Kevin Johnson – A Passionate Servant Leader

Kevin Johnson – A Passionate Servant Leader

Kevin Johnson – A Passionate Servant Leader

Pulkit Sharma || The CEO Magazine

Kevin Johnson is a passionate American business leader and CEO of Starbucks, a Coffee Company. He began his career in the year 1986 as an engineer when he joined IBM. He also worked joined Microsoft in the worldwide sales and as the president of its department. He was a key person in Microsoft as he along with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates used to determine the strategies in the company. He also served as a CEO of Juniper Networks from the year 200 to 2014. Kevin Johnson joined Starbucks as a board member in the year 2009, he was declared as the COO of Starbucks in the year 2015 and later in 2017 he was appointed as the CEO of Starbucks.

Early Life and Education

Kevin Johnson was born on 9 October in the year 1960 in Gig Harbour, Washington. He was raised by his mother with his siblings in Los Alamos. His mother used to work as a paediatric nurse at one of the children's clinic in Los Alamos and his father was a theoretical physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He completed his schooling from Los Alamos High school in the year 1978 and received his degree in B.A. in business administration from New Mexico State University (NMSU) in the year 1981.

Starbucks Corporation

Starbucks is a popular American coffee company and a coffeehouse chain which was founded in Seattle, Washington by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker in the year 1971. By the beginning of 2019, they operate in over 30,000 locations around the world.

Starbucks is known to be the representative of "second wave coffee" a term that made artisanal coffee also known as darkly roasted coffee popular. Since the beginning of this millennium, the third wave coffee makers have focused on the quality of the coffee with hand-made coffee. Well, Starbucks is using coffee machines, known as automated espresso machines for better efficiency and quality proposes.

Every Starbucks franchises serve whole-bean coffee, hot and cold drinks,  micro-ground instant coffee known as VIA, espresso, caffe latte, full- and loose-leaf teas including Teavana tea products. Frappuccino beverages, La Boulange pastries, Evolution Fresh juices and various snacks like chips and crackers, some offers are seasonal or location-based. They also sell pre-packed food like sandwiches, drinkware like mugs and tumblers. Their branded coffee, bottled cold coffee drinks, ice cream are also sold at various grocery stores.

First success for Starbucks came in the early 80's in Seattle. Despite an economic slowdown, they achieved great success with their expansion into the Midwest and British Columbia in the late 80's. Entering into the market of California was the best decision by Starbucks as it made then the brand they are today.  When Starbucks opened in Tokyo in 1996 that was the first time they had opened franchises outside of North America.

From the year 1987 to 2007, they opened an average of two new locations every day. They started their Starbucks Reserve program in the year 2010 for high-end coffee shops and single-origin coffees. Starbucks operates six roasteries with tasting rooms and 43 coffee bars as part of the program. Recently in 2019, they opened their biggest store in Chicago on the Magnificent Mile as their 6th roastery location.

Former CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz decided to step down from his position in the year 2017 and he was replaced by Kevin Johnson as he assumed the role from 3rd April 2017.

Get The CEO Magazine to your Door Steps; Subscribe Now

Related Stories

No stories found.
logo
The CEO Magazine India
www.theceo.in