Inception
Ruth Cook, a pioneer in the executive search business, founded Cook Associates in 1961. The company established itself as a trusted partner in building executive teams for leading organizations.
In 1977, two young cousins, John Kins and Arnis Kins purchased the company from Ruth Cook to further refine the company's performance in executive recruitment and talent management in the United States as well as around the globe. Today, Cook Associates, Inc. is one of the leading retained Executive Search and M&A Advisory Services firms in the country.
Everlasting Values
The company was founded on and remains loyal to its core values:
Integrity
Collaboration
Trust
Transparency
M&A Advisory Services Addition
In 1996, Cook Associates founded its M&A Advisory Services arm, one of the nation's leading buy-side M&A advisory firms. Since then, Cook's M&A team has been working with the nation's top private equity and venture capital groups helping them identify ideal investment opportunities.
Since its inception, Cook M&A has been adding new programs to its services, among them the CEOVisions® Acquisition Services program and the Focus FirstTM strategy. Cook M&A has completed more than 65 transactions ranging from $5 million to $800 million in enterprise value.
Continuous Excellence and Growth
Over the last 48 years Cook Associates diligently secured its intellectual growth while expanding geographically. Headquartered in Chicago, Cook Associates now has offices in Boston, MA, New York, NY, Stamford, CT, and Richmond, VA.
In 2006, Cook Associates Executive Search joined InterSearch, the global family of leading executive search firms, with an exclusive right to represent the United States on the international front.
In 2007, the Executive Search division of Cook Associates established River North, its sister company dedicated to the recruitment of manager level talent.
Cook Associates is among the top global executive search and M&A advisory services companies in the United States. With each coming new year, Cook strives to respond to our clients' needs and to the external environment by providing only the best options and services.