Chicago businesswoman Mellody Hobson will step down from her position as lead independent director of Starbucks’ board of directors, the coffee giant said in a statement on its website.
Hobson serves as co-CEO and President of Ariel Investments in Chicago. She is also known for her marriage to George Lucas, the director and producer who created “Star Wars.”
Hobson has been a Starbucks board member for more than 20 years and has served as as the board’s vice chair, chair and, most recently, lead independent director. In a letter posted on Starbucks’ website, Hobson says she will not stand for re-election because she feels confident the company is in good hands with Brian Niccol, who was hired as chairman and CEO in September.
“I believe it is important for Brian to have a lead director who can sit alongside him for years to come — my twenty years is already a long time,” Hobson wrote in the letter.
“Together, I know Brian and the Starbucks board will remain laser-focused on driving long-term value for all stakeholders — from those who wear the green apron, to the farmers who grow the highest quality coffee beans in the world, to the pension funds that support millions of retirees,” Hobson wrote.
Hobson began her career at Ariel Investments, a Chicago investment firm, as an intern. She climbed the ranks and now serves as the firm’s co-CEO and president. She is also chairman of the board of trustees of Ariel Investment Trust, the company’s publicly traded mutual funds.
In 2017, Hobson became the first African American woman to chair the Economic Club of Chicago.
She married Lucas in 2013, at Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in California, and the couple founded the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. The museum had been proposed for Chicago’s lakefront, but the project became mired in months of controversy after the group Friends of the Parks filed a lawsuit blocking construction. In 2016, Lucas and Hobson abandoned plans to build the museum in Chicago and it was instead built in Los Angeles.
Hobson also serves as a director of JPMorgan Chase. According to her bio on Ariel’s website, she was a long-standing board member of the Estée Lauder Companies and chairman of the board of DreamWorks Animation until the company’s sale in 2016.
