Jim Donald (CEO) - Early Career

Early Career

At 16, Donald started work as a bag boy at a Tampa, Florida Publix chain store. By the time he was 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.

In 1996 Donald took over floundering Pathmark, a 143-store chain with valuable real estate but expensive debt. Donald filed Pathmark for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, washing the ailing company of debt, and succeeded in taking the new company public.

Donald joined Starbucks, the world’s #1 specialty coffee retailer, in 2002 as President of the North American division, where he managed operations for all Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada. He became President and Chief Executive Officer of the entire Starbucks Corporation before being asked to step down in 2008. During his tenure, Starbucks enjoyed record growth, including five straight years of 20%+ annual earnings increases.

In 2009, in an effort to reverse its ailing fortunes, Haggen Food & Pharmacy named Donald President and CEO. Within two years Hagen was restored to financial health and controlling interest was sold to Comvest Group. The new owners retained Donald in an advisory capacity.

Rick Hagen said that “Jim Donald led this company during some of the most challenging economic times our industry has faced. He made some tough decisions to make us leaner and better equipped to survive this recession. We are grateful for all of his many contributions.”

In February 2012, Donald was named CEO of Extended Stay Hotels.

"At Extended Stay, Mr. Donald inherits a company seeking to revamp its operations and capitalize on the ongoing recovery of travel and lodging in the U.S. Outsiders rarely step directly into CEO roles in the hotel industry. The few exceptions have mostly involved companies that brand and manage hotels. They've hired outsiders occasionally because they put a greater emphasis on marketing and brand-management skills than just managing real estate,"