Kathryn Cook

Inquirer
DISC Type : dc

Unreasonable Fellow at Unreasonable

Davis, California, United States

Overview

Kathryn Cook is the CEO and Founder of NuCicer, where she is pioneering the development of climate-resilient, high-protein chickpeas. Her unique background combines food and agriculture innovation with extensive experience in technical program management at Facebook, where she worked on AI/ML and aerial systems, and systems engineering at Boeing. She holds two degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.

Driven by a mission to improve both human and planetary health, Kathryn is a strong advocate for using bold science and system-wide thinking to solve complex challenges. She actively participates in impact-focused communities, such as her fellowship with Unreasonable, to collaborate with fellow innovators and accelerate the future of food.

Unique fact: Kathryn transitioned from managing large-scale unmanned aerial drone programs and developing aircraft composite materials to revolutionizing the genetics of the humble chickpea.

Personality Overview

Judgemental

Upfront

Hard To Convince

They can be nudged to make faster decisions by offering what they value.  They care equally about the product and its potential impact. They don’t always try to control the conversation but neither do they like yielding it fully.

Topics They Care About

Food System Innovation
Her company's mission is to unlock the full potential of chickpeas, connecting crop breeding to nutrition, flavor, and economics to transform protein ingredients.
Climate-Resilient Crops
She is building her company around developing more sustainable and valuable crops for growers, specifically creating new varieties of chickpeas.
Impact Entrepreneurship
As an Unreasonable Fellow and a founder, she is focused on using business to drive scalable and lasting change for human and planetary health.

Media Appearances

Reinventing the Chickpea with Kathryn Cook of NuCicer - The StartupSac Podcast. Featured in StartupSac Podcast (Spotify)

See Now

Chickpea As The Rotational Crop of the Future With Kathryn Cook of NuCicer. Featured in Spotify Podcast

See Now

EP-177 Transforming the Global Food System with the Mighty Chickpea | Featuring Kathryn Cook of NuCicer. Featured in Apple Podcasts

See Now

Work History

9-2025
Unreasonable Fellow at Unreasonable
12-2019
CEO & Founder at NuCicer
1-2018 - 12-2019
Senior Technical Program Manager, AI/ML at Facebook
8-2015 - 12-2017
Senior Technical Program Manager, Aquila at Facebook
7-2014 - 7-2015
President-Elect at Pacific Northwest Section, Society of Women Engineers

Education

2010 - 2011
Master of Science from University of California, Berkeley
2006 - 2010
Bachelor of Science from University of California, Berkeley

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 17 Location : Davis, California, United States Job Level : Leadership Designation : Unreasonable Fellow at Unreasonable
URL has been copied!

Insights For Selling To Kathryn

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Highlight the competitive differentiation of your product
  • Make sure that you you respond to any queries from them quickly
  • Ask them questions confidently while doing discovery, don’t be apologetic

DONT's

  • Don't try too hard to get friendly, let it happen with time
  • Don’t try to be an alpha salesperson, give them equal space
  • Avoid long winding pitches, stay objective

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Kathryn is

  • Belief in the product plays an important role, followed by objective proof and testimonials.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Kathryn

  • They may hesitate slightly, but if they are not convinced, they will say no.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Kathryn move?

  • They are neither the fastest decision makers nor the slowest.
  • Can Kathryn take some risk or not?

  • They can take risks only after they have analyzed the advantages and disadvantages.

You And Kathryn

Personality Compatibility


Other Unreasonable Employees

Explore more public profiles from related professionals at the same organization.

More Profiles

Discover additional public profiles from our index.

Search more profiles

Looking for someone else? Search here for anyone.

Or visit Humantic AI to know more.