01 Apr 2015

Scott Cook, Cofounder of Intuit, to Address Harvard MBA Students on Class Day 2015

ShareBar
Scott Cook (MBA 1976)

BOSTON—Scott Cook (MBA 1976), cofounder and now chairman of the executive committee of Intuit Inc., a pioneering financial software firm that is the cloud and mobile leader, will be Harvard Business School’s Class Day keynote speaker on Wed., May 27 (the day before the Harvard University Commencement exercises). The ceremony, which will take place on the Baker Lawn on the School’s campus in Boston, will also include a welcome from the co-presidents of the MBA Class of 2015, the presentation of faculty teaching awards, and a student address.

Following his undergraduate study of economics and mathematics at the University of Southern California and his two years in the HBS MBA program, Cook began his career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble before moving on to a consulting role at Bain & Company. It was his wife, Signe (an MBA from the University of Wisconsin), who inspired him to enter the world of entrepreneurship, when she became frustrated with how time-consuming it was to keep track of the family’s personal finances.

With personal computers just coming out at the time, Cook seized the opportunity to create basic and intuitive software that would help people pay their bills, cofounding in 1983 an enterprise aptly named Intuit. The company’s first product, Quicken, became a huge success, the result of a winning combination of revolutionary and easy-to-use software as well as constant attention to the needs of the customer, including information and service. Besides Quicken, the company’s flagship products now include TurboTax, QuickBooks, and the mobile financial app Mint.

Thirty-one years later, Intuit is a $4.5 billion company with over 8,000 employees, serving more than 50 million customers around the globe. Despite its growth, Cook has been passionate about preserving Intuit’s startup mindset. Throughout the years, he has ensured that Intuit has maintained an agile, experimentation culture that has established Intuit as an innovative company, which is consistently ranked as one of the best places to work, and among the most-admired software companies each year.

Cook received Harvard Business School’s highest honor, the Alumni Achievement Award, in 1996. The award recognizes graduates who represent the highest standards of professional excellence and integrity.

The HBS Class Day ceremony is planned and conducted by a committee of second-year MBA students. It is open to members of the graduating class and their guests as well as HBS alumni, faculty, and staff.

Click here for more information on HBS Class Day and Harvard University Commencement.

Contacts

Christian Camerota
ccamerota+hbs.edu
617-495-6931

About Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 250 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and PhD degrees, as well as more than 175 Executive Education programs, and Harvard Business School Online, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching, to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The School and its curriculum attract the boldest thinkers and the most collaborative learners who will go on to shape the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.