Lodwrick Cook

Lodwrick ("Lod") Monroe Cook is an American businessman.

Background and education

Cook was born in Louisiana on June 17, 1928. He received a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Louisiana State University in 1950. After service in the United States Army, Cook returned to LSU and earned a second degree in petroleum engineering in 1955. He later received a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from Southern Methodist University, which he attended in the evenings. Louisiana State University, Pepperdine University, California Lutheran University and St. Augustine's College have awarded Cook honorary degrees for charitable work and contributions. Cook is the father of five children (all adults) and nine grandchildren. He and his wife, Carole Diane Cook, live in Sherman Oaks, California.

Memberships

Cook is a member of the LSU Alumni Association's Board of Directors, an organization he has actively worked with and contributed to financially for many years. Through direct personal donations as well as his own fundraising efforts, Cook donated the money used by LSU for construction of an alumni center. The 11,000 square-foot, 128-room building was opened in a ceremony led by former president George H. W. Bush and named the Lod & Carole Cook Alumni Center in honor of Cook's work. In addition to LSU, Cook is a member of the chancellor's court of benefactors for Oxford University in England and he is a Life Regent of Pepperdine University. He previously served on the board of advisors of the Carter Center of Emory University.

Cook is a trustee of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and a director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. His financial contributions and work with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles led to the dedication of the Lodwrick Cook Rotunda, an elegant marble rotunda within the library's downtown Los Angeles location. [“Lodwrick M. Cook (Bio),” LSU Alumni Association Board of Directors. http://www.lsu.edu]

In November 1994, upon appointment by Queen Elizabeth II, Cook was invested by the Prince of Wales with the Insignia of Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) for his contribution to Anglo-American relations and support for philanthropic projects around the world.

Mr. Cook was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2000.

Employment

Beginning in 1956, Cook was employed with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), the seventh largest oil company in the United States. Cook was hired as an engineer trainee, but went on to hold several management positions in labor relations, refining, marketing and planning, rising to become a Vice President of the company in 1970. After heading up ARCO’s West Coast refining marketing operations, he chaired the eight-company Owners’ Committee building the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. When the multi-million dollar pump station burned, Cook proposed a solution of injecting a drag reducing agent to speed the flow, a success when implemented and resulting in the savings several hundreds of millions of dollars.

In January 1986, he became ARCO’s chairman and CEO, succeeding the legendary Robert O. Anderson. Under Cook’s leadership, the new ARCO was hailed as the best-managed U.S. company, with profit margins approached by few and returns on equity equaled by none. He remained in his position for nine years until, in June, 1995, he retired, becoming Chairman Emeritus. [“2001 Winner: Lodwrick Cook,” Points of Light Foundation, 2001.http://www.pointsoflight.org/awards]

In September, 1997, Cook became Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Pacific Capital Group, a venture capital, merchant banking group founded by Gary Winnick. The following year, in April, 1998, Cook was installed by Winnick as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Global Crossing, a position Cook held until he stepped down in 2002 during the company's bankruptcy proceedings. Cook also served as chairman of Global Marine Systems beginning in 1999 and Asia Global Crossing in 2000.

In addition to ARCO and Global Crossing, Cook has served on the board of directors for Lockheed Corporation (until 1995), Castle & Cooke, the Kyle Foundation and Litex, Inc. He is also a member of the advisory committee of Aurora Capital Partners. [“Equal-Opportunity Crisis,” Time Magazine, 25 February 2002. http://www.time.com ]

Cook remains Vice Chairman of Pacific Capital Group and maintains an office at their Los Angeles, California location.

Global Crossing

Cook’s otherwise sparkling reputation as a businessman and philanthropist has been called into question by some as a result of his connections to the telecommunications giant Global Crossing, whose financial collapse and bankruptcy cost investors, employees and the economy billions of dollars. Like the Worldcom and Enron cases, Global Crossing's executives lost little to nothing, instead walking away with sizeable fortunes amassed during the company's heyday. While Cook did not gain the media attention or public denunciation his co-chairman Gary Winnick experienced, the close ties he had to the Bush family as well as the Republican Party were painfully evident and impossible not to notice.

The greatest controversy associated with Cook involves shares of stock given to former President George H. W. Bush in 1999. According to unofficially confirmed reports, Cook offered the former president shares of stock in the not-yet-public Global Crossing as payment of his $80,000 speaking fee for an appearance Bush was making on behalf of Global Crossing in Japan. Bush was also scheduled to speak for the company in Virginia and in Rochester, New York. What has been confirmed and was released by "BusinessWeek" in February, 2002, is that George and Barbara Bush sold 100,000 shares of Global Crossing stock in 1999 for $4.45 million. A subsequent SEC filing indicates an additional 1,000 shares were sold by the Bushes in March, 2000 for $55,000. Just months before Global Crossing's stock plummeted, the former First Family made $4.5 million selling their own shares in the company.

Cook's close relationship with the Bush family began during his years at ARCO. The opening of additional Alaskan reserves that would undoubtedly benefit ARCO was something Cook actively lobbied for, pouring money through ARCO into the Republican party and the Bush campaign. In 1992, the year of Bush's unsuccessful bid for reelection, these contributions amounted to over $850,000. Cook's donations to the younger president George W. Bush's campaign for president in 2000 totaled nearly $450,000. Cook was the first recipient of former President Bush's Points of Light Leadership award. [“Bush Sr.’s Profitable Crossing,” "BusinessWeek" Online, 22 February 2002. http://www.businessweek.com] In 2004, the George Bush Presidential Library named the library’s fountain the Lod and Carole Cook Presidential Library Fountain in honor of Cook. [“Bush Library Fountain Named in Honor of California Couple,” Texas A&M News, 7 June 2004. http://www.tamu.edu ] This honor was bestowed on Cook for his service to the Foundation and in recognition for his chairmanship of the New Horizons Endowment Campaign, which raised approximately $41 million, more than half of which was given to Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government & Public Service.

The political contributions made by Global Crossing, and in particular, Lodwrick Cook and Gary Winnick, have been viewed by many as the reason the investigations by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice were closed and no action taken, despite the striking similarity between Global Crossing and Enron and Worldcom, whose executives ultimately received prison sentences.

References

See also

*Global Crossing
*Atlantic Richfield Company