Laurie Cook, Vice President of Public Sector at Yext

Laurie Cook is the vice president of public sector at Yext, where she manages the company’s business services for the U.S. federal, state and local governments. Cook, the first person to serve in the role, is responsible for assembling Yext’s public sector sales unit. Before joining Yext, she was chief growth officer at The Ambit Group, leading its business development and partner organization and proposal teams, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Cook previously served as the VP of public sector sales and alliances at Blue Prism, where she led a team that conducted business in the robotic process automation market. Prior to that, she was part of SAS Institute as a senior executive for the federal civilian market, serving clients such as the Department of Commerce. At LexisNexis, Cook became manager of federal civilian sales after starting out as a strategic sales executive.

For almost eight years, she was a global account manager at Qwest Communications, where she sold data solutions, including ultra-long haul, voice-over-internet protocol and hosting services to Fortune 200 companies. Earlier in her career, Cook held sales manager positions at IP Axess and Lexmark.

She is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, where she earned a double major in English and philosophy.