COVID the Disrupter: A distinguished lecture with Cynthia Cohen

Please join us for our upcoming distinguished lecture with Boston University Metropolitan College alum Cynthia Cohen.

A recipient of the Questrom School of Business Henry Morgan Award and a member of the BU Board of Trustees and the MET Dean’s Advisory Board, Ms. Cohen will be addressing one of the most pressing topics of the day: how do businesses adjust to the “new normal” in the wake of a pandemic? COVID-19 beats the silicon chip, the cell phone, and the internet for the most rapid disruption and reimagining of business practices in our lifetime. So, what does the future hold for business, what does it mean for consumers, and how do we plan while the disruption continues?

About the Speaker

Founder and chief strategist of IMPACT 2040, a new breed of strategic consulting firm, Cynthia Cohen is considered a leading authority on consumer trends and strategic marketing. She helps clients navigate the pathway from ideation to scaling for profitable growth. Her areas of expertise include brand positioning, digital marketing, ecommerce, market intelligence, and business strategy. As a consultant, Cynthia’s clients range from global Fortune 100 companies to fast-track start-ups. She sits on the boards of several public and private companies.

Cynthia’s talks are a lively combination of consumer insights and prognostications with realistic market penetration strategies. During the year of the pandemic, Cynthia has written quarterly updates and delivered speeches on the business implications of COVID-19 to retailers and organizations such as Amazon and the Florida chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. She has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Wharton, Babson College, Cornell, University of Miami, and University of Florida.

An active alum at Boston University and a member of the Board of Trustees, Cynthia serves on the Metropolitan College Dean’s Advisory Board, mentors students from Innovate@BU, supports the Innovation Pathway, and introduced the Cynthia Cohen Endowed Scholarship for young women business leaders. She recently cochaired Boston University President Robert A. Brown’s Alumni Relation Task Force.

In her role on the Women's Corporate Directors Foundation (WCD) Board of Advisors, Cynthia recognized the need for more women on public company boards. She started the WCD initiative BoardNext, which prepares board-ready women for directorship opportunities. Prior to establishing IMPACT 2040, Cynthia founded Strategic Mindshare to provide consulting services to retailers and consumer brand companies. Earlier in her career, she was a partner in management consulting at Deloitte. Cynthia graduated from BU’s Metropolitan College with a BS in Business Administration.