Following a month-long race fiasco after two men were arrested for nothing at a Starbucks, the company has named an African-American woman as vice chair of its board.
Mellody Hobson is the longtime president of the investment company Ariel Investments LLC, which manages $13 billion in assets.
A Princeton University graduate who rose from intern to head Ariel, she has been on the boards of organizations such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Estee Lauder, and the Chicago Public Education Fund. She was chair of the board of directors for Dreamworks Animation, and negotiated its purchase by NBCUniversal for $3.8 billion.
A familiar face for many people from her financial segments on “CBS This Morning,” Hobson is 49 years old and married to movie producer and Star Wars creator George Lucas.
She has already been serving on the board of directors for Starbucks.
Her appointment as vice chair comes after the recently announced departure of executive chairman Howard Schultz, who had previously served as CEO. The new executive chair will be Myron E. Ullman, former head of department store chain J.C. Penney.
Starbucks has been in damage control mode since May, when backlash followed the unwarranted arrest of two black men in one of its Philadelphia stores.
That news overshadowed the company’s latest triumph, a $7.15 billion global distribution deal with Nestle.
Starbucks operates more than 26,000 locations worldwide and is valued at $79 billion, according to Forbes magazine.