When Mark Ring arrived in Hong Kong in 2014 to take on a senior corporate role, it was a return to very familiar territory.

“As a kid, l learned to swim and ride a bike in Repulse Bay,” says the president of Starbucks Asia-Pacific. “Back in the early 1970s, my father had an assignment with Dow Chemical, and the family spent three years here. I went to Hong Kong International School as a primary student and have fond memories of weekends going on junks and exploring Stanley market. It was a magical time and a great opportunity to experience something other than American culture.”

Not surprisingly, it also sparked a lasting interest in travel and languages and, in due course, the desire to find a career which offered variety, significant challenges and an international dimension.

Back home in Michigan, Ring took up Spanish in junior high and, when he moved on to Indiana University for a BA in accounting, this opened the door to an exchange programme in Seville and formative trips around Europe and North Africa.

Throughout, though, there was also a strong sense of practicality and realism.

“From early on, I wanted career opportunities outside the United States – it’s a big world,” he says. “But for that I knew I needed a skill and a level of expertise. That’s why I chose to concentrate on accountancy and finance. It was an entry point and an area of demand, and could offer a path into general management, which was where I wanted to go.”

Summer internships with Deloitte and Dow Corning, which involved a big project on inventory management, helped to refine the choices and, on graduation, he joined the latter as a finance trainee. It was, though, very much a manufacturing environment, with little obvious glamour or cachet.

“To be honest, I was young, very naive and a bit disrespected, but it turned out to be the best first job I could have had,” he says. “I worked on financial analysis in a self-contained US$100 million revenue business with its own production function, and was reporting to the CFO. Essentially, though, the business was run by chemical engineers, so to do my job I needed buy-in from crusty old men who had worked their whole lives on the plant floor. It was a very important lesson in how to create win-win situations and to listen to those around you.”

With that experience, in 1993 he signed up for a two-year MBA in international management at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management. The course offered a balance of business, political and language studies, and Ring opted to focus on Latin America as part of his personal philosophy of taking calculated risks.

“At times, you have put yourself in position where both success and failure are possible, where there is something at stake,” he says. “That way you find out a lot about yourself.”

That basic strategy guided his job search on graduation. Consciously inverting the usual process, he first chose a preferred location and then started scouting around for possible employers.

“I had previously visited Seattle and thought it would be a great place to live. Everyone looks for different things in a city, but for me there was a fantastic vibe. It was very entrepreneurial with a real sense of energy, and there was a beautiful natural environment within easy reach. I was self-confident with a sense of adventure and thought there was nothing to lose.”

So, he went there, found an apartment, and with no furniture and very little money spent the first month sleeping on the floor. Things soon picked up, when he landed a job with Starbucks as a project manager in finance and planning and, from that point on, he never looked back.

Various promotions saw him managing retail systems for North American operations, overseeing cross-business priorities with Japan, and being regional director for the Pacific Northwest. From 2007, he had spells in Australia and Britain before returning to Seattle for a succession of US-based operational roles.

Now based in Hong Kong, he has responsibility for the company’s wholly owned, joint venture and licensed operations in 14 markets across the region, encompassing around 3,000 stores. Further growth is the target, but the company mantra also emphasises the importance of earning customer trust each and every day and responding to very specific needs.

At one level, that means continuing to localise in Asia in terms of store design and choices of coffee, tea and food. In doing this, the aim is to create spaces that are warm and welcoming for different types of customer and are attuned to the rhythms of the neighbourhood. Another objective is to move with the times by introducing, for example, apps which let office workers order ahead.

“In Asia, we have a young, upwardly mobile and digitally savvy customer base,” Ring says. “So, we are constantly thinking of ways to be relevant and serve them better.”

One such initiative is the “reserve bar” concept being introduced in select locations. It allows customers to enjoy premium coffees from smaller farms around the world, with different methods of brewing and grinding used in the preparation.

“What is striking about specialty coffee is the rate of innovation within the industry; it is unprecedented,” Ring says. “It gives the farmers access to broader markets, the consumer benefits, and it keeps us at the top of our game.”

With three young children, family comes first when he is off duty, but Ring is also a keen reader and has recently been tackling some of the classics.

“War and Peace, Anna Karenina, even Tom Sawyer. I love to read and am ready to try everything.”

DOING IT RIGHT

Mark Ring’s tips for making a career of it

Challenge yourself  “Throughout your career, be ready to do the hard stuff, the things that are really difficult. That is where you can make the most significant difference. Also, aim to be a lifelong learner, so you continue to grow and stretch yourself.”

Listen  “Good collaboration is based on open and honest dialogue and working through areas of conflict, which are inevitable. Always be constructive when dealing with colleagues.”

Be adventurous  “Make a constant effort to broaden your horizons by looking for a variety of experiences both inside and outside school. That is the key to becoming a well-rounded individual and learning to appreciate life and appreciate others.”

Learn a trade  “Whatever your career goal, it is important to have a technical skill as a foundation for later progress.”

Be humble  “In aiming to be a servant-leader, having a big ego gets in the way. Show you can be of service to others and don’t take the credit when things go right.”

This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as Branching out.