Timothy Donald “Tim” Cook (born November 1, 1960) is an American business executive, and he is the CEO of Apple Inc., having previously served for many years as chief operating officer until Steve Jobs’ medical leave in 2011.
Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as senior vice president of worldwide operations and later served as executive vice president of worldwide sales and operations. He became chief executive officer on August 24, 2011, replacing Steve Jobs.
He had previously been named acting chief executive after Jobs began medical leave in January 2011. In early 2012, he was granted a compensation of one million shares, with the grant vesting in 2016 and 2021, by Apple’s board of directors.
Cook is also a member of the boards of directors of Nike, the National Football Foundation Inc., and in 2014, Cook became the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company to publicly come out as gay.
Cook was born in Mobile, Alabama, United States, and grew up near Robertsdale. His father, Donald, was a shipyard worker, and his mother, Geraldine, worked at a pharmacy.
Cook graduated from Robertsdale High School. He earned a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University in 1982 and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in 1988.