Richard B. Cohen Explained

Nationality:American
Chairman and Chief Product Officer of Symbotic[1]
Parents:Lester H. Cohen
Spouse:Jan Cohen
Children:3
Known For:Owner of C&S Wholesale Grocers

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]

Early life and education

Richard 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

In 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

In 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

Cohen is married to Jan Cohen, executive producer of the Kaddish Project, a musical oratorio on genocide; the couple have three children.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Rick Cohen, Chairman and Chief Product Officer. Symbotic.
  2. Web site: Meet The Billionaire Robot Overlord Reinventing Walmart's Warehouses. Amy . Feldman . December 13, 2021. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220328043948/https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2021/12/13/meet-the-billionaire-robot-overload-reinventing-walmarts-warehouses/?sh=2122d53378f4 . Mar 28, 2022 .
  3. Web site: History and Mission. Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies . . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220328043949/https://www.keene.edu/academics/ah/cchgs/about/history-mission/ . Mar 28, 2022 .
  4. http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/140276/the-jewish-billionaire-no-ones-heard-of Tablet Magazine: "The Jewish Billionaire No One's Heard Of" by Adam Chandler
  5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-05/hidden-billionaire-cohen-hauls-fortune-in-unmarked-trucks.html Bloomberg: "Hidden Billionaire Cohen Hauls Fortune in Unmarked Trucks"
  6. Web site: Walmart Backed Supply Chain Company Symbotic Gets SPAC Deal: What Investors Should Know. December 13, 2021. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220612185915/https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/walmart-backed-supply-chain-company-symbotic-gets-spac-deal-what-investors-should-know-1031042405 . Jun 12, 2022 .
  7. News: Fully Autonomous Robots: The Warehouse Workers of the Near Future . 20 September 2016 . Robbie Whelan . . subscription . live . https://archive.today/20161209175424/http://www.wsj.com/articles/fully-autonomous-robots-the-warehouse-workers-of-the-near-future-1474383024 . 9 Dec 2016 .
  8. Web site: SoftBank SPAC to take Walmart-backed Symbotic public in $5.5 bln deal. December 13, 2021. . Sohini . Podder . Mehnaz . Yasmin . Vinay . Dwivedi . Shailesh . Kuber . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231015213852/https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/softbank-spac-take-symbotic-public-55-bln-deal-2021-12-13/ . Oct 15, 2023 .