Scott Cook

For the American soccer player, see Scott Cook (soccer).

Scott David Cook (born 1952) is an American billionaire businessman who co-founded Intuit. Cook is also a director of eBay and Procter & Gamble.

Scott Cook
Cook in 2017
Born	Scott David Cook 1952 (age 72–73)
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Co-founder of Intuit
Title	Chair of the executive committee, Intuit
Board member of	eBay Procter & Gamble
Spouse	Signe Ostby
Children	3, including Karl

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,^[1] where he serves on the dean's advisory board.^{[citation needed]}

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.^[2]

He was Intuit's chairman from February 1993 to July 1998.^[3] From April 1983 to April 1994, he served as president and CEO of Intuit.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

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."^[6]

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.^[7] They have three children, including show jumper Karl Cook, and live in Woodside, California.^[2]

Scott and Signe founded and are trustees^[8] of their $348 million^[9] family foundation, Valhalla, which funds early childhood development, K12 education, medical research and talent, environmental innovation, data literacy, and collaborative philanthropy.^{[10][better source needed]}

The Cook family owns and manages a ranch that both raises livestock for local restaurant trade,^{[11][12][better source needed]} and breeds, raises, sells, and trains show jumping horses from stallions and mares chosen from European bloodlines.^{[13][better source needed]}