Allan Cook
Allan studied BA (Hons) Systems Analysis back in 1989 and has since achieved a brilliant career. He is now one of the Executive Vice Presidents of Technicolor, in Hollywood USA, but still has big plans for the future.
A little help from UWE partners
Allan Cook was able to complete his studies with help from a Hewlett Packard (HP) sponsorship. When he completed his studies, HP was so impressed with his talent that he gained employment in their London office. Not content with working in the UK, Allan set his sights on the USA. “I had the opportunity to move to southern California, somewhere I had lived for a few years during my childhood. I started working at the J. Paul Getty Trust in their IT department as one of their Project Managers for building the ‘Getty Center’ (a billion dollar plus museum overlooking Los Angeles!)."
The studying never stops
Even then, Allan was still eager to broaden his horizons and educate himself further. In fact, he managed to juggle a full time job with completing an MBA at night school. Once Allan acquired the tools to progress, he was able to join Price Waterhouse (later PricewaterhouseCoopers) as a Principal Consultant. It provided a great challenge, with varied and interesting projects for Allan. “During the next 5 years I worked on a number of large-scale projects for entertainment and telecommunications companies across the US, the largest of which was managing the implementation of AT&T Wireless’s Customer Response Management system for their call centres (with 100 consultants over 18 months)."
Creating a buzz
Subsequently, after being hired back by HP and then PwC, Allan made quite a mark for himself and showed so much success, and talent, that he was approached by Technicolor to manage their global relationships with Paramount Studios, Viacom and Dreamworks Animation. “This allowed me to truly be part of the entertainment industry as opposed to working with entertainment customers. Earlier this year, I was promoted to Executive Vice President and to managing one of Technicolor’s global business units."
Following in his footsteps
Allan reflects on his time at UWE, stating how it was such a brilliant foundation to help him progress in his career. “UWE provided a solid foundation for my career in business and technology, in terms of helping me to build an understanding of the fundamentals of underlying technological aspects of media, in addition to being able to relate them to people and build relationships. He advises others who want to progress in this area: “Seize the opportunities that are presented to you and be ready for the next thing.” Allan reflects on his own studies; “I wish I kept up with the contacts I had made at university – subsequently, I have realized the importance of maintaining a network of key contacts."
Not one to rest on his laurels...
Even though Allan has a family, including two 12 year old twin boys, he still has time to not only continue with his studies this year at Stanford University, but also has big career ambitions too. “I aim to continue building my executive management skills and areas of responsibility. Specifically, continuing to champion the build-out of Technicolor’s digital backbone solution for an end-to-end digital workflow from pre-production, through production, post-production, theatrical distribution, home entertainment services and consumer distribution."
Page last updated 14 August 2012