Rodgin Cohen

West Virginia University presents Rodgin Cohen with a Presidential Honorary Doctor of Laws for attaining national and international preeminence and providing distinguished leadership in the field of financial and legal services, and for his significant philanthropic contributions to his community and the nation.

Rodgin Cohen is Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, having served as Chairman of the Firm from July 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009. The primary focus of Mr. Cohen’s practice is acquisition, regulatory, enforcement, corporate governance and securities law matters, primarily for U.S. and non-U.S. banking and other financial institutions and their trade associations.

Widely recognized as a leader of the financial and legal services industries, Mr. Cohen has received numerous accolades. He was the recipient of The Clearing House’s 2014 Chairman’s Achievement Award. In 2013, the New York Law Journal named Mr. Cohen among its 16 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Also in 2013, The American Lawyer named Mr. Cohen among “The Top 50 Innovators in Big Law in the last 50 Years” for his ideas, policies and practices that have left a mark on the legal industry.

Mr. Cohen is or has been a member of the FDIC Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee, the National Security Agency Cyber Awareness Panel, the Treasury Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession and The New York State Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services. He is or has also been Vice Chairman, Economic Studies Council of Brookings Institution and a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative, The Pew Financial Reform Project, the IIF Special Committee for a Strategic Dialogue for Effective Regulation and The Financial Services Roundtable’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Enhancing Competitiveness.

Mr. Cohen is a Trustee of New York Presbyterian Hospital, Rockefeller University, Deerfield Academy (President of the Board), the Hackley School, Lincoln Center Theater, New York City Partnership and, formerly, Hampton University and the Economic Club of New York, and is a member of the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee and the Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) Visiting Committee and the advisory boards of Wall Street Rising, United Way of Westchester-Putnam and the University of Charleston.

He has been honored for his philanthropic and community work by United Way, Pro Bono Partnership, Episcopal Charities, Wall Street Rising (Leadership Award), Partnership for the Homeless, American Jewish Committee (Learned Hand Award), Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York (Deus Caritas Est Award), The American Friends of the Hebrew University (Torch of Learning Award), and, with his wife Barbara, the Legal Aid Society (Servant of Justice Award).