Scott Cook
{{short description|American businessman}}
{{for|the American soccer player|Scott Cook (soccer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{BLP sources|date=August 2010}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2010}}
}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Scott Cook
| image = Scott Cook (Intuit) @ SXSW 2017 (cropped).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Cook in 2017
| birth_name = Scott David Cook
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1952}}
| birth_place =
| nationality = American
| other_names =
| occupation = Businessman
| title = Chair of the executive committee, Intuit
| boards = eBay
Procter & Gamble
| known_for = Co-founder of Intuit
| children = 3, including Karl
| spouse = Signe Ostby
}}
Scott David Cook (born 1952) is an American billionaire businessman who co-founded Intuit. Cook is also a director of eBay and Procter & Gamble.
Early life
Cook holds a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Harvard Business School,{{Cite web|last=College|first=Babson|title=cook-scott|url=https://www.babson.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/the-arthur-m-blank-center-for-entrepreneurship/awards/academy-of-distinguished-entrepreneurs/inductees/cook-scott/|access-date=2020-09-03|website=www.babson.edu|language=en}} where he serves on the dean's advisory board.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
Career
Cook started his career at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned about product development, market research, and marketing. He then took a job in strategic consulting at Bain & Company in Menlo Park, California. Cook soon began using the insights he was learning there to look for an idea for a company of his own. That idea came to him one day when his wife was complaining about paying the bills. With personal computers just coming out at the time, Scott thought there might be a market for basic software that would help people pay their bills. He launched Quicken and named his company Intuit in 1983, which today offers software and online products to help individuals and small companies manage their finances.{{cite web|title=Forbes profile: Scott Cook |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/scott-cook/ |website=Forbes |accessdate=11 October 2020}}
He was Intuit's chairman from February 1993 to July 1998.{{cite web|url=https://www.intuit.com/blog/intuit-ecosystem/intuit-brand/the-intuit-story/?search_term=Scott+Cook|title=The Intuit Story|date=August 5, 2019 |publisher=Intuit Inc| accessdate=November 28, 2020}} From April 1983 to April 1994, he served as president and CEO of Intuit.
In 2002, Cook and his wife, Signe Ostby, established the Center for Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business, the nation's first university-based center focused exclusively on training MBAs in brand and product management. Cook and Ostby both started their careers in brand management.{{cite web |url=https://business.wisc.edu/centers/brand-product/about/ |title=The Center for Brand and Product Management at the Wisconsin School of Business - About |publisher=University of Wisconsin–Madison |access-date=June 22, 2022 |quote="The Center was established in 2002 by Scott Cook—co-founder of Intuit, Inc. the maker of Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax—and his wife Signe Ostby, former vice president of marketing for Software Publishing Corporation. Both of these leaders began their careers as brand managers, and both continue to play a hands-on role in the Center to this day."}}{{cite book |last=Eisenberg |first=Lee |title=Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What |date=January 5, 2013 |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Shoptimism/Lee-Eisenberg/9781451668223 |location=New York |publisher=Free Press - Simon and Schuster |page=94 |isbn=9780743296250 }}
In 2005, Cook was No. 320 on the Forbes 400, with a net worth of $1.1 billion. Since the 1990s, he has "more than doubled his donations to Republicans and Democrats, giving the maximum [in 2007] to mainstream politicians such as Mitt Romney and Harry Reid."Harkinson, Josh. [http://motherjones.com/politics/2007/12/apostles-ron-paul?page=2 The Apostles of Ron Paul], Mother Jones (January/February 2008)
Personal life
Cook is married to Signe Ostby. Ostby worked for Procter & Gamble and Clorox before she launched Software Publishing Corporation, making productivity software for personal computers.{{cite web|title=Signe Ostby CBPM Founder|url=https://bus.wisc.edu/_lightbox/bus/boardmemberbio.aspx?guid={A94F569A-5BB6-4C87-85F2-7E61AE3C0DB3}|website=Wisc.edu|accessdate=November 4, 2014}} They have three children, including show jumper Karl Cook, and live in Woodside, California.
Scott and Signe founded and are trustees{{cite web |url=https://valhalla.org/people/ |title=Our People |website=Valhalla Foundation |access-date=June 22, 2022}} of their $348 million{{cite web |url=https://valhalla.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2020-Valhalla-Foundation-Form-990-PF.pdf |title=Valhalla Foundation 990 Form |website=Valhalla.org |publisher=Valhalla Foundation |access-date=June 22, 2022}} family foundation, Valhalla, which funds early childhood development, K12 education, medical research and talent, environmental innovation, data literacy, and collaborative philanthropy.{{cite web |url=https://ecfunders.org/member/valhalla-foundation/ |title=Valhalla Foundation |website=EC Funders |publisher=Early Childhood Funders Collaborative |access-date=June 22, 2022}}{{better source needed|reason=primary source|date=October 2022}}
The Cook family owns and manages a ranch that both raises livestock for local restaurant trade,{{cite web |url=https://www.rebylfood.com/pomponio-ranch |title=Pomponio Ranch: Pasture-Raised Using Holistic Grazing Practices |website=Rebyl Food |access-date=June 22, 2022 |quote=}}{{cite web |url=https://pomponioranchmeat.com/ |title=Raised Better Tastes Better |publisher=Pomponio Ranch |access-date=June 22, 2022 |quote=}}{{better source needed|reason=primary source|date=October 2022}} and breeds, raises, sells, and trains show jumping horses from stallions and mares chosen from European bloodlines.{{cite web |url=https://www.pomponioranchstallions.com/about/ |title=Breed to Succeed - Champions Breed Champions |publisher=Pomponio Ranch |access-date=June 22, 2022 |quote=}}{{better source needed|reason=primary source|date=October 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{commons category}}
- [http://www.inc.com/magazine/20040401/25cook.html Inc. profile for article on 25 Most Fascinating Entrepreneurs]
- [http://usercontribution.intuit.com/ The Contribution Revolution] is the wiki companion site to Cook's recent [http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbsp/hbr/articles/article.jsp?ml_action=get-article&articleID=R0810C&ml_issueid=BR0810&ml_subscriber=true&pageNumber=1&_requestid=197181 Harvard Business Review article] of the same name
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Scott}}
Category:University of Southern California alumni
Category:Harvard Business School alumni
Category:Procter & Gamble people
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:American technology company founders
Category:American billionaires
Category:American corporate directors