The Lubavitch House at Penn, housing Jewish Heritage Programs, Jewish Business Network, and Chabad at Penn, continues to connect students and professionals with top leaders in Philadelphia. This month, we welcomed David Cohen, Executive Vice President (EVP) at Comcast as part of our Jewish Business Network Mentoring initiative.
David’s leadership roles span from his current position as EVP at Comcast, where he has worked for 17 years, to his past service as Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell’s Chief of Staff. He is also a Chairman of the UPenn Board of Trustees and serves on the Trustee Board of Penn Medicine. David’s leadership also includes his service on the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Co-Chair of the 2017-2018 Campaign for Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and as a member of the United States Semiquincentennial Commission. His list of leadership extends beyond these merits, and you can find a full list of his leadership positions here.
You could say David knows a thing or two about leadership, and as such, consistently gives back to a community near and dear to him. David has welcomed students into his office during JHP mentoring retreats and recently offered his advice on what makes an excellent leader.
“Leadership is a skill that you can use in every part of your life; you can use it in your personal life, in your family life, in your professional life, in business, and you can use it in politics and non-profit organizations. Leadership is not a skill you are born with, but one that you develop over time. It’s not just one skill that you can point to and say ‘that is leadership’. Leadership is a skill that can vary based on the setting and the audience.”
Using video clips from history’s most relevant leaders and pop culture references, David explained his “10 Attributes of Leadership” to an eager crowd of students. They responded with enthusiastic follow-up and were impressed with David’s ability to balance his many roles with family, as well as the ability to give-back.
Sophie Rodney, VP of Jewish Content for JHP at Penn said, “I really enjoyed today’s presentation, because of how relevant it was to all of us in the room. Even though David Cohen is in a very different place from us, career wise, he still managed to give us advice that applies to our lives at this very moment. People talk about leadership all the time, offering advice that just seems more and more predictable. However, this speech was different. His advice was unique and offered insight that we had never heard in other speeches. It was the perfect combination of inspirational, realistic, motivational and humorous.”
To learn more about JHP and Jewish Business Network, visit www.jhp.org/ and to learn more about Chabad at Penn, visit https://www.lubavitchhouse.com/
