Shawn Conway

CEO at Peetâ€™s Coffee

Shawn Conway leads the company as its chief executive officer, guiding Peet’s 5,000 employees and business across all channels–Retail, CPG, Food Service, Office Coffee, E-commerce–and subsidiaries, including Intelligentsia Coffee, Stumptown Coffee and Revive Kombucha. Shawn has been with Peet’s for a decade, serving previously as the chief supply chain officer and chief operating officer, and overseeing many essential departments, including Coffee and Tea, Research & Development, Product Development, Logistics, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Quality Assurance, and Roasting Plant Operations.

Shawn brings nearly 30 years of management experience with high-growth, branded consumer products and businesses to Peet's. Before entering the specialty coffee industry, Shawn served as senior vice president of operations at SKYY Spirits, a subsidiary of Gruppo Campari, the sixth-largest spirits company in the world. Prior to SKYY Spirits, he served as chief financial officer and VP of operations for Gateway Learning Corporation, general manager of New Ventures at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, and held several finance-related positions at the Clorox Company.

Shawn received a BA from Santa Clara University. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife and their two children. When not at the office, he enjoys restoring classic cars from the 1970s. Favorite Peet’s beverage: With a passion for naturally processed coffee, Shawn gravitates toward a perfectly brewed cup of Ethiopian Super Natural, especially when crafted into a velvety smooth, textured traditional cappuccino by one of Peet’s expert baristas.

Why We Chose Him:

Peet’s is known as a coffee company, but knowledge is as important a commodity to its leadership, from founder Alfred Peet graciously sharing the fruits of his earnest study and experience with three eager young entrepreneurs (whose resulting enterprise is also well-known today as Starbuck’s) to current efforts to position everyone involved in coffee to thrive -- today and beyond. As Peet’s website states, “We work alongside farmers to offer training and educational opportunities, support farm community initiatives and invest in coffee plant science.”

In 2012, Peet’s was involved in founding World Coffee Research with other forward-thinking companies, the only organization applying advanced agricultural science for coffee on a worldwide, collaborative basis.

Shawn leads the company as its chief executive officer, guiding Peet’s 5,000 employees and business across all channels -- retail, CPG, food service, office coffee, e-commerce -- and subsidiaries, including Intelligentsia Coffee, Stumptown Coffee and Revive Kombucha. Shawn has been with Peet’s for a decade, serving previously as the chief supply chain officer and chief operating officer, and overseeing many essential departments, including Coffee and Tea, Research & Development, Product Development, Logistics, Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Quality Assurance and Roasting Plant Operations.

Continuing the legacy of his predecessors, Shawn maintains Peet’s operating standards to conduct its business honestly and ethically wherever it operates. This is not only within its own stores, where employees are expected to act with integrity and honesty in all matters and follow all applicable laws, but throughout its supply chain, where managers are expected to ensure that all vendors conform to its standards when working for or on behalf of Peet's.

We are honoring Shawn as well as Peet’s leaders before him who helped bring the company to this point as Social Capital CEOs.