Sweetgreen has named Lauren Crowley chief people officer, effective October 26, as the fast-casual chain prepares a year-end transition from Adrienne Gemperle.
Crowley will report to co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman. Sweetgreen says she brings more than 20 years of experience across consumer and technology businesses, including Expedia Group, Starbucks, Whole Foods Market and Dell. Most recently, she served as senior vice president of human resources at OC Sports & Entertainment.
Her Starbucks experience is the most directly relevant operating credential. According to Sweetgreen, Crowley led U.S. retail HR operations supporting more than 200,000 employees across more than 15,000 stores. At Expedia, she led enterprise talent programs serving 16,500 employees in 56 countries. Those assignments put both high-volume frontline work and large-scale talent systems in her background.
Gemperle will remain alongside Crowley through the end of 2026 to support the handoff before transitioning out of the role. Sweetgreen did not announce another position for Gemperle or provide a reason for her departure in the release.
The appointment lands at a useful point in Sweetgreen’s growth. The company says it now operates more than 285 U.S. restaurants. As a chain gets larger, the people function is not only responsible for recruiting and benefits; it sits at the intersection of training, manager development, retention, scheduling practices and the rollout of new operating systems.
Sweetgreen’s statement emphasizes culture, careers and support for restaurant teams, but it does not announce a new labor program, wage policy or staffing target. That boundary matters. A senior hire can signal priorities, but the operational evidence will come from future changes in manager workload, internal promotions, turnover and restaurant execution.
Crowley’s background also links two sides of the job. Starbucks exposed her to a very large distributed retail workforce, while Expedia’s enterprise role involved talent programs across countries. Sweetgreen is smaller, but it is growing a national store base while continuing to invest in digital ordering, new formats and restaurant operations. The chief people officer has to translate corporate systems into routines that work on the line.
For restaurant operators, the most notable detail is the planned overlap. A transition running through year-end gives Crowley time to learn the current organization before taking the role without Gemperle’s support. Sweetgreen did not disclose compensation or a contract term in the announcement.
The hire will be easy to judge only after the company attaches measurable actions to it. Until then, the verified news is a leadership change with an effective date, a defined reporting line and a structured transition—not a broader claim that Sweetgreen’s labor model has already changed.
