The debut episode features Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company 18 months ago amid cultural and strategic challenges. In the conversation, he reflects on redefining leadership at scale and restoring momentum to a globally recognized brand. Upcoming episodes will include leaders such as the former CEO of GSK, Emma Walmsley, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, and others.

The series launches ahead of the Semafor World Economy in April and is part of a broader effort to support high‑quality, year‑round dialogue among CEOs navigating a rapidly changing global environment.

Today’s business landscape presents leaders with extraordinary challenges — from economic uncertainty and geopolitical volatility to rapid advances in AI and significant workforce disruption. The CEO Signal focuses on the leadership judgment behind these moments: the pivotal decisions, lessons learned, and real‑world experiences that shape organizations and careers.

We invite you to explore the first episode and follow future conversations as the series continues to grow.

About Semafor and PSP Partners:

Semafor is the world’s fastest-growing independent news media company delivering intelligence through its reporting and live convenings. Founded in 2022 by veteran media executives Justin B. Smith and Ben Smith, Semafor provides intelligent, transparent journalism that cuts through the noise and distills complexity for leaders to navigate the complex and interconnected new world economy. With a global sensibility, reach, and reporting hubs that span from Washington D.C. to Silicon Valley and Wall Street to sub-Saharan Africa and the Gulf, Semafor’s journalists around the world power its suite of daily first-read email briefings and signature live journalism convenings. Semafor’s flagship World Economy Summit, anchored in Washington, D.C., is the largest gathering of top global CEOs in North America, and its convening on emerging economies, The Next Three Billion, is held annually at UNGA and expanded this year to South Africa, East Africa, and the UAE. In 2024, Semafor was named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for “rewriting the story” on international reporting.

PSP Partners is a Chicago-based private investment firm founded by its Chairman Penny Pritzker, an entrepreneur, civic leader, and philanthropist, and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The firm is comprised of a highly experienced team of investment professionals and business builders focused on partnering with entrepreneurs, business owners, and management teams to build market-leading businesses and develop valuable assets.

With investment strategies focused on established businesses (PSP Capital), emerging/growth companies (PSP Growth) and real assets (Pritzker Realty Group), PSP Partners invests across stages and asset classes with a primary emphasis on business & technology services, advanced industrials and real estate that are well-aligned with its expertise and experience.