Starbucks EMEA GC on leadership, business turnarounds and traveling the ‘bumpy road’

‘When I started my business law degree, I loved it from day one,’ says Huma Allana van Reesch, general counsel, EMEA at Starbucks. ‘Pretty early on, I knew I wanted to be some kind of business lawyer, although at the time I didn’t really appreciate the difference between working in-house and being in private practice.’

Now, more than two decades into her career, she has found her calling, with in-house experience at a slew of household names that includes Coca-Cola, Reckitt, and now the multinational coffee giant.

Perhaps her path was clear from the beginning. She started her career with a business law degree, during which she worked part-time. Her first experience at a law firm was working in a non-legal role, in revenue control, at London firm Wilde Sapte, before its merger with legacy Dentons Hall in 2000.

She then trained at Dentons, and worked as an assistant solicitor at Ashfords and spent a year as a legal advisor at esure before moving to Coca-Cola in 2007, where her first role was as legal counsel in the busy marketing and commercial division.

Legal, but with a distinctly commercial lens, has been the focus of her career – and Allana van Reesch is completely satisfied with that trajectory.

‘Working in-house can be counterintuitive to private practice training,’ she says. ‘You need to be agile, constantly reprioritising and pivoting as the business and external environment evolve at pace.’

‘Six months after I joined Starbucks the Middle East conflict broke out – we had to pivot and refocus’

This was certainly the case when Allana van Reesch joined Starbucks in April 2023.

Soon after, the war in the Middle East began, triggering widespread boycotts of the brand across parts of her region. The situation was further compounded by an ongoing cost-of-living crisis in the US.

‘It has been a career defining three years at Starbucks,’ she says. ‘The business was doing great, however, six months after I joined the Middle East conflict broke out, which had an impact on my region, EMEA.’

She continues: ‘We had to pivot and refocus how we do things to manage and support the business. Since then, trading conditions across EMEA and the Middle East have improved, contributing to renewed revenue growth in the region.’

The US side of the business was also seeing an impact of the cost of living crisis unfurling: ‘In other parts of the world we have also found there to be a more cautious consumer,’ explains Allana van Reesch.

Sales slumped, and, under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, the company replaced CEO Laxman Narasimhan with Brian Niccol, a seasoned retail executive who formerly served as CEO of Taco Bell and Chipotle, in mid-2024.

Following his appointment, Niccol implemented a turnaround strategy: the ‘Back to Starbucks’ plan. Shares rose 24.5% on the day Niccol’s appointment was announced, according to Forbes.

And while this was not enough to offset a 7% decline in global comparable store sales in Q4 of 2024, including a 6% decline in the US, during his tenure, sales have bounced back, and by June of this year the company had reported four consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth.

Allana van Reesch describes experiencing the transformation as fascinating, albeit not without its difficult moments, including a restructuring with numerous rounds of layoffs.

‘Brian has been very open that we need to change how we are organised to deliver Back to Starbucks,’ she says. ‘The aim is to simplify how we work, reduce complexity and put resources closer to the customer, while building a stronger and more resilient business. That broader transformation also includes strengthening how we work with licensees as we work towards our aspiration to be a world-class licensor.’

‘Unfortunately, that has involved difficult decisions, including restructuring and the elimination of some support roles.’

One of the most challenging aspects of the turnaround, and indeed in her career to date, was having to deliver the news to her team that some of them would be impacted by the redundancies. Allana van Reesch remembers having to deliver the news with shaking hands.

‘I will never underestimate how difficult it is to do something like that,’ she says. ‘Anyone who’s gone through it multiple times will probably feel the same every time. You cannot deny the corporate turnaround includes requirements like this.’

She continues: ‘What I learned from that process was you have to be kind, empathetic, clear, open and transparent.

‘Bringing the team back to a place of acceptance and performance is crucial, but it is important not to underestimate how hard and emotionally challenging that can be,’ she adds. ‘Authenticity, strong leadership and high emotional intelligence are critical in those moments.’

While delivering the bad news to the colleagues impacted was one major challenge, reassuring and motivating the remaining team around her and assuring them they are a valued part of the business was another.

One of Allana van Reesch’s core beliefs is that you have to want to be part of the journey and travel the ‘bumpy road’, as she puts it:

‘You have to believe that you can make a difference and that your role is adding value and impact. If you don’t believe that, you should question, why are you here?’

She continues: ‘It is not always easy to deliver this message but you can land it if you believe in it yourself.’

Allana van Reesch had her first taste of leadership at Reckitt. She joined the company in 2013 as regional legal director, northern Europe after nearly six years in a number of legal roles at Coca-Cola Enterprises.

It was a huge learning curve for Allana van Reesch, who not only had to build a team from scratch but soon realised she was responsible for representing legal to the rest of the business.

A formative experience for her at Reckitt was turning up at a marketing execution meeting and calling out a comment made by a higher up who didn’t know who she was.

Even though it was an uncomfortable moment, she learnt a lot: ‘You have to train yourself to come out of your own head and manage your insecurities. It is ok to be vulnerable, but build credibility across your stakeholders. In the case of Reckitt, I did this by inviting myself to meetings where I knew I could add value. Build your reputation as a business leader before you are “the lawyer”. It became a joke at Reckitt: “How come Huma is not at this meeting?”’

‘Bringing the team back to a place of acceptance is crucial – it’s important not to underestimate how emotionally challenging that can be’

‘Don’t get me wrong, it was stressful but also great fun,’ she concedes. ‘I was in my first leadership role and I was lucky to have built a great team. Trying to gain respect requires some thick skin, but we did it and were valued hugely.’

After four years at Reckitt, Allana van Reesch returned to Coca-Cola Europacific Partners as vice president, legal for Great Britain.

During her years at Coca-Cola, she dealt with matters varying from handling compliance with the new sugar tax to the supply chain changes that came with Brexit.

In between her two stints at Coca-Cola, Allana van Reesch worked at Reckitt on huge M&A deals, CMA clearances that stretched out over years, and a class action in Australia.

While the types of work can vary from one extreme to the next, Allana van Reesch maintains that as an in-house lawyer the mindset should always be the same: ‘Always think – what are the costs versus the benefit? How is it going to achieve business growth, realise opportunities and achieve results? What’s the worst that’s going to happen if you do it? Start through the lens of a business leader and then look around the corners. This is your business too.’

Building a high-performing team, whether in her first leadership role at Reckitt, or during the transformation at Starbucks, while stressful, has also been one of the most satisfying parts of her career. 

‘Building and leading teams is one of the most rewarding parts of my career. Seeing people grow and succeed individually whilst creating an inclusive, respectful, and close-knit environment for them is incredibly fulfilling. I’m deeply passionate about turning teams around and showing how a function can add real value to the business and have a great time doing it.’

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