Tim Cook has been appointed to a six-year term at the Duke University Board of Trustees, the school announced today. Cook joins alongside Coca-Cola Foundation Chairwoman Lisa Borders, PRM Advisors founder Patricia Morton, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and ValueAct Capital CEO Jeff Ubben.
“As Apple’s CEO, Cook has overseen the introduction of innovative new products and services including Apple Watch, Apple Pay and the new MacBook. He is leading a companywide effort to use 100 percent renewable energy at all Apple facilities, has encouraged his co-workers to give to charitable organizations in their community and started a generous program at Apple to match employee donations.
Cook was recently ranked No. 1 on Fortune magazine’s 2015 list of the World’s Greatest Leaders, and in 2014 he was named “Person of the Year” by the Financial Times.
Before being named CEO in 2011, Cook was Apple’s chief operating officer, responsible for the company’s worldwide sales and operations. He was a Fuqua Scholar at Duke, where he earned an MBA, and holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University.”
Since leaving Duke, Tim Cook has returned on multiple occasions — most notably speaking at a 2013 reunion for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, in which he outlined what kind of attributes he looks for in employees and what it takes to be a great collaborator.
Given his focus on education at Apple, if Cook can bring to the role even a drop of the same Cupertino magic he’s currently spreading, we can’t think of a better person to help lead Duke University into the future.