Lara Anderson

Lara is committed to helping individuals and organizations create a culture of continuous improvement and learning. She has successfully coached and led teams in customer-facing environments.  She has also developed large company programs at Starbucks Coffee that deliver value to the customer and the business.  Lara’s strengths are in designing training and learning experiences that engage the learner, improve performance capabilities and help organizations achieve business goals.

Lara has an undergraduate degree from Whitworth University and a Masters Degree in Organizational Management and Development from Fielding Graduate University.   Lara lives in Seattle with her husband and son.  She enjoys traveling around the Pacific Northwest, gardening and snowboarding at the area’s different mountains.

Lara has over 15 years of operational leadership experience complemented by skills gained through designing and implementing training strategies, managing complex projects in a corporate setting and assisting in the development of a lean strategy program at Starbucks Coffee.

Lara assisted in the global implementation of a new operating model across all Starbucks Coffee retail stores by consulting with program owners, developing the training program and coaching senior field leaders.  The new operating model made the work easier for store team members, enabling them to serve more customers and deliver higher quality products.

She has extensive experience in program management at Starbucks Coffee and Auction Edge, Inc.  She has developed and implemented programs for customer service initiatives, training strategies, marketing programs and new products.  Responsibilities have included holistic change management plans, integrating programs with other business units, creating internal and external communication plans and reporting on success metrics using a variety of testing methodologies.

As a multi-unit manager for Starbucks Coffee, responsible for 11 stores and an annual sales budget of $10,000,000, Lara developed a leadership style that positively impacted entity outcomes.  She consistently exceeded business metrics, grew the local market and established a strong pipeline of talent at all levels.