Cecily Cohen
Director
Cecily loves the art of connecting the dots between what makes people tick and the market forces of change to create impact for people and organizations. At ?What If!, Cecily has partnered with clients across a wide range of sectors including tech, healthcare, and CPG. Some of her most exciting challenges have included helping one of the world’s largest tech companies break into the connected car space and mapping out the future of breakfast for a leading nutrition company. Cecily is also passionate about helping organizations learn to do this work for themselves, and she has partnered with the government of Colombia to help small businesses build their innovation muscles and AARP, an advocacy organization for the 50+, to reinvent itself as it works to disrupt aging.
Before joining ?What If!, Cecily was Head of Strategy, Planning, and Insights for Nokia North America, where she helped Nokia’s product, sales and marketing teams get ahead of shifting consumer expectations and the fast-changing mobile market. She holds an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, and a B.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
A proud native of Philadelphia, Cecily lives in Brooklyn and spends as much of her free time as possible traveling the world. When she is not on the road, she loves exploring New York City’s restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food trucks. She has yet to find the platonic ideal of the Philly cheesesteak.
Back to peopleThe ?! moment I’ve had the greatest Adventure:
As part of a project to develop breakthrough solutions for the 50+, I once interviewed former gang members in LA as ‘naïve experts.’ The moment I saw how a former gang member with a face tattoo could help us unlock how to help Baby Boomers manage the changes that come with life after 50, I was hooked on the adventure of looking for solutions in uncommon places.