Nominated by President Joe Biden and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, David L. Cohen served as the United States Ambassador to Canada from 2021 to 2025.
Before his tenure in the State Department, Ambassador Cohen served as Senior Advisor to the CEO and Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast NBCUniversal, where his portfolio included corporate communications, legal affairs, government and regulatory affairs, public affairs, corporate administration, corporate real estate and security, and community impact. Ambassador Cohen also served as the company’s first chief diversity officer.
Ambassador Cohen previously served as a partner in and Chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP. From January 1992 to April 1997, Ambassador Cohen served as Chief of Staff to the Honorable Edward G. Rendell, the Mayor of the City
of Philadelphia.
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Ambassador Cohen currently is Chair of the Board of The Philadelphia Citizen Media Group and has returned as a member of the board and executive committee of The Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia. In addition, Ambassador Cohen is serving as a member of the board of the Joe and Jill Biden Foundation as well as an Honorary Trustee of the Barnes Foundation.
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Ambassador Cohen has previously served on many nonprofit and civic boards, including as chair of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania; as chair of the Philadelphia Theatre Company; as chair of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Philadelphia Bid Committee; as chair of the board of trustees of City Year and its executive committee; as a member of the board of directors of the National Urban League; and as chair of the corporate board of advisors of Unidos US. Mr. Cohen also served as a member of the United States Semiquincentennial Commission.
In addition, Ambassador Cohen served on the board of directors of the PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. and PNC Bank, National Association and as a member of the board of directors of FS Global Credit Opportunities Fund.
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Ambassador Cohen has received numerous awards for his civic and charitable activities, including six honorary Doctor of Laws degrees, including from the University of Pennsylvania.
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A native of New York and raised in New Jersey, Ambassador Cohen graduated with a B.A. from Swarthmore College in 1977 and with a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School summa cum laude in 1981.
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Ambassador Cohen lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Rhonda R. Cohen.
VISUAL OF THE WEEK
A tale of two competing realities: U.S. GDP grew more than expected in Q3, increasing 4.3% and outpacing the previous quarter’s growth. The Conference Board’s monthly consumer confidence survey, however, tells another story. The American public’s overall economic outlook dropped 3.8 points to 89.1 in December, trending downward toward pandemic-era levels, the lowest since the 2008 recession.
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