Stumptown Coffee Roasters is searching for new leadership after President Laura Szeliga stepped down in June, a move that comes just two months after Keurig Dr Pepper’s €14.86 billion takeover of parent company JDE Peet’s and amid sweeping changes in global coffee ownership.
According to the Portland Business Journal, Szeliga announced her departure on 12 June 2026 via her personal LinkedIn account, writing “That’s a wrap!” and stating, “I have stepped down from my position! It was a hard decision, but a decision I feel is in the right…”. World Coffee Portal reported that she left the role after five years, having joined the Portland-based roaster in 2020, and confirmed that Stumptown is now actively looking for a new President.
World Coffee Portal added that Szeliga’s departure follows “a turbulent 18 months” for Stumptown, including significant ownership change and site closures, though it did not specify which locations were affected. In a 2024 profile by the Portland Business Journal, Szeliga and Stumptown Vice President of Retail Jon Perry said that Stumptown and its team had been left to chart their own path under the ownership of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, which acquired Stumptown in 2015.
The leadership change comes shortly after a major shift in Stumptown’s corporate parentage. On 1 April 2026, beverage conglomerate Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) completed the acquisition of approximately 96.22% of JDE Peet’s ordinary shares for total consideration of about €14.86 billion, or €31.85 per share, according to transaction details reported by financial news service StockTitan.
Under the same deal, KDP announced plans for a tax-free spin-off that will create two U.S.-listed companies, Beverage Co. and Global Coffee Co., with operational readiness targeted by the end of 2026, according to both its corporate press release and StockTitan’s coverage. In KDP’s announcement, Board Chair Pam Patsley called the JDE Peet’s acquisition “a defining step in our value creation strategy” and said that executive Rafael Oliveira was “the right choice to lead the combined coffee business and launch Global Coffee Co.” Oliveira, who has spent a decade each at Kraft Heinz and Goldman Sachs and has served as Executive Director and CEO at JDE Peet’s since November 2024, said he was “honored and excited to work with our teams around the world as we serve consumers with the coffee experiences they love.”
The web of coffee ownership has continued to shift around Stumptown. Investment group JAB Holding Company, a long-time force in global coffee, fully divested its remaining 13% stake in Keurig Dr Pepper in June 2026, netting about $13 billion, according to private-markets outlet Private Markets Minute. The same report noted that JAB’s exit formed part of a broader portfolio rationalization that also saw the sale of its minority stake in food and coffee chain Pret A Manger, at an implied valuation of around $2 billion, and the offloading of Nordic coffee chain Espresso House to EQT Partners in 2024.
Private Markets Minute reported that JAB’s strategy includes focusing on coffee businesses it controls outright, expanding JDE Peet’s presence in Asia, and acquiring specialty coffee roasters in the United States. While no specific stock price or trading data were disclosed, the outlet described JAB’s complete KDP exit and $13 billion stake sale as evidence of major investor repositioning in the sector.
Before joining Stumptown, Szeliga had served for more than a year as Chief Marketing Officer at U.S. pizza chain Papa Murphy’s, where she was part of a turnaround team that took the company private, the Portland Business Journal reported in 2024. As of mid-June 2026, World Coffee Portal stated that Stumptown Coffee Roasters remains without a permanent President and is actively engaged in the search for a successor.
