Board of Governors

Betty Cohen
Founder, President of Betty Cohen Media Consulting

Betty Cohen, a senior media industry executive, helps both traditional and digital media companies navigate their future.

Companies that are building brands at the intersection of content, community, commerce and experiential learning benefit from Cohen’s innovation track record, strategic sense, creative taste, leading edge talent relationships, senior media industry contacts and particularly powerful knack for connecting both intellectual property and lifestyle brand narratives to the current Zeitgeist.

She is best known for leading the Cartoon Network as its President from its US start-up in October, 1992 to becoming a global phenomenon. Most recently, she served as President, CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services, the leader in women’s television. Prior to Cartoon Network, Cohen was GM of TNT (Turner Network Television).

Her experience, skill set and industry relationships support any effort to “build a following” across platforms and user bases, and to integrate new technology as it revolutionizes creation, distribution, popularization and viewer behavior.

Cohen currently serves on the board of StartL, an incubator/bootcamp for startups in digital learning technology backed by Gates, Hewlett and MacArthur Foundations, and also on the Advisory Board for “The Next Big Thing” initiative at the Paley Center for Media. She serves on the advisory boards of 212 Media (owner of Speakaboos and SnakBlox), Sezmi (next generation set top box for TV/web home delivery) and Roadtrip Nation.

Among her many industry honors, in 2006, Cohen was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame, and that same year she received the prestigious “Muse Award” from NY Women in Film and TV. In 2000, Cohen was named one of "The 50 Most Powerful Women in Business" by Fortune magazine. Cohen earned a BA in communications from Stanford University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She loves living in NYC, traveling the world and learning about the future from her two step-sons and daughters-in-law.