Howard Schultz is an American businessman and entrepreneur most widely known as chief executive officer and chairman of Starbucks. He grew up in the federally subsidized Bayview Project of Brooklyn, New York.

He became the first of his family to graduate from college when in 1975 he earned his bachelor's degree from Northern Michigan University majoring in communication. He later joined Seattle's Starbucks, which sold only coffee beans at the time. Inspired by Italian espresso bars, he resolved to create a similar experience in the United States. He was rebuffed by Starbucks management at the time and Schultz responded by leaving to start his own company, Il Giornale . In a later twist of fate, the original Starbucks management decided to work on Peet's Coffee and Tea and sold its Starbucks unit to Schultz and Il Giornale. Schultz rechristened Il Giornale with the Starbucks name and aggressively expanded Starbucks's reach across the United States. It can be said that Starbucks popularized espresso drinks such as the cafe latte , and later, the frappuccino, to many Americans who had previously only tasted freeze-dried coffee .

Schultz co-authored a book called Pour Your Heart into It that expounds on his life journey with Starbucks.