Global coffee shop chain Starbucks has hired Pilar Ramos as its next chief legal officer, replacing Brad Lerman whose impending retirement was announced earlier this year.
Ramos joins from Spanish-language media company TelevisaUnivision, where she was general counsel. At Starbucks, Ramos will advise on a range of strategic and operational matters. She will also sit on the company’s executive leadership team.
In a memo to staff, CEO Brian Niccol said: “Pilar is a trusted advisor and distinguished team leader who brings deep corporate and global experience across several industries.”
Ramos arrives after more than four years at TelevisaUnivision, including six months at Univision before its $4.8bn merger with Televisa in 2022. Prior to that, she spent almost two decades at Mastercard across a range of legal roles, including more than six years as GC for its North America business.
She also had in-house spells as assistant GC at DIRECTV Latin America and as GC at Latin American online market place DeRemate.com (which was later acquired by e-commerce giant Mercadolibre). She started her career in private practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a corporate associate.
Lerman, meanwhile, will leave the company in November after two and a half years as the company’s legal head. He is remaining on until then to help with Ramos’s transition.
Niccol said: “Since joining the company in 2023, Brad has had a meaningful impact. He’s significantly strengthened our global legal and compliance function, and provided steady, thoughtful counsel on important issues.”
Lerman was lured out of retirement in April 2023 to join Starbucks by then CEO Laxman Narasimhan, following the departure of previous legal head Rachel Gonzalez in 2022. Narasimhan was then replaced by Niccol as CEO in September last year.
Prior to joining Starbucks, Lerman worked at medical device company Medtronic as GC before retiring in January 2022. He also had earlier spells as GC at Fannie Mae and chief litigation counsel at pharma giant Pfizer. Prior to his in-house career he was a partner at Winston & Strawn and Kirkland & Ellis. He also spent eight years as an assistant US attorney in the Department of Justice.
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