Howard Schultz /

Howard Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman, and entrepreneur best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics. Schultz co-founded Maveron, an investment group, in 1998 with Dan Levitan. In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked Schultz as the 354th richest person in the United States, with a net worth of $1.1 billion. Howard Schultz was born to a Jewish family on July 19, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of ex-US Army trooper and then truck driver Fred Schultz, and his wife Elaine. With his younger sister, Ronnie, and brother, Michael, he grew up in the Canarsie Bayview Housing Projects. As Schultz's family was poor, he saw an escape in sports such as baseball, football, and basketball. He went to Canarsie High School, from which he graduated in 1971. In high school, Schultz excelled at sports and was awarded an athletic scholarship to Northern Michigan University – the first person in his family to go to college. A member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, Schultz received his bachelor's degree in Communications in 1975. After graduating, he worked as a salesperson for Xerox Corporation.