has been deeply involved in Alibaba Group's business decision-making, media relations, and corporate social responsibility. According to Zhang Wei's personal Weibo authentication information, she has served as the President of Alibaba Pictures and the Senior Vice President responsible for capital operations at Alibaba Group. Before joining Alibaba, she worked at Starry Sky Media under media tycoon Murdoch as the Director of Operations for the China region. In addition, she also briefly served in CNBC China. During her earlier travels to the United States, she held senior positions at renowned consulting firms such as Bain Capital and General Electric.

Zhang Wei said, "Starbucks' limitless growth mindset is impressive and resonates with me. For decades, I have been a Starbucks customer worldwide. I am honored to have the opportunity to work with a talented leadership team to contribute to Starbucks' business and brand, creating significant value."

Starbucks CEO Narasiman said, "I would like to extend a warm welcome to Zhang Wei, who has brought important experience to the Starbucks board in global operations, consumer technology, entertainment, and corporate business development."

During the COVID-19, the operation of Starbucks stores was greatly affected, and there was an adverse situation of sharp decline in revenue for six consecutive quarters in the Chinese market. In the post pandemic era, Luckin Coffee has surpassed Starbucks in both the number of stores and sales revenue in the Chinese market.

However, the latest Q2 2023 fiscal year shows that Starbucks has begun to emerge from its worst times in both the global and Chinese markets. Starbucks achieved a revenue of $8.7 billion in the second quarter of this year, a year-on-year increase of 14.5%, exceeding market expectations; The net profit was 908 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 34.7%. In the Chinese market, Starbucks achieved a single quarter revenue of nearly 800 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 11%, and achieved positive growth for the first time since the third quarter of the 2021 fiscal year.

Zhang Wei:

Harvard Experience Exercises Psychological Quality

Hosting the "Dialogue" program and being familiar to the audience

Zhang Wei holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from Sheldon Hill University. In 2019, she received the highest honor, the Outstanding Alumni Leader Award, from Sherton Hill University. In 2020, the US "Business Insider" website listed her as one of the "100 People Who Changed Business" and she also received the "Entertainment Industry Innovator Award" from the Rockefeller Family Foundation.

Zhang Wei once said that her experience at Harvard Business School helped her overcome her introverted and shy side, forging a "sharp teeth". The biggest feature of Harvard MBA teaching is the use of case teaching method, which allows students to gain a lot. In her subsequent hosting career, Zhang Wei met several interview guests who happened to be the characters from the cases discussed in class, which helped her to more smoothly open up the conversation of the guests. At the same time, 50% of Harvard Business School's total grades are scored based on the enthusiasm and quality of classroom presentations, which forces Zhang Wei to engage in a heated debate with classmates around the world in English. She recalled, "I think people may feel more introverted or less expressive towards Eastern girls, so I think we must change this impression. So I speak hard in class."

Later, while working in the financial industry, Zhang Wei also took the time to work part-time as a host at CCTV, which made her well-known to many viewers. She was selected as a "CCTV host" during her junior high school years and formed an inseparable bond with the television industry. Zhang Wei once revealed in an interview that she believes that television hosts and financial work complement each other. Due to hosting the CCTV program "Dialogue", Zhang Wei needs to engage in dialogue with heavyweight guests from both domestic and foreign financial circles, which greatly tests her on-site reaction, psychological quality, and knowledge reserves. The guests Zhang Wei talked to included Lee Kai fu, who was still working at Microsoft at the time, Sun Zhengyi, founder of SoftBank Group, Intel President Barrett, Oracle President Larry Ellison, and others.

Zhang Wei stated that her habit is to never chat with guests in advance to maintain freshness, and she only communicates briefly with guests a few minutes before the start of the program. What impressed her the most was Sun Zhengyi. Before the meeting, Zhang Wei was "very worried that he would be like the Japanese we imagined, cautious and cautious.". Before going on stage, Zhang Wei specifically instructed Sun Zhengyi to "tell a story and relax". As a result, the program had a very good effect. Sun Zhengyi was very active on stage, with frequent golden phrases, and occasionally used humorous language to amuse the entire audience.

Red Star News reporter Zheng Zhi