- Former Starbucks Corp Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead has been appointed by Oyo Hotels & Homes as an independent director of its board.
- Alstead, who retired from Starbucks in 2016 after spending 24 years at the Nasdaq-listed corporation, and currently serves as the founder and CEO of Ocean5 and Table 47
Former Starbucks Corp Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead has been appointed by Oyo Hotels & Homes as an independent director of its board, the SoftBank-backed hospitality chain announced Friday.
Alstead, who spent more than two decades at the coffee giant headquartered in Seattle, had previously been responsible for overseeing global operations of the world’s largest coffee chain and its brand family.
“Troy brings a tremendous organizational and governance expertise that will help us continue to deliver on our mission to help millions of middle-income people around the world gain access to quality accommodation at different price points,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Group CEO of Oyo Hotels & Homes, in a statement.
The press release also claimed that Alstead “will play a supervisory role and provide guidance on key business decisions to the founder and management.” The C-suite veteran joins Gerardo Issac Lopez, founding partner at the SoftBank Vision Fund, Betsy Atkins, chief executive of Baja Corporation, Munish Varma of SoftBank Investment Advisors, Bejul Somaia, managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mohit Bhatnagar, managing director of Sequoia Capital and Aditya Ghosh, on the Gurugram-headquartered company’s board.
Alstead, who retired from Starbucks in 2016 after spending 24 years at the Nasdaq-listed corporation, and currently serves as the founder and CEO of Ocean5 and Table 47, also sits on the boards of legendary US motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, denim clothing giant Levi Strauss and sports and entertainment firm Topgolf.
“OYO, with its innovative asset-light business model and powerful data capabilities, is developing something entirely new for more than 3 billion middle-income travelers and urban residents who need accommodation that meets their expectations and budgets,” Alstead said in the statement released by the company.
The latest appointment comes around five months after Aditya Ghosh stepped down from his position as Oyo’s head of India and South Asia, and joined the board of directors of the company, having spent barely one year in an operational capacity. The company had previously hired Atkins as its first independent director, in November last year.
It also comes at a time when the company was under tremendous pressure due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which forced it to implement across-the-board pay cuts, furlough staff, and reportedly offload loss-making assets in almost every sector it operates on.
