David C. Cook, a Christian publisher founded in 1875, began 2023 with a destructive building flood in January and recently announced a new COO amid continuing leadership changes, income struggles, and declining assets.
“A massive flood occurred after a boiler on the top floor burst, causing extensive damage throughout the building,” the ministry reported in a June 20 news release. The accident led to a months-long period of rebuilding, repairing, and “completely renovating the facility,” which was rededicated in a June 21 worship service featuring music by Dove Award-winning Paul Baloche. Cook also hosted a ministry-wide day of prayer.
In July, Cook named veteran employee Jana Zachman as its chief operating officer, and she will lead the ministry’s finance, IT, and warehouse and distribution divisions.
Zachman joined Cook in 2003 and has since worked in accounting and financial management and served in various positions, including as associate publisher/business director of curriculum, VP of financial operations, VP of operations and analytics, and senior VP of services and innovation.
The COO announcement was made by Rick Rekedal, who was named Cook’s president and acting CEO in February. He is the third person to handle Cook’s CEO duties in the past three years.
A former executive with DreamWorks Animation, Rekedal joined Cook in December 2022 as its chief creative officer and was named president two months later.
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The previous CEO, “business visionary” and former WalMart executive John Aden, was named CEO in September 2021 following an extensive nationwide search. He didn’t last two years.
Aden succeeded longtime CEO Chris Doornbos, who served from 2005 to 2021. Doornbos claims his tenure was known for “successfully re-imagining, re-investing, and re-inventing” Cook, but his tenure led to significant losses, which were covered by drawing down Cook’s significant assets.
When Doornbos joined Cook, it had $100 million in assets. Its net assets, according to its most recent annual report, now total $38.6 million.
2022 income of $51,684,567 was down nearly $5 million from 2021’s $56,657,842, while expenses rose by more than $3 million, leading to a loss of $8.9 million for the fiscal year, continuing the trend of recent years. Cook had revenue of $62 million in 2019, $59 million in 2020, and $57 million in 2021. In the last six years, the organization has lost more than $30 million.
Cook has seen its share of good news. Two of its books recently became nationwide bestsellers: Natalie Runion’s Raised to Stay and Bryan Clark’s God’s Not Like That.
And Cook’s Integrity Music division now has one million YouTube subscribers. Subscriptions are free, but its numbers allow the ministry to receive advertising revenue.