Background
Cohen was born to a Jewish family.
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Richard Cohen
Edit ProfileEducation
In 1970, Richard Cohen graduated from the Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts and then in 1974, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in accounting, and joined the family company.
Career
In 1918, Cohen"s grandfather, Israel Cohen, co-founded the food distributor, C&South Wholesalers in Worcester, Massachusetts. Israel"s son, Lester, a bomber navigator during World World War II, expanded the business into supplying military bases. After a painful union strike, he persuaded his father to move the company to Brattleboro, Vermont.
In 1989, Cohen took control of C&South after his father retired.
In 2003, he moved the company headquarters to Keene, New Hampshire. As the food distribution business is very low margin and customer retention is critical, Cohen has grown the company by focusing on efficiencies and customer support.
If a customer is having trouble, rather than letting them go bankrupt (and losing them as a customer), Cohen will often purchase them outright, restructure their operations, and then sell them later for a profit. Since 2008, Cohen has been a director at the Food Marketing Institute and is a director of Food Distribution Institute.
The Holocaust studies center at Keene State College was renamed after the Cohens in thanks of their financial support.
In 2002, Cohen was a national finalist for Ernst & Young"s Entrepreneur of the Year award. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Assumption College. He serves on the Board of Trustees at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.
Achievements
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C&South has been able to attain excellent efficiencies - less than 2 percent of the orders processed have errors or omissions - by using generous performance incentives combined with self-managed teams of workers who are responsible for assembling customer orders thereby eliminating costly supervisors.
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Born
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Nationality
United States