Engineering Alumnus Named COO of Apple

The founding chair of Auburn's Industrial and Systems Engineering Alumni Council, Cook graduated from Auburn with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and earned his MBA from Duke University where he was a Fuqua Scholar.

Cook joined Apple in 1998 as senior vice president of operations and was promoted to executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations in 2002. In 2004, his responsibilities expanded to include Apple's Macintosh division. Cook manages Apple's supply chain, sales activities and service and support in all markets and countries.

"Tim has been doing this job for more than two years now, and it's high time we officially recognized it with this promotion," says Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Tim and I have worked together for over seven years now, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with him to help Apple reach some exciting goals during the coming years."

Before joining Apple, Cook was vice president of Compaq's Corporate Materials Department and spent 12 years with IBM as director of North American Fulfillment where he led manufacturing and distribution functions for IBM's Personal Computer Company in North and Latin America.