The Principal
Ian Cook, PhD
Nine years shipping AI systems across defense, healthcare, insurance, and consumer tech. Currently SVP of AI Technology at Qloo.
I've spent my career building things that work—not decks about things that might work someday. The gap between "promising prototype" and "production system" is where most AI projects die. I live in that gap.
Fierce Highways is how I help teams who need to move now—not next quarter, not after another planning cycle. You have a problem. Let's solve it.
Background
My path to AI was unconventional. I started in public policy at the University of Chicago, studying how people make decisions. That led me to RAND Corporation, where I did quantitative policy analysis for defense agencies. While pursuing my PhD in Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, I taught myself Python and discovered that econometrics translated surprisingly well to the then-exploding field of data science.
Since then, I've led ML and data engineering teams across defense, healthcare, insurance, and consumer intelligence. At Sixfold, I improved document extraction accuracy by 40%. At SEEK and Govini, I built analytics platforms that turned messy enterprise data into actionable insights. Now at Qloo, I lead teams building cultural intelligence platforms that map 3.7 billion lifestyle entities.
I'm also the self-appointed Curmudgeon in Residence at the Auditory Perception and Cognition Lab—a title that reflects a curiosity spanning AI, data, and how humans actually think.
Career
Current
SVP AI Technology
Qloo
Leading cross-functional teams building cultural intelligence platforms that decode and predict consumer preferences across 3.7B+ lifestyle entities.
2022-2024
Head of AI/ML
Sixfold
Built and scaled ML infrastructure for insurance underwriting, achieving 40% improvement in document extraction accuracy.
2020-2022
Data Science Lead
SEEK
Led data science initiatives for enterprise search and discovery platforms.
2018-2020
Senior Data Scientist
Govini
Developed analytics solutions for government and defense clients.
2016-2018
Data Scientist
Highmark Health
Applied machine learning to healthcare analytics and outcomes prediction.
2012-2016
Policy Analyst
RAND Corporation
Quantitative policy analysis for major defense agencies and federal organizations.
Education
2008-2015
PhD, Political Science
University of Pittsburgh
2002-2004
MPP, Public Policy
University of Chicago
Selected Publications
Unexpected Philosophers: Coders of Tomorrow Need Plato As Much As Python
LinkedIn · September 2024
How to Choose an AI Vendor (Who Can Actually Deliver)
LinkedIn · September 2024