Insight Board Member
Irv Cohen is dedicated to the all-important principal that the key to the future of this country and that of the Tampa Bay area is to be found in its competitive edge; its ability to innovate, and its drive to nurture and empower the entrepreneurs of today as well as tomorrow. He has an in-depth understanding of the macro and micro aspects of finance, capital raising, new business creation, strategic planning, new product development, product management, as well as operations and technology; essential requirements to charting the path to success in a constantly ever-shifting and disruptive technological world.
Mr. Cohen is a Managing Director of Innovations Capital Group where he participated in numerous transactions involving capital sourcing and raising for client Companies. He has extensive experience and relationships with numerous Private Equity and Venture capital organizations. He is also a Managing Director of Southeast Capital Group, which invests in start-up companies in the Tampa Bay area.
Mr. Cohen is also currently a Managing Member of Florida Funders, an online portal that connects accredited investors with startups seeking funding. He is also a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Tampa Bay (SVP) and is a Charter and Board member of TiE Tampa.
Mr. Cohen has over thirty years of experience working in Wall Street at premier global organizations. His last position was President of JP Morgan’s Treasury Technology Corporation where he was responsible for all Business, Technology and Operations for the Treasury Services business line and also served on the Firm’s strategic committee responsible for sourcing and closing on new products, technologies and strategic acquisitions.
Prior to JP Morgan, Mr. Cohen was a Managing Director at ABN AMRO; Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Barclay’s Bank, North America and served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for the trading division of Lehman Brothers. Mr. Cohen began his career working for Price Waterhouse Coopers in New York.
When JP Morgan Treasury Services operations relocated 2100 jobs from New York to Tampa, Mr. Cohen led the effort and attracted and secured some of the brightest financial, technical and multi-lingual talent in the industry. Under his stewardship, the Firm was recognized as “employer of choice” in the Tampa Bay region
Mr. Cohen received his post-graduate degree in Finance from New York University and his MBA from Pace University. He is a Charted Global Management Accountant, a Certified Public Accountant, is the recipient of the New York State Society Certified Public Accountant Award of Honor, and is a member of the American Institute for Certified Public Accountants and the Association for Financial Professionals.
In 2003, Governor Jeb Bush gave special commendation to Mr. Cohen for his leadership as Chairman of the Florida Financial Services Cluster Initiative (FFSCI), created to help accelerate the growth of the Financial Services Industry in Florida. He was also a key member of the team which helped recruit the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp to Tampa.
He has served as Chairman of the Board of Learning is For Everyone a non-profit organization that creates engaging experiential learning opportunities in the sciences and the arts for all ages. LI4E programs include FIRST Robotics program, TEDx events, Makers Festivals and successful community partnering on a variety of youth programs and educational efforts across Tampa Bay.
Mr. Cohen also serves on the Board of Heartbeat International. This organization is dedicated to saving lives by providing pacemakers, defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization devices and other cardiovascular therapeutic solutions to people in need across the globe.
An avid supporter of education, Mr. Cohen has served on the Board of Directors of the Council for Educational Change,, and is Treasurer of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, still remaining active as a Big Brother himself.
He has also served in the capacity as Board Member, and Chair of the Audit Committee of DHS Technologies, Director of American International Lifestyles, LLC; Board Member of Persystent Technologies, Dean’s Advisory Board at USF, Tampa Bay Partnership, Florida Council on Economic Change, Chair of Florida Financial, and was the Past Chairman (2004) of the American Heart Association Ball. He has served as the Board Chair of the Tampa Innovation Center and is currently a member of the Council of Professionals at USF CONNECT.
Mr. Cohen is married with two daughters who practice law and who also reside in Tampa.
