Tracy Britt Cool
BornSeptember 7, 1984
Manhattan, Kansas
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Business executive, entrepreneur
EmployerKanbrick

Tracy Britt Cool (born September 7, 1984, in Manhattan, Kansas)[1][2] is an American business executive and entrepreneur who was widely noted as a Warren Buffett protégé. She chaired four Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries before co-founding Kanbrick, a private equity firm, in 2020.

Background

Britt Cool was born and raised on a farm in Manhattan, Kansas, where, by about age 10, she operated her own produce stand,[3] negotiating with fruit and vegetable distributors throughout her teens and learning business from the ground up.[4]

She graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2009,[1][5] where, as an undergraduate, she had interned at 85 Broads,[4] Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers. Britt Cool served as president of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business (HUWIB)[4] and was voted "Most Likely to Become a Billionaire".[6] She was a member of the Zeta Xi chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta.[7] In 2006, while an undergraduate at Harvard, she co-founded Smart Woman Securities with future screenwriter Teresa Hsiao, which educates its members on investments.[4][2]

Career

Hired following her 2009 graduation,[4] Britt Cool became the financial assistant and noted protégé of Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett.[8][5][9] In 2012, she was featured among "40 Under 40: Hottest Young Stars in Business" by Fortune magazine,[10] then named to its "40 Under 40" list of emerging leaders in 2013.[11] In 2014, she was named to the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 influencers on global cashflow.[12]

In October 2014, she was named CEO of Pampered Chef.[5][13] Overseeing over $4 billion in annual sales and a workforce of over 10,000,[14] Britt Cool has chaired four Berkshire subsidiaries: Larson-Juhl, Johns Manville, Oriental Trading Company, and Benjamin Moore[11] and also served on the board of H. J. Heinz.[12]

On September 18, 2019, Britt Cool announced her resignation from Berkshire Hathaway and its subsidiaries, including her intention to step down from Kraft Heinz's board in the first quarter of 2020.[9] She left the firms in order to co-found Kanbrick, a private equity firm in Chicago, Illinois, with former Pampered Chef CFO Brian Humphrey.[15] In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Britt Cool said that she wanted to work with and acquire "businesses too small for Berkshire,"[8] mimicking its business model for smaller companies.[9] Kanbrick closed its first deal in July 2020, acquiring an interest in Thirty-One Gifts.[15]

Britt Cool is also a non-executive director of acquisition vehicle EverArc Holdings Ltd. which raised $340 million in an IPO.[16][17]

Personal life

She married Omaha attorney Scott Cool in September 2013. Warren Buffett walked Britt Cool down the aisle during the ceremony.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 "Tracy Britt Cool, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler". CNBC. October 6, 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  2. 1 2 Buhayar, Noah; Colby, Laura (2014-01-23). "Meet Warren Buffett's Top Troubleshooter: Tracy Britt Cool". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on January 25, 2014. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  3. ↑ Rosenbaum, Eric (2014-10-30). "Advice from Buffett's 30 year-old right hand woman". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Das, Anupreeta (June 11, 2013). "A Rising Star Emerges at Berkshire". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Leahey, Colleen (October 30, 2014). "Tracy Britt Cool: The education of Warren Buffett's protege". Fortune. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "How 29-year-old Tracy Britt Cool became one of Warren Buffett's most trusted advisers". Financial Post. January 21, 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "Notable Thetas". heritage.kappaalphatheta.org. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  8. 1 2 Friedman, Nicole. "Warren Buffett Protege to Leave Berkshire, Start Own Firm". WSJ. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
  9. 1 2 3 Li, Yun (2019-09-18). "A Warren Buffett protege is leaving to start her own Berkshire". CNBC. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
  10. ↑ "Fortune Celebrates 40 Hottest Stars in Business". sfluxe.com. October 31, 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  11. 1 2 "40 Under 40 2013". fortune.com. Fortune. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  12. 1 2 "Tracy Britt Cool, 29 - In Photos: 2014 30 Under 30: Finance". Forbes. 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Leahey, Colleen (2014-09-17). "Warren Buffett's wrath: How Benjamin Moore almost broke his promise". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  14. ↑ Clark, Patrick (January 27, 2014). "Four Lessons from Tracy Britt Cool, HBS Grad and Warren Buffett's 29-Year-Old Confidante". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  15. 1 2 Mohamed, Theron (July 18, 2020). "Warren Buffett's former lieutenant quit to build her own Berkshire Hathaway — and she just closed her first deal". MSN. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  16. ↑ Calatayud, Adria. "Acquisition Vehicle EverArc Raises $340 Million Ahead of London Listing". WSJ. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  17. ↑ "IPO of EverArc Holdings Limited - RNS - London Stock Exchange". LondonStockExchange. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  18. ↑ McMillan Portillo, Caroline (October 28, 2014). "6 things to know about Tracy Britt Cool, a Buffett protégée and Pampered Chef's new CEO". bizjournals.com. The Business Journals. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
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