Orin C. Smith (June 26, 1942 – March 1, 2018) was an American businessman who served as president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO) of Starbucks Corporation from 2000 to 2005. He joined Starbucks as vice president and chief financial officer in 1990, becoming president and chief operating officer in 1994, and a director of Starbucks in 1996. He was preceded by Howard Shultz and succeeded by Jim Donald who was himself succeeded by Shultz.

Biography

Prior to joining Starbucks, Smith spent much of his career in

management consulting Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

with

Deloitte & Touche Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

. Later he became the Chief Budget Officer for two Governors:

Dixy Lee Ray Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 17th governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981. Variously described as idiosyncratic and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female gover ...

and Booth Gardner, followed by service as CFO of two international transportation companies. With Smith onboard first as CFO then COO and finally CEO, Starbucks expanded to more than 10,000 locations worldwide and more than $5 billion in sales. Smith led Starbucks to link coffee production to the protection of rain forests. Smith retired from Starbucks in 2005 and later became a director of Nike, Inc. and

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. He was elected independent lead director of The Walt Disney Company on March 13, 2012. He served as chair of the Starbucks Foundation, vice chair of the University of Washington Board of Regents and member of the Conservation International board of directors. Smith graduated from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1965 and the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 1967. Smith was the recipient of many honors and awards, including the highest honor given to graduates of the Harvard Business School and one of Business Week's best managers in 2004.

Personal life

Smith was a resident of

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of ...

. He was born in Ryderwood, Washington, a logging camp. Soon after he was born, the family moved to Chehalis, Washington. He graduated from

W. F. West High School William F. West High School, commonly referred to as W. F. West, is a public high school in Chehalis, Washington, United States. It is the only high school in the Chehalis School District. It was named for local businessman William F. West, who do ...

in Chehalis where he grew up. He was a member of the 1960 high school basketball team, the Bearcats, which won the state Class A basketball championship. The local Vernetta Smith branch library in Chehalis, part of the

Timberland Regional Library Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is a public library system serving the residents of western Washington state, United States including Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties. Timberland Regional Library has 27 community libra ...

system, bears his mother's name. Smith died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

at his home in Palm Desert, California, at the age of 75.

References

External links

Orin C. Smith
corporate biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Orin 1942 births 2018 deaths American chief executives of food industry companies American chief financial officers American chief operating officers Businesspeople in coffee Directors of The Walt Disney Company Directors of Starbucks Harvard Business School alumni Nike, Inc. people People from Chehalis, Washington University of Washington alumni Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in California