Tracy Britt Cool | |
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Born | |
Alma mater | |
Occupation(s) | Business executive, entrepreneur |
Employer | Kanbrick |
Spouse | Scott Cool (m. 2013) |
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.
Britt Cool was born and raised on a farm in Manhattan, Kansas, where, by about age 10, she operated her own produce stand. [3]
She graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 2009, [1] [4] where, as an undergraduate, she had interned at 85 Broads, [5] Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers. Britt Cool served as president of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business (HUWIB) [5] 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. [5] [2]
Hired following her 2009 graduation, [5] Britt Cool became the financial assistant and noted protégé of Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett. [8] [4] [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. [4] [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]
She married Omaha attorney Scott Cool in September 2013. Warren Buffett walked Britt Cool down the aisle during the ceremony. [18]