Molly Liu

Molly Liu co-leads Starbucks business in the Chinese mainland, spearheading the company’s robust growth in its largest and fastest-growing international market through the relentless pursuit of Starbucks purpose-driven China growth agenda, which includes an ambition to operate 9,000 stores across 300 Chinese cities by 2025. She is also a Starbucks global executive leadership team member, contributing her rich market insights and field knowledge in China to the company’s global decision-making. 

An 11-year Starbucks partner, Molly joined the company as corporate project director, before assuming the role of general manager for its Digital Ventures business, and most recently chief operating officer, where she accelerated the expansion of Starbucks market-leading store portfolio to more than 6,500 stores in over 250 Chinese cities, and achieved exponential growth across omnichannel platforms while elevating the distinctive Starbucks Experience via the seamless integration of store and digital operations.  

As head of the Digital Ventures organization, Molly led her team to set the foundation for the company’s digital flywheel by pursuing relentless innovation and building landmark digital partnerships that have deepened digital customer relationships and fueled substantial incremental business growth. Under her leadership, the Digital Ventures business grew from scratch to become a leading engine contributing to close to half of Starbucks China sales.     

Molly was the architect behind the launch of “Starbucks Delivers” and “Starbucks Now” digital ordering services and other innovative experiences such as Delivery Social Gifting, bringing the Starbucks brand to life vividly in the digital space. She also grew Starbucks Rewards into a leading loyalty program in program scale, member engagement, and brand equity – with over 20 million active members. 

Before Starbucks, Molly served as an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company, focusing on consumer and retail industries. She graduated from Fudan University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international finance.