GE has appointed Rachel Gonzalez, Starbucks’ former top lawyer, as general counsel of GE Vernova, its energy-business subsidiary, which it plans to spin off into a separate public company next year.

Gonzalez was general counsel of Seattle-based Starbucks from 2018 until her ouster in April 2022. Her departure coincided with the return of Howard Schultz as CEO of the company and amid a wave of highly publicized union organizing across the country.