Good morning! Public media groups condemn federal funding cut, Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks on judicial attacks from Trump administration, and a new exec joins the Starbucks turnaround.
– Jolt of energy. Since taking over as Starbucks’ CEO in September, former Chipotle boss Brian Niccol has been executing a turnaround plan for the once-beloved coffee chain. He cut menu items by 30% and instructed baristas to start writing messages on cups, changes intended to simplify store operations and bring back customers’ feelings of connection.
Now, Niccol has a new right-hand woman in this mission. Cathy Smith is Starbucks’ new CFO, and my colleague Phil Wahba had one of the first interviews with her before she made her earnings call debut last week. (Revenues rose 2.3% to $8.7 billion. Niccol told Wall Street that the chain is “building back a better business.”)
Smith has been part of multiple turnarounds—at brands that Phil describes as having “lost sight of what customers loved about them, but which still had large reservoirs of goodwill to draw upon.” She led finance at Nordstrom while the retailer was going private and was at Target between 2015 and 2019, when the retailer needed to redo many of its stores.
“All brands drift over time, and I have pattern recognition,” Smith says. “I’ve seen this with a number of brands, and the great ones recapture what made them great.”
Smith gets into the weeds. Before taking the Target job, she took her family on a road trip to 65 Target stores in 10 states, Phil reports. She has taken a similar approach at Starbucks, visiting a coffee roasting plant, a distribution center, corporate HQ, and with plans to serve customers as a barista in store.
“I see where the brand is today,” Smith says. “It should be the Starbucks I remember, and it can be so much more.”
Read Phil’s full story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Public reaction. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to pull funding from public media—and was met with intense backlash. Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) CEO Patricia Harrison said the president doesn’t have authority over the CPB, as it’s a private company. The order was called “an affront to the First Amendment” by Katherine Maher’s NPR and “blatantly unlawful” by PBS CEO Paula Kerger. New York Times
- Addressing the attacks. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called out Trump’s attacks on judges who have blocked his policies, saying: “The attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.” Politico
- Removing race. Goldman Sachs has removed references to race from its “One Million Black Women” program, a multibillion-dollar initiative that the firm launched four years ago to foster economic growth for Black women. Now, according to a Goldman executive, the program is also for low- and moderate-income groups. Wall Street Journal
- Save the day. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling the SAVE Act, which would disenfranchise millions of voters including married women who have changed their last names, "dead on arrival." Schumer says that "every single Democrat is united" against the bill, which would need 60 votes to become law. Glamour
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Flashfood, a grocery deals platform, named Jordan Schenck CEO. Most recently, she was the company’s president and COO.
Bardavon, a network of physical and occupational therapy providers, appointed Sarah Meyer as COO. She was most recently the company’s SVP of client experience and network expansion.
Heidrick & Struggles, an executive search firm, appointed Kati Najipoor-Smith as regional co-managing partner, CEO and board practice, for Europe and Africa.
Skillsoft, a learning company for businesses, named Raianne Reiss CMO. Most recently, she was EVP and CMO of Yext.
Management consulting firm Bridge Partners appointed Jeanine Wright to its board of directors. Previously, she was COO/general manager of Wondery.
ON MY RADAR
‘Ethical IVF’ may be the problematic solution to Donald Trump’s IVF dilemma The Persistent
‘Oh, you’re a woman!’ Why are more than 90% of pilots still men—and can anything narrow the gender gap? Guardian
How Broadway’s Audra McDonald and Joy Woods made Gypsy their own Interview
PARTING WORDS
“I was joking with a colleague that I redefined what R&R is to be resilience and results because that’s what I feel like I’m focusing on.”
—Accenture CEO Julie Sweet on being a leader during periods of uncertainty and change