William J. Cook, Jr., Ph.D.

President    
wcook@cambridgestrategics.com
Office: 800-343-4590

A native Alabamian, he holds a Bachelor or Arts degree in English and History from Jacksonville State University and a Master of Arts degree in English and a Doctor of Philosophy in British Literature from Auburn University. A distinguished military graduate, he served three and one-half years as a regular army officer; his last assignment was company commander in an airmobile division.

While in the military as a regular Army officer, Bill participated in the development of the strategies that changed the nature of warfare from the concept of land massed armies to the flexible, quick response highly mobile characteristics of today’s military. He was, in fact, an operations officer in an experimental unit charged with developing and testing the new air mobile tactics.

In education, he was a member of the team that planned and developed Auburn University at Montgomery. His primary responsibilities were (1) the accreditation of the university by compliance with the standards of the Southern Association and (2) developmental activities, including funding, research, and legislation.

In the corporate world, he has directed the restructuring of several major companies in the U.S. and abroad (many Fortune 500) including: (1) conversion from private to public ownership, (2) creation of holding companies; and mergers and acquisitions, (3) redefinition of the primary business of companies.

In 1977, Dr. Cook established the Cambridge Group, a firm that works with public and corporate clients around the world in strategic system design and action. Well-known in education, this firm has facilitated over 1150 strategic plans and trained over 6,000 facilitators of strategic planning. In 2007, The Cambridge Group joined with Group Affiliates to create Cambridge Strategic Services, a firm with expanded capacity and resources dedicated to creating concepts of learning and teaching worthy of students.

Bill is the author of several books and articles dealing with both business and the humanities. His book on Evelyn Waugh, Masks, Modes, and Morals contains what some critics have judged the definitive treatment of Brideshead Revisited. He has written a collection of essays titled The Eckleburg Perspective and scores of articles and monographs. He has had the honor of having two of his speeches on education published in the “Congressional Record.” In education, his most well-known publications are Bill Cook’s Strategic Planning for America’s Schools. The Urgency of Change: The Metamorphosis of America’s Schools, a video series on strategic planning, Strategics: The Art and Science of Holistic Strategy and The Evolving Corporation: A Humanistic Interpretation. His latest book is UnEncorporating Education: Teaching and Learning for a Free Society.