Topic: Jim Donald

James "Jim" Donald is an American businessperson. He is formerly the president and chief executive officer of Starbucks.

Donald started work as a 16-year-old bag boy at a Tampa, FL Publix chain store. By age 19 he was assistant manager of an Albertsons chain, owned a house and was earning more than his schoolteacher father. He rose through the ranks at Albertsons, constantly being relocated to struggling stores due to his reputation for successful turnarounds. In 1991 Donald's reputation reached Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, who personally flew to Phoenix to convince Donald to run Wal-Mart's new grocery division. In three years, Donald grew Wal-Mart's fledgling grocery division from 6 stores to 146.

From 1994 to 1996 he served as president of Safeway's 130-store eastern division, and bolstered his reputation as a turnaround-leader. Overseeing the $2.5 billion business and more than 10,000 employees, he succeeded in reversing Safeway's four-year trend in declining same-store sales.