Cheryl Steele

Cheryl Steele is the Vice President of Global Security & Resiliency (Chief Security Officer) at Starbucks Coffee Company, a global fortune 150 company operating more than 30,000 retail locations in over 80 markets around the world. Cheryl also leads the company’s crisis management and business continuity practice, leveraging a network of intelligence experts to identify and escalate future risks and frame an enterprise-level perspective. Based in Seattle, her team includes partners in London, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Cheryl’s career spans executive and management roles across the private and public sectors. Her background includes leadership of business development for Fleishman Hillard and directing Booz Allen Hamilton’s work at the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and special projects for the U.S. Special Operations community. At Booz Allen, Cheryl contributed to the establishment of the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Partnership Initiatives and the launch of the Global Counterterrorism Forum. Cheryl is a former diplomat at the U.S. Department of State with domestic and overseas assignments in the Middle East and multiple tours directly supporting the now head of the CIA, William J. Burns. She has resided in both Egypt and Jordan and works to maintain her Arabic language skills.

Cheryl is a native of Massachusetts. She has her BA from Hobart & William Smith Colleges and an MA in Political Science from Columbia University in the City of New York.