Scott Cook
Quote | Bio

Chairman of the Executive Committee
Intuit

Mr. Cook is the driving force behind Intuit's strategy to revolutionize people’s financial lives. After watching his wife painstakingly pay bills by hand in 1983, Mr. Cook began moonlighting with Intuit co-founder Tom Proulx, then a Stanford student and computer programmer, to develop Quicken.  Mr. Cook used the marketing techniques he had learned at Procter & Gamble to discover that consumers wanted personal finance software that was easy to use and intuitive.  Combining Mr. Cook's research with Mr. Proulx's computer code, the fledgling Company shipped its first version of Quicken in 1984. 

Mr. Cook is also well known as one of the first to apply techniques from consumer product marketing to software.  Among these were: usability testing and in-home testing of products; a "follow me home" program in which Intuit product developers observed consumers using Intuit software; product manuals written in plain English; and the first TV direct response advertising for a consumer software product.

Since the launch of Quicken, Mr. Cook has been instrumental in guiding Intuit into new businesses such as small business accounting software, tax preparation software for home PCs and Internet businesses, including Quicken.com.

Mr. Cook is currently the chairman of the Executive Committee of the board.  Mr. Cook previously served as the chairman of the board from 1983 to 1998.   From 1983 to 1994, he also served as Intuit’s president and chief executive officer.  Mr. Cook is active in the Company on a full-time basis, providing vision, inspiration and strategic leadership to the Company as it pursues new technologies and new businesses.

Before founding Intuit, Mr. Cook managed consulting assignments in banking and technology for Bain & Company, a corporate strategy consulting firm. Prior to Bain, he worked for Procter & Gamble, the household-products giant, in various marketing positions, including brand manager, for four years.

Mr. Cook holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Southern California and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University. Mr. Cook is a member of the board of directors of eBay; Procter & Gamble; The Asia Foundation; the Harvard Business School Dean’s Advisory Board; The Center for Brand & Product Management at the University of Wisconsin; and the Intuit Scholarship Foundation.