Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is stepping down as interim leader of the company two weeks earlier than planned, the coffee giant announced Monday. Schultz is scheduled to testify in front of a key Senate labor panel next week, but it was not immediately clear if he still planned on attending. 

“Starbucks truly has been my life‘s work – but more than that, it’s always been about the lives of the millions of partners over the years who have proudly worn the green apron and it’s about the hundreds of thousands more who will join Starbucks in the years to come,” Schultz wrote in a letter to the company’s senior leadership team Monday, calling Starbucks employees “the heart and soul of our company.”

Schultz spent a total of 22 years atop Starbucks, where he began working in 1982 and was first named CEO and chairman in 1986. He served in that role until 2000, returned again from 2008 to 2017, and for a third time as interim CEO last year.

The new CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, worked for consulting firm McKinsey, PepsiCo, and most recently the consumer goods company Reckitt as CEO, according to Starbucks. The coffee company announced his appointment in September, with a scheduled start date of April 1.

“The foundation Howard has laid – building from scratch an iconic global brand fueled by a lasting passion to uplift humanity – is truly remarkable, and I am honored to have the opportunity to build on this deep heritage,” said Narasimhan in a statement.

Starbucks did not immediately respond to questions about the timeline shift, nor if Schultz planned to testify in front of the Senate labor panel next week as scheduled.

Earlier this month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced that Schultz agreed to testify in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which he chairs. Schultz agreed to offer testimony one day before a scheduled vote on subpoenaing him. 

“In America, workers have the constitutional right to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining to improve their wages and working conditions,” Sanders said in a statement at the time. “Unfortunately Starbucks, under Mr. Schultz’s leadership, has done everything possible to prevent that from happening.”

The National Labor Relations Board has over 80 complaints against Starbucks for violations of federal labor law, Sanders said. In February, a federal judge blocked the company from firing workers engaged in union activities. 

According to the progressive nonprofit More Perfect Union, 378 Starbucks stores in 40 states have filed to unionize, 293 of which were successful since workers at a store in Buffalo became the first to unionize in December 2021.

“We are hopeful that Laxman Narasimhan will chart a new path and work with us to make Starbucks the company we know it can be,” said Michelle Eisen, a barista from that Buffalo store, in a statement published to Starbucks Workers United’s Twitter account after the announcement. "We also look forward to Howard Schultz testifying before the Senate HELP committee on 3/29 and being forced to answer for his actions."