Why these Starbucks investors want the firm to split CEO and chair roles
The proposal also notes that 60 percent of S&P 500 companies already separate the two roles, citing Spencer Stuart’s 2024 Board Index, making Starbucks an outlier among its large-cap peers.
A committee created and dissolved in two years
Shareholders are also raising concern about the November 2025 dissolution of the Environmental, Partner, and Community Impact Committee, or EPCI; a standing board committee established in November 2023 under the previous independent chair. Its mandate included oversight of Starbucks’ labor commitments, environmental promises, and community impact.
The committee was removed less than two years after its creation, with no timely notice to shareholders, according to the proposal.
Its disappearance is particularly notable given that labor relations oversight was central to its original mandate, and labor relations have become one of the most contentious issues at the company.
Labor relations as a governance red flag
Before Niccol was appointed chair and CEO, Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United had negotiated 33 tentative collective bargaining agreement provisions. That progress stalled after his arrival, culminating in a barista strike in November 2025.
