Howard Behar keynote speaker

Howard Behar is a renowned business leader, author, speaker, and mentor who has influenced the lives of numerous men and women at all stages of their careers and at all levels and roles.

For 21 years Behar led Starbuck’s domestic business as President of North America, and he became the founding President of Starbucks International opening the very first store outside of North America in Japan, Tokyo. Following this historic opening, over the next three years he introduced the Starbucks brand across Asia and the United Kingdom. After a two-year hiatus, he returned to Starbucks as president of Starbucks North America until his retirement in January 2003. He was a director of the company from 1996 to 2008 and served as an advisor and coach at all levels.  During his tenure, he participated in the growth of the company from only 28 stores to over 15,000 stores spanning five continents.

Howard now serves on the boards of several for-profit and non-profit organizations, including Education Element, iD Tech, The School of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University.  He is on the advisory boards of Anthos Capital, University of Washington Foundation, and a Trustee for The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation.

Howard is committed to the development and education of our future leaders and has been a longtime advocate of the Servant Leadership Model.  He is the author of two popular business books, It’s Not About The Coffee: Leadership Principles from a Life at Starbucks and The Magic Cup: A Business Parable About a Leader, a Team, and the Power of Putting People and Values First. Considered one of the finest examples of conscious capitalism, he is frequently sought by companies and leadership events to share his experiences building purpose-driven businesses and effectively engaging employees within large-scale corporations.