When David L. Cohen was confirmed as President Biden’s Ambassador to Canada in 2021, he was forced to do something that, at the time, felt incredibly uncomfortable to him: Step down from more than a dozen companies, community groups, boards and nonprofits with which he was affiliated.

That included Comcast NBCUniversal, where he was Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Advisor to CEO Brian Roberts; the University of Pennsylvania, where he chaired the Board of Trustees; the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia; City Year; the Philadelphia Theatre Company; and many, many other groups both here and around the country.

“I hated the stringent Biden and Obama ethics rules that required me to resign my entire life,” says Cohen, who sent out 19 letters of resignation in one day. “All of that was a large part of what defined me and my relationship to Philadelphia.”

“I’ve always had an enormous respect for journalism and for journalists. Quality journalism is the lifeblood of democracy.” — David Cohen

Those ethics rules, though, have afforded Cohen a unique opportunity now that he’s back in Philly — to start fresh, to “construct a life going forward that meets my goals and objectives for my next chapter in the Philadelphia community.”

Cohen was Chief of Staff to Mayor Ed Rendell in the early 90s, then Chairman of Ballard Spahr law firm, before holding various executive roles at Comcast. He also chaired most of the organizations whose boards he sat on, including Penn and Penn Medicine. When they returned in January, he promised his wife, Rhonda, that he would spend six months reconnecting with Philadelphia, listening to what was needed, before making his next move.

Now, he has decided (and we couldn’t be more thrilled): Cohen is the new chairman of The Philadelphia Citizen’s Board of Directors.

I caught up with Cohen this week to learn more about why he made The Citizen his first commitment since returning to the city. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You got back from Canada in January, and have spent your time trying to decide what to do, is that right?

Yes, I promised Rhonda I wouldn’t just say yes to every good idea that came along when it came along, because then I’d end up being over-boarded again as I probably was previously. I mean, I never felt over-boarded, and people have told me that they never felt like I wasn’t giving them my full attention. But it was a lot, and I was bound and determined coming back that I was going to find a discrete number of places where I could make a difference.

How do you decide what those are?

My frame is very simple, which is: I want to try and find opportunities where I can make a contribution in improving life in Philadelphia, and in particular, civic life in Philadelphia. I might broaden that to Pennsylvania, and it’s possible, having now been abroad for almost four years, that I might want to pick up a national cause or two, for example in the diplomacy space. But my focus is going to be on Philadelphia.

“I want to try and find opportunities where I can make a contribution in improving life in Philadelphia, and in particular, civic life in Philadelphia.” — Cohen

The first thing I said yes to, and at this point the only thing I’ve said yes to, is to agree to serve as chair of the board of The Philadelphia Citizen, and help advise and support the efforts to grow the incredible impact that it is having on the quality of life and civic life in Philadelphia.

We couldn’t be happier about that! Why did you decide to join us?

The opportunity to stand on the shoulders of funders, supporters, readers, founders, journalists and The Citizen’s impressive board in support of promoting civic life in Philadelphia fit squarely in the sweet spot of what I was looking for, which was an opportunity to help improve the quality of civic life in Philadelphia.

I’ve always had an enormous respect for journalism and for journalists. Quality journalism is the lifeblood of democracy. I’ve always believed in democracy, and with my service abroad, I come back to Philadelphia even more committed to the importance of democratic values and the role that the United States has around the world in playing a leadership role in promoting democracy and democratic values.

And being from Philadelphia, I have come to appreciate that this is where democracy was born, and this is where all of the democratic values of equity and fairness, and freedom of speech and civility, and having representative democracy and government produce the best solutions for complicated public policy issues were all born. And with Ben Franklin, it was also the birthplace of quality journalism that was contributing to the life of democracy, the growth of democracy and the health of democracy.

Then I see what’s happened with the economics of journalism driving, in too many cases, the pressure on journalists to cover certain stories and to write about other stories in a certain way that bends to the importance of the internet world and the click world. That means appealing to extremes because everyone has gone to their corners, and if you want to have an audience you have to appeal to those extremes.

Some of the best journalism in America was affected by this and impacted by it, and it gave birth to a new movement of civic journalism — individual publications and individual journalists who are committed to maintaining the integrity of their journalistic standards and ideals, but recognizing that as journalists, there is an obligation to the lifeblood of this form of government that we have, called democracy.

Is that why you’ve supported The Citizen from the beginning, more than 10 years ago?

When [Citizen Co-founder] Larry Platt was talking about starting this, I was one of many people he talked to, including people like [FS Investments Chairman/CEO and philanthropist] Michael Forman and [businessman/philanthropist] Richard Vague whom I credit with believing in this mission before it even existed and being early supporters of The Citizen. I encouraged Larry and thought he had it right.

He told me he wanted to create a journalism platform that didn’t approach every story with a cynical view, that wasn’t looking to practice “gotcha” journalism. He said he wanted to try and produce quality journalism that’s not conservative, that’s not progressive, Democratic or Republican; it’s not political (which doesn’t mean we don’t cover politics). There’s so much good news in Philadelphia, but there’s a perception somehow that good news is boring and that people don’t want to read it. Larry said, I don’t agree. I’m not looking to whitewash if there’s a problem. I’ll tell the problem, but I’ll tell it honestly. I’m not going into a story trying to tell a bad news story, and I’m not going to shy away from a good news story just because it’s good news.

I’ll tell you my favorite journalism story: Years ago, I was complaining to a leading Philadelphia Inquirer journalist who was covering politics that there were so many stories you could tell with a good news lead, or you could tell with a bad news lead. And I asked him, Why do you always have to lead with a sensational bad angle and have to get halfway into the story to read the good part? And he said, I hear what you’re saying. I have to plead guilty to the accusation, but you know why I do it. As journalists in a competitive world, we cover airplane crashes, not airplane landings.

The Citizen covers airplane crashes, but you’re not afraid to cover airplane landings, and it makes you unique in the Philadelphia journalism world.

That is all very gratifying to hear. Thank you. We are so happy to have you as part of the team.

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