Art Streiber
Seattle
Art Streiber shot the cover portrait of Starbucks C.E.O. Howard Schultz, clad in cycling gear, at Seattle’s Lake Washington. “He’s a pretty avid cycler,” Streiber says. “We really loved the analogy of the uphill climb he has to make with the company.” Schultz provided a French press full of Pike Place Roast for the photo crew at the dawn shoot. Streiber photographed former eBay C.E.O. Meg Whitman for the May issue.

David Margolick
Seattle
When David Margolick interviewed Starbucks’ Schultz, the writer took the opportunity to complain that his favorite order—decaf semidry cappuccino—doesn’t taste very good these days. “He had heard much worse,” Margolick says. “Obviously, something about Starbucks makes people very emotional.” Margolick, a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio and Vanity Fair, is working on a book about Sid Caesar’s influential TV program Your Show of Shows.

Daniel Golden
St. Louis
While reporting on embattled N.F.L. hopeful Muhammad Abdulqaadir, senior editor Daniel Golden was surprised to learn that former F.B.I. agents check prospective players’ backgrounds. “It does raise questions about the N.F.L.,” Golden says, “whether its flag-waving patriotism has become too intense.” Golden, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, is the author of The Price of Admission, a book about private universities’ application policies.

Sarah A. Friedman
St. Louis
Sarah Friedman has photographed countless athletes, but shooting Abdulqaadir wasn’t the average photo session with a running back. “Normally, you’re lucky if you get half an hour, but we spent the day together,” Friedman says. After learning about his difficult history of trying to break into the N.F.L., Friedman became a fan. “I’m really rooting for him,” she says. Friedman teaches at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Tunku Varadarajan
New York
In his Viewpoint column, New York University’s Stern School of Business professor Tunku Varadarajan explores ways the sponsors of the Summer Olympics in Beijing might address China's responsibility for human rights abuses both at home and in Darfur. “I can imagine the clamor growing louder as the Games approach,” says Varadarajan, a fellow at the Hoover Institution. 

James Verini
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico
The ways in which drug cartels smuggle guns from the U.S. into Mexico impressed and alarmed reporter James Verini. "They are as insightful and as manipulative of global trade as any great corporation,” he says. "You have to admire their ingenuity.” Verini, who lives in New York, wrote about Russia's quest for oil and power in the December issue.