Richard B. "Rick" Cohen (born 1952) is an American businessman and billionaire. He is the majority owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of Symbotic, an artificial intelligence-enabled robotics and warehouse automation company & owner of C&S Wholesale Grocers (C&S), a wholesale grocery supply company, with both based in Massachusetts.[2]
Richard B. Cohen | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 (age 71–72) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (BS) |
| Known for | Owner of C&S Wholesale Grocers |
| Title | Chairman and Chief Product Officer of Symbotic[1] |
| Spouse | Jan Cohen |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent | Lester H. Cohen (father) |
Early life and education
editRichard Cohen was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1952 to Norma and Lester Cohen.[3][4] In 1970, he graduated from the Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts and then in 1974, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree economics, concentrating in accounting.
Career
editIn 1974, Cohen began working at the family company, C&S Wholesalers in Worcester, Massachusetts, which was co-founded by his grandfather, Israel Cohen, in 1918. After a three-week union strike that nearly shuttered the business, he persuaded his father to move the company to Brattleboro, Vermont.[5]
In 1989, Cohen took control of C&S after his father retired and in 2003, he moved the company headquarters to Keene, New Hampshire.[5] As the food distribution business is very low margin and customer retention is critical,[5] C&S has been able to attain efficiencies - less than 2 percent of the orders processed have errors or omissions - by using performance incentives combined with self-managed teams of workers who are responsible for assembling customer orders thereby eliminating costly supervisors.[5]
Cohen is also the founder of Symbotic, a robotics warehouse automation company.[6] As of 2021 Symbotic's artificial intelligence-enabled platform was used by C&S, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, and other large retailers.[2][7]
In December 2021, Symbotic announced plans to go public through a merger with a SPAC sponsored by SoftBank in order to accelerate its push into warehouse automation.[8]
Philanthropy
editIn 2001, The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College was renamed after the Cohens in thanks of their financial support.[3]
Personal life
editCohen is married to Jan Cohen, executive producer of the Kaddish Project, a musical oratorio on genocide; the couple have three children.[5]
References
edit- ^ "Rick Cohen, Chairman and Chief Product Officer". Symbotic.
- ^ a b Feldman, Amy (December 13, 2021). "Meet The Billionaire Robot Overlord Reinventing Walmart's Warehouses". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022.
- ^ a b "History and Mission". Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Keene State College. Archived from the original on March 28, 2022.
- ^ Tablet Magazine: "The Jewish Billionaire No One's Heard Of" by Adam Chandler, August 5, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Bloomberg: "Hidden Billionaire Cohen Hauls Fortune in Unmarked Trucks" by Brendan Coffey and Zohair Siraj, August 5, 2013; accessed May 3, 2014.
- ^ "Walmart Backed Supply Chain Company Symbotic Gets SPAC Deal: What Investors Should Know". Business Insider. December 13, 2021. Archived from the original on June 12, 2022.
- ^ Robbie Whelan (September 20, 2016). "Fully Autonomous Robots: The Warehouse Workers of the Near Future". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on December 9, 2016.
- ^ Podder, Sohini; Yasmin, Mehnaz (December 13, 2021). Dwivedi, Vinay; Kuber, Shailesh (eds.). "SoftBank SPAC to take Walmart-backed Symbotic public in $5.5 bln deal". Reuters. Archived from the original on October 15, 2023.