VML's Jon Cook Finds Serenity on the Hiking Trail

Jon Cook spends his weeks running one of the largest agency networks in the world. But on as many weekends as the global CEO of VML can get away, Cook trades holding company duties for hiking boots and heads to the mountains. Cook and his wife, Lisa, keep a small cabin in the woods near Estes Park, Colorado, just 15 minutes from the gates of Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s not a short trip from his home base in Kansas City — about an eight-hour drive — but when the mountains call, he answers. “I’m really bad about taking time off. What I’m really good at is maximizing weekends there,” he says. “I have become elite level at figuring out how to get there for a weekend,” even if it means flying in from London in time to hit the trails on Saturday morning. Cook traces his passion back to when his three daughters attended summer camp in Colorado where hiking was a core part of the experience. “Seeing hiking through their eyes, and then my wife and I doing our own hikes on the back of taking them to and from camp, opened up my eyes to how accessible it is and how zen it can make you feel,” he recalls. Now, they go as often as they can between May and November, before the snow arrives. Cook also makes hiking part of longer family trips, checking off national parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton as well as the Swiss Alps. “They seem more fairytale to me,” he says of Switzerland’s mountains. “It just seems like an artist came down and put waterfalls everywhere, whereas in Colorado it still feels beautiful but a little more haphazard.” On his bucket list? The Rockies’ 58 famed 14ers, the 14,000-foot peaks that lure ambitious hikers. “My goal is to stay fit enough to knock off as many 14ers as I can,” he says. Don’t picture Cook with crampons and grappling hooks though. His idea of a perfect day in the mountains plays out more like a rugged walk: a three- to four-hour trek with Lisa covering between 4 and 6 miles at a conversational pace, followed by a hearty meal at a nearby town. “The hiking is sort of an excuse to go into little mountain towns and find their best breweries, pizza shops, coffee shops, art galleries,” he laughs. Family remains central to these outings. With his daughters now grown and scattered across Los Angeles, Boulder, and New York, schedules are difficult to coordinate, so he often hikes with one of them at a time. One memorable hike took place in the early days of the pandemic after his eldest daughter flew in from New York. Unsure of what was unfolding in the world, they set off together with a six-pack of Coors Light tucked into a backpack and drank them sitting by a stream. “It was the perfect hike at the perfect time,” he says. “I think that’s how Coors Light was intended to be enjoyed.” The mountains also took on deeper meaning after Cook experienced a cardiac event in 2022 that left him briefly restricted from high altitudes. Once cleared, he felt renewed urgency to maximize his time outdoors. “It definitely made you realize not to waste one moment of any weekend when you could be in the mountains hiking and you could be with people that are your closest friends and family,” he says. Beyond the scenery, exercise, and discoveries along the way, for Cook hiking is about the connections forged on the trail. He and Lisa discuss anything from dinner plans to the weightiest topics of the world. During a family gathering over the summer, his school-age nieces and nephews hiked alongside Cook’s 82-year-old father. Even fellow hikers they meet on the trail are happy to strike up a conversation. “Everybody just seems friendlier,” he says. “You’re all there for the hike, and I love that.” Off the Clock chronicles the hobbies, sports, and side hustles of people in the advertising and marketing industries. To nominate someone, email eva.kis@adweek.com.

Off the Clock

VML's Jon Cook Finds Serenity on the Hiking Trail

The agency network's global CEO spends his weekends in the Rocky Mountains and beyond.

Eva Kis

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