TIM COOK

Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple and serves on its board of directors. Before being named CEO in August 2011, Tim was Apple’s chief operating officer and was responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries.

Shortly before Jobs's death in 2011 – and at the Apple co-founder's suggestion – Cook was formally made CEO of the company.

This made him the seventh Apple CEO, and he's been in the position for nearly 10 years. John Scully lasted for 10 years as CEO and Steve Jobs had the title for 14. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace. (Apple website)

Steve Jobs recruited him in 1998 from Compaq, where he had been vice president for corporate materials for less than a year. Before that, Cook had been at IBM for over a decade, and at that time, it would've seemed peculiar to leave the PC world to join Apple.

Tim was vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Previous to his work at Compaq, Tim was the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics.

Tim also spent 12 years with IBM, most recently as director of North American Fulfillment where he led manufacturing and distribution functions for IBM’s Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America.

Cook graduated from Auburn University in Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1982, and in 1988 he received a master’s in business administration from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

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