• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, July 29, 2016

Starbucks yesterday announced that it has hired Leanne Fremar as SVP, executive creative director.

Fremar comes from Under Armour’s Women’s and Concept Divisions, where she held the same titles. While there, she  spearheaded the female-targeted “I Will What I Want” campaign. Prior to Under Armour, she served in senior positions at Theory, Gucci Group and Polo Ralph Lauren.

Fremar will report to Starbucks’ global CMO, Sharon Rothstein, when she joins the company in October.

She will lead the creative development of all global brand initiatives and marketing campaigns for the Starbucks brand, as well as the Starbucks Roasteries and Reserve brands.

The role includes responsibility for overseeing the company’s Seattle-based, 100-person, in-house creative studio, as well as its partnerships with agencies 72 & Sunny, Integer Group and Spark.

Earlier this week, Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz announced other changes to his senior leadership team as part of organizational changes designed to enable him to focus on “overall long-term strategy and innovation.” 

Schultz said he’ll be working closely with Cliff Burrows, who has led the Americas business for eight years, and will now head a new retail group called Siren Retail. 

The new division will take on international expansion of the company’s new premium Roastery coffee café chain and Teavana business; expansion of standalone stores and in-Starbucks locations for Princi, the Italian artisan cafés in which Starbucks invested last year; and development of Reserve stores, he said.