Famous entrepreneurs: Linda Cook

How a Kansas country girl became one of the most powerful women in the world.

The early years

Cook grew up in Kansas, the eldest in a family of six children. All of them were expected to work in the family dairy business while they were growing up. But an epiphany about her career came at the age of 16, when she began pumping petrol at a service station. She went on to earn a petrol engineering degree from her home-state university.

A man’s world

Her climb up the career ladder was not easy – soon after she started working for Shell, a foreman barred her entry to an oil rig for (the apparently unpardonable sin of) being a woman. He left his pick-up truck across the dirt road at the entrance, just to make sure she couldn’t come in.

Since that moment in 1980, at the start of her career, Cook has come a long way. She ran Shell Canada for a year, becoming the first female chief executive of a major oil and gas company. She was quickly promoted to the main board in 2004, summoned as part of the management shake-up that followed a scandal involving overstated oil reserves. Cook now heads one of three central businesses after the unification of Shell's Dutch and British parent companies.

On the board

Cook's main job is to head the gas and power unit, which has interests in a third of the liquefied natural gas produced in the world. She also oversees the high-profile hydrogen and renewable energy business, the Asia Pacific region and Shell's consulting arm. Outside of Shell, Cook sits on the board of Boeing. Married with three children, Cook lives in the Netherlands, where Shell Petroleum has a large presence.

Linda Cook was named the 44th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes Magazine in 2007.

Related links

• Want to work for Shell?
• Linda Cook: a short biography
• Women in business
• Are men worth more than women?

Your shout!

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