2011 Gold Medal Award Banquet Honoring David L. Cohen

Where’s David?  He’s everywhere!

By Thomas Rogers 

The Philadelphia Public Relations Association chose to honor David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President of Comcast Corporation, as its 2011 Gold Medal Award recipient.  Among family, dear friends and colleagues, David received that award at a banquet on November 17^th in the Grand Ballroom of The Ritz-Carlton, Philadelphia.

PPRA 2011 Gold Medal Award recipient, David L. Cohen, and PPRA President, Chris Lukach

David L. Cohen has a broad portfolio of responsibilities at Comcast, including corporate communications, government affairs, public affairs and corporate administration, and serves as senior counselor to the CEO. Before assuming this position in July 2002, David served as a partner in and Chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the country. From January 1992 to April 1997, David served as Chief of Staff to Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell.  During the course of his career, David has become an asset to the city of Philadelphia.

At the banquet, Renee Chenault-Fattah of Philadelphia’s NBC10, and a good friend of David’s since their years together at Penn, served as mistress of ceremonies.  She conducted a classy event with an attendance of outstanding Philadelphians from the public relations world and beyond.  After a tribute video, the list of those who spoke about David included Kevin A. Feeley of Bellevue Communications, veteran Philadelphia broadcast journalist Larry Kane, Governor Edward G. Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter.  Their words were a testament to the great things David has done for not only the public relations industry in Philadelphia, but for the city as a whole.  David L. Cohen truly is everywhere Philadelphia matters.

Chris Lukach and mistress of ceremonies, Renee Chenault-Fattah of NBC10

Each speaker emphasized some of David’s outstanding contributions to making Philadelphia a top-notch city.  Gov. Rendell praised David’s understanding of the importance of creating opportunities for those less fortunate.   Larry Kane commended David’s ability to work with both unions and management to bring events like the 2000 Republican National Convention to Philadelphia.   All of the speakers, however, spoke to David’s strong character and leadership.   When the speeches concluded, David graciously accepted his award from PPRA President Chris Lukach to a standing ovation.

David L. and Rhonda Cohen with banquet committee co-chairs, Lisette Bralow and Mark Tarasiewicz

The PPRA would like to thank Lisette Bralow and Mark Tarasiewicz, the co-chairs of this year’s banquet, as well as the entire 2011 Gold Medal Award banquet committee, for all of their hard work in making this year’s event a great success.

*Photo credits: Bonnie Squires

This blog post was written by Thomas Rogers. Thomas is working towards his Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication at Villanova University and he recently completed a public relations internship with the Philadelphia Bar Association. Thomas served on the PPRA’s 2011 Gold Medal Award banquet committee and he serves on Philly PRoactive.