2020 Awardee Profiles

David L. Cohen is a Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast Corporation and serves as senior counselor to the CEO.  He was the company’s first Chief Diversity Officer.  Mr. Cohen spearheaded Comcast’s Internet Essentials program, which has connected more than 8 million low-income Americans to the Internet at home since 2011.

Before coming to Comcast in 2002, Mr. Cohen served as a partner and Chairman of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, one of the 100 largest law firms in the country.  From 1992 to 1997, Mr. Cohen served as Chief of Staff to Mayor Edward G. Rendell of Philadelphia.

Mr. Cohen serves as Chairman of the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.  He also serves on the Trustee Board of Penn Medicine.  In addition, Mr. Cohen serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Chamber’s CEO Council for Growth.  He is Chair of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, and serves on the boards of many other community and national organizations.

Mr. Cohen has received awards from numerous organizations for his civic and charitable activities, including the National Cable Television Association, Anti-Defamation League, American Red Cross, MS Society, Drexel University, and Minority Media Telecommunications Council.  He has consistently been named to Black Enterprise magazine’s list of top corporate diversity executives.

A native of New York, Mr. Cohen graduated from Swarthmore College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School summa cum laude.  Mr. Cohen lives in Philadelphia with his wife.

Mignon L. Clyburn became the first woman head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in May 2013 when she was appointed Acting Chair by President Barack Obama during her second term.

Commissioner Clyburn began her FCC career in 2009 after spending 11 years as a member of the Public Service Commission (PSC) of South Carolina, including two years as chair.  Prior to her service on the PSC, Commissioner Clyburn was the publisher and general manager of The Coastal Times, a weekly newspaper based in Charleston, S.C., which focused primarily on issues affecting the African American community.  She co-owned and operated the family-founded newspaper for 14 years.

A long-time champion of consumers, Commissioner Clyburn was a strong advocate for enhanced accessibility in communications for disabled citizens and worked closely with groups representing the hearing impaired.  She pushed for affordable universal telephone and high-speed Internet access, greater broadband deployment and adoption throughout the nation, and transparency in regulation.

Commissioner Clyburn was committed to narrowing persistent digital, communication, and opportunity divides that challenge rural, Native, African American, Latino, and low-wealth communities.  Among her many efforts, she pushed for the modernization of the agency’s Lifeline Program, which helps defray the cost of voice and broadband services for low-income consumers, and championed diversity in media ownership.

Commissioner Clyburn was a foundation fellow before establishing MLC Strategies, an independent consulting firm, in January 2019.  She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor’s degree in Banking, Finance, and Economics.