More than six months after its former head of human resources, Chet Kuchinad, resigned because of a family illness, Starbucks has hired Kalen Holmes for the job (officially called executive vice president of partner resources). She will start Nov. 16 and report to CEO Howard Schultz.

Holmes was most recently HR general manager for Microsoft's entertainment and devices division. Last fall, Starbucks hired Microsoft public-relations executive Vivek Varma as its senior vice president of public affairs.

In her six years with Microsoft, Holmes also held leadership roles in its server and tools division and had HR responsibility for its development centers in Israel and India. She has worked in the high-tech, energy, pharmaceuticals and global consumer sales industries, including management jobs at Bristol-Myers Squibb and PepsiCo.

Holmes has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Texas and an M.A. and Ph.D. in industrial/organization psychology from the University of Houston. She's on the executive board for the Center for Human Resource Management at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a director at the YWCA King and Snohomish counties.

Starbucks board member Olden Lee, who was interim head of HR after Kuchinad left in April, will assist Holmes during her transition and support Starbucks' international operations on an interim basis.