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Dana Pellicano leads the Starbucks Product Experience team, elevating the customer and partner (employee) experience through beverages, foods, and game-changing product innovation.
A “boomerang” partner, Dana first wore a green apron in 1995 as a barista and a store supervisor while in college in New York City. Her love for food and beverage started with her first job as a prep cook in a pizzeria in her hometown of Bloomfield, New Jersey, and further developed as she opened a New York Times Four-Star Restaurant as kitchen manager, served as a general manager for highly regarded restaurants in New York City, and Food and Beverage Director for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and Loews Hotels.
Prior to rejoining Starbucks in 2023, Dana most recently served as president of Patina Restaurant Group, where she was leading global business, strategy and implementation, exploration of new opportunities, and development of talent throughout the organization. She previously led food and beverage for Marriott International.
Dana received a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Fordham University in New York and studied food studies and management in graduate school at New York University. She is an independent director on the board of Valet Living and is a fellow at the Culinary Institute of America. She also frequently serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality at New York University, where she teaches entrepreneurship in restaurants and bars.
Outside of work, Dana enjoys cooking and baking. She and her husband are avid tennis players and love exploring new neighborhoods and towns with their rescue dog, Luna. Her favorite Starbucks beverage is a double tall, extra-dry cappuccino in the morning, and an Iced Americano in the afternoon.