Ken Cosgrove is an Accounts Executive at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. He is married to Cynthia, whose father is a Corning executive.

While at Sterling Cooper, Lane Pryce appoints Ken and Pete Campbell as co-heads of accounts. "They want us to hate each other," Ken tells Pete, describing the rivalry he believes upper management intentionally created. "I refuse to participate in that." Ken's ease with clients eventually wins him the title outright because, as Lane explains to the dejected Pete, "Mr. Cosgrove has the rare gift of making [clients] feel as if they haven't any needs."

Ken stays with Sterling Cooper for six months after McCann Erickson buys the agency, then moves on to a smaller outfit. Harry Crane arranges for Pete and Ken to reconnect over lunch, at which Ken accuses Pete of backstabbing him. After Pete apologizes for slights real or otherwise, Ken cracks jokes describing life at Sterling Cooper under McCann.

When Lane hires Ken to work at SCDP, Pete's first reaction is "over my dead body," but he meets privately with Ken. "Things have changed in a permanent way," says Pete, referring to his partnership in SCDP. "I need to know you can do as told." Ken nods in agreement.

Ken and Peggy Olson worked on a number of successful campaigns at Sterling Cooper, and their combined efforts land the Topaz Panti-Hose account, SCDP's first new business after the loss of Lucky Strike. Securing Topaz is particularly timely for Ken because he's recently refused to trade Cynthia's father's Corning connection to provide Pete a chance to approach Dow Chemical.

Ken has written two unpublished novels; his short story "Tapping a Maple on a Cold Vermont Morning" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly.

Ken Cosgrove Quotes