Stephen Gillett

Stephen Gillett is a technology and business leader. Currently he works with Google's "moonshot unit" called Google[x]. Gillett accepted a position as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Symantec in December 20, 2012, leaving behind his position as President Best Buy Digital and Executive Vice President Global Business Services at Best Buy in greater Minneapolis, MN. He departed Symantec in November 2014. Gillett is the former Chief Information Officer, Executive Vice President of Digital Ventures at Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle, WA and was hired by Howard Schultz as part of the transformation leadership team in 2008. Gillett previously held executive positions at Corbis, Yahoo and CNET. He currently lives and works in the Silicon Valley.

Contents

• Whats tech doing in a cup of Starbucks
• Entrevista a Stephen Gillett
• Education
• References

Gillett was born in Panorama City, CA and grew up in Eugene, Oregon. He is of Lebanese descent: his father being from Tripoli, Lebanon. He was a member of the University of Oregon Football team in the late 1990s and attended the 1996 Cotton Bowl Classic.

As of January 2009, Gillett was considered amongst the youngest of the C-Level executives in the Fortune 500.

In 2005, Gillett was featured on HGTV Curb Appeal in San Francisco.

Gillett is a long-time MMORPG guild leader most recently in World of Warcraft.

In 2006, Gillett was recognized as an innovative Guild Master in World of Warcraft by Wired (magazine) You Play World of Warcraft? You're Hired!

In 2008, Business Weekly of Taiwan and China profiled Gillett and his guild leadership style and profile.

In 2009, Starbucks added Digital Ventures to Gillett's CIO duties.

Gillett was invited to the 2009 Aspen Institute by John Seely Brown and John Hagel as a young business and technology leader. The program, "Leveraging the Talent-Driven Organization in a Time of Economic Crisis," had Gillett facilitate a discussion: "Structure to Promote the Talent-Driven Organization".

In July 2009, Gillett was named to the Boys & Girls Club of King County board of directors. Also in July, Gillett was named a "40 Under 40 of Seattle & Puget Sound," a regional award program that spotlights the top business leaders under the age of 40.

In March 2010, the Aspen Institute named Gillett in the 2010 Henry Crown Fellow Program. The Henry Crown Fellowship is designed to engage the next generation of leaders in the challenge of community-spirited leadership. Also in March, Gillett was named a finalist in the Takreem achievement award ceremony held in Beirut Lebanon.

In October 2010, Fortune (magazine) ranked Gillett #22 in its "40 under 40" list.

In December 2011, InformationWeek named Stephen the Technology "Chief Of The Year".

In January 2012, Symantec named Stephen to their Board of Directors and member of the Audit Committee.

In March 2012, Best Buy named Stephen Executive Vice President and President of Best Buy Digital and Global Business Services.

In October 2012, Appinions Named Stephen Gillett as one of the most influential marketing leaders in America

In December 2012, Symantec named Stephen Gillett Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

In November 2014, Symantec announced that as a result of the split of the company, the role of COO would be retired. Stephen transitioned through 2015 and Veritas was sold to private equity in August 2015 for $8B.

In March 2015, Chipotle Mexican Grill added Stephen as an independent director on the board of directors and member of the audit committee.

In October 2015, Stephen Gillett joined Google Ventures as an Executive in Residence.