Panera Brands makes executive board updates ahead of IPO launchPanera Brands makes executive board updates ahead of IPO launch

Joanna Fantozzi

JAB Holding group Panera Brands announced Monday new executive board changes ahead of the company’s impending IPO launch. The St. Louis-based company has appointed former Starbucks CFO and current Panera board member as lead independent director of the board, and has added outgoing Krispy Kreme CEO Michael Tattersfield to the executive board, effective immediately.

Grismer joined the Panera executive board in Sept. 2022 and currently chairs the board’s audit committee. Before joining the Panera board, Grismer served as CFO of Starbucks for three years until 2021, and before that, he held the CFO position at Hyatt Hotels and Yum Brands, and has also held leadership positions at multiple Yum Brands brands, as well as at the Walt Disney Company.

Tattersfield has been serving as CEO and president of Krispy Kreme since 2017, where most recently, he has led the brand through a reimagining. This week, Krispy Kreme announced that he would be stepping down as CEO, effective Jan. 1. In Jan. 2024, Tattersfield will be appointed chairman of the board, where he will oversee the Panera executive board, along with Grismer. Before joining Krispy Kreme, Tattersfield had experience leading a public company as a former CEO of Caribou Coffee. Tattersfield also had a previous stint on the Panera board until last year.

Related:Panera Bread tests streamlined menu with fewer menu items at several locations

“We are thrilled to appoint Pat to Lead Independent Director and welcome Mike to the Panera Board of Directors as we continue to evolve the company’s business and governance structure in preparation for its important next chapter positioning the company to go public,” Panera CEO José Alberto Dueñas said in a statement. “Both are proven leaders with a strong track record of driving long-term value creation.”

Panera Brands — comprised of Panera Bread, Einstein Bros. Coffee and Caribou Coffee — is preparing to go public again after a previous failed attempt in 2022, following the dissolution of a partnership with New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer. The company was traded publicly for 25 years until being taken private by JAB Holding in 2017.

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