Kevin Johnson, the former CEO of Starbucks, has joined the board of Recogni, an artificial intelligence startup headquartered in San Jose, California.
Recogni makes hardware and chips for artificial intelligence. Johnson is joining the board after Recogni raised a $102 million Series C round in February.
“We are privileged to have Kevin join our board of directors,” Marc Bolitho, CEO of Recogni, said in a news release. “His remarkable track record in executive leadership, scaling businesses, and navigating dynamic markets will be of great advantage to us."
Johnson led Starbucks as CEO from 2017 to 2022, after which founder Howard Schultz returned as interim CEO. Schultz handed the reins to current Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan in March 2023. Johnson had served as Starbucks' chief operating officer for two years before taking over as CEO and was on the board for more than 13 years.
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Johnson also led the networking technology company Juniper Networks as CEO for more than five years. He spent 16 years at Microsoft earlier in his career.
Recogni was founded in 2017. The company makes hardware to help autonomous vehicles with object detection, but it is moving further into chips for generative AI after its recent Series C round. Recogni's investors include Celesta Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, BMW i Ventures and Toyota Ventures, among others. The company had 75 employees as of 2023, according to its website.
In addition to Recogni, Johnson is on the board of Goldman Sachs, Twin Health and the Seattle-based customer data company Amperity. He has been on the board at Amperity since November 2020.
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