Cathy Smith’s “wide bandwidth of experience could serve the company well,” a William Blair analyst noted, “despite her lack of specific restaurant industry knowledge.”

Starbucks is replacing its top finance executive, plucking Cathy Smith from the Nordstrom department-store chain, as the coffee group embarks on a turnaround. Smith will take over as CFO in the next month,

Starbucks named Nordstrom’s Cathy Smith as its finance chief on Tuesday, hiring a retail industry veteran to aid CEO Brian Niccol’s efforts to turn around the coffee giant. Smith will join after leading the finance operations at department store chain Nordstrom about two years.