By Dave DeFusco
At the 41st Marketing Club of New York Silver Apples Awards Gala鈥攁 celebration of the industry鈥檚 most accomplished and generous leaders鈥擡Y鈥檚 Americas Chief Digital Officer Lou Cohen received the 鈥淎pple of Excellence鈥 award for Advocacy. For Cohen, an executive who oversees one of the largest digital marketing operations in professional services and an industry professor in the Katz School鈥檚 M.S. in Digital Marketing and Media, the honor was deeply personal.
鈥淚n the role that I鈥檓 in at EY and as a professor, I have the opportunity to influence the next generation of marketing talent in a meaningful way,鈥 said Cohen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 humbling to be in this position where people want to hear what I have to say and to be recognized by a 100-year-old organization for doing work I genuinely love. It鈥檚 a real feather in the cap.鈥
That combination鈥攊ndustry leadership, academic mentorship and a passion for preparing students for what鈥檚 next鈥攈as defined Cohen鈥檚 career. Today, 鈥渨hat鈥檚 next鈥 means AI. Across the digital landscape, AI is transforming workflows, ideation and customer analytics. Cohen, who teaches topics ranging from digital marketing to marketing research, believes AI will be both a disruptive force and a creative catalyst depending on how marketers approach it.
鈥淎 lot of people are worried AI will replace jobs. Sadly, I do believe that鈥檚 coming,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檝e also said many times, if you can鈥檛 figure out how to make AI work for you, you will be working for it.鈥
At EY, AI is already streamlining repetitive tasks through what Cohen calls 鈥渋ntelligent automation.鈥 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 get to make decisions. It鈥檚 not thinking,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 executing. That has freed people to do more strategic, high-value work.鈥
He emphasizes, however, that AI鈥檚 probabilistic nature means search engines and structured data will continue to play a critical role.
鈥淪earch engines give deterministic answers鈥攐ne plus one equals two. Large language models give probabilistic answers, which is great for creativity but not always for accuracy,鈥 he said. 鈥淎s marketers, our job is to improve the data feeding these systems so that AI understands our businesses better.鈥
Cohen brings these real-world insights into every course he teaches at the Katz School. 鈥淭he thing I want my students to understand is that consumer behavior drives everything we do in marketing,鈥 he said. 鈥淎I doesn鈥檛 change that. Tools don鈥檛 change that.鈥
He loves that the Katz School鈥檚 digital marketing program gives students a direct path into the field without requiring a full MBA. 鈥淭o be really good at digital marketing, you don鈥檛 need advanced accounting or economics,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou need to understand platforms, data, behavior and storytelling. The Katz School program accelerates students鈥 careers and gives them a strong credential with the 樱花动漫 name.鈥
Cohen鈥檚 path to becoming one of New York鈥檚 鈥渕arketing rock stars,鈥 as the Silver Apples describe their honorees, began far from the world of search engines, analytics dashboards or customer data platforms. When he arrived at Carnegie Mellon University, he intended to study medicine and perform as a bass player. One rough semester later, his older brother urged him to switch to business, a turning point he now sees as foundational.
鈥淚 had been running side businesses with sports cards and memorabilia since I was a kid,鈥 he said. 鈥淥nce I saw the opportunity in the business school, I never looked back.鈥
During the last days of the dot-com boom, he ran his own digital marketplace, Collector鈥檚 Exchange, where he first learned online marketing by necessity. The inflection point came, however, a few years later when he joined Microsoft as an early hire for what would become Bing Ads.
鈥淢y time at Microsoft really formed my management skills and helped me move from doing marketing to leading marketing,鈥 said Cohen. 鈥淢entors taught me how to lead from the front, build teams and trust his judgment.
Those lessons propelled him into C-suite roles and eventually to EY, where for over six years he has led a 50-plus-member team responsible for paid media, EY.com, marketing technology, AI and analytics, and brand and signature programs across the Americas. Transforming marketing inside one of the world鈥檚 largest professional services firms is no small task, especially one operating in a tightly regulated environment.
Cohen鈥檚 Silver Apple Award is, in many ways, recognition for far more than his professional achievements. It honors his advocacy for ethical, strategic use of AI, his leadership across continents, and his impact on thousands of students stepping into a rapidly changing field.
鈥淭eaching, mentoring, advocating鈥攊t鈥檚 how I can help shape the next generation,鈥 he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 both humbling and incredibly motivating.鈥
