For 30 years, Jeff Cohen prepared for his
dream job in the automotive business.
SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
On the operation and safety side are
effrey Cohen always seems to outside, and its pampering and luxurious high-intensity discharge headlights to more
have been fascinated with cars.. on the inside."
GM recruited Cohen at the time of plan- than double the beam length, a commu-
Throughout his childhood, which
included time in Oak Park and ning the Envoy interior, giving him a sig- nications system to access travel informa-
Huntington Woods, he took notice nificant voice in features, options and trim. tion and the technology to make an auto-
As he architects the strategy of the brand matic call to 911 when the airbags deploy.
of the real ones and played with
Ltixury items include a CD changer
and
leads the implementation of that strat-
toy models.
Now he hopes others take con- egy, Cohen points out what he considers mounted to the front and leather interiors
with real wood accents.
siderable notice of the life-size mod- will make the Envoy outstanding.
els that are driving so much of his time. As
brand manager for the Jimmy at the GMC
division of General Motors, Cohen is „ Ti.,
preparing to bring a luxury sport utility g
r,
vehicle to the 1998 line — the Envoy.
"I actually feel I've been studying this F c 2 ,
business for 30 years and my other occu-
pations were helping me do marketing
in the automotive world," said Cohen, 37,
who moved back to Michigan in 1996 af-
ter years of marketing smaller scale prod-
ucts.
Cohen most recently had been at Nabis-
co, spending five years- as senior business
director of breakfast aisle and variety salty
snacks.
Before that, he spent seven years in
brand management at Johnson & John-
son, working across a broad range of prod-
ucts,.from sun and skin care formulas to
direct-mail child development toys.
"For someone who likes cars as much
as I do, this is a totally different experi-
ence than my earlier ones," said Cohen,
who has a bachelor's degree in econom-
ics from the University of Rochester (New
York) and a master's degree in manage-
ment from Northwestern University.
"There are people who are very emo-
tional about food and people who are very
emotional about children's products, but
I think the level of emotionalism in auto-
mobiles puts this category in a different
league.
"It may be the level of expense or the
level of cornmitrarit that it takes to own
a vehicle, but as a result of all that, the
whole process is more complex."
Cohen works with a staff of five to en-
- hence the almost $2 billion business of the
Jimmy brand. He thinks of himself as a
quarterback, advancing a team whose
ideas will help push the product to a high-
er position.
Currently, Jimmy holds sixth place
among 30 compact sport utility vehicles.
"I'm trying to maximize the number of
sales I can get from a defined set of cus-
,,. tomers, avoid competition with the
Oldsmobile Bravado and Chevrolet Blaz-
er and line us up better against our key
competitors," Cohen explained.
"We've built in a number of exclusive
features into the Envoy to pro . 4.4e the ul-
timate definition of what a luxury utility
should be. It's rugged and refined on the
,
.
.
The Cohen family—which includes his
wife, Beverly, and sons Joshua, 9, and •
Daniel, 6 — has three vehicles.
Courtesy of General Motors, he alter-
nates between a Jimmy and a Pontiac
Grand Am.. His wife drives a 1996 gold
Oldsmobile Aurora, which is reminiscent
of his fathefs 1966 gold Oldsmobile. There's
also a 1984 Mazda, his "toy" car, the first
he ever bought.
"What I like about driving the Jimmy is
that it offers the best of both worlds," he
said. "It is,a very capable four-wheel dri-
ve vehicle at the same, time that it is very
comfortable and easy to drive.
"It's not so large that its unmanageable
and daunting. Its easy to see out the back,
and there's plenty of space on the inside."
Cohen also drives competitive vehicles
as part of a GM product evaluation pro-
gram, trying them out for a couple of days.
He puts about-200 miles on each one. .
"We also go to competitive dealerships
and our dealerships as stealth shoppers to
get a sense of how well they know the prod-
ucts as well as what the competition has to
offer," he said - •
In his Rochester Hills "home, Cohen
keeps a display case filled with model ve-
hicles. It's a mix of GM, Ford and Chrysler
replicas collected over a lifetime.
Although he enjoys tinkering with cars,
Coheris 'schedule prevents him from doing
that right now. He makes a point of spend-
ing hisvieekends joining his kids in their
sports interests.
Overall, he views his world with an eye
•
toward his heritage.
"I'm one of the few people in my family •
who works in the corporate world, and ,j
think that's often been a challenge for the •
Jewish population, which is largely self-
made, people who work in their own busi-
nesses," he said. "The degree to which
someone can maintain a Jewish identity
and work in the corporate world is very im-
portant to me.
"I grew up in a family where the,first ge.n-
eration had a family business. My father,
in the next generation, worked in retailing
for large companies. Not to be
Jeff Cohen:
stereotypical , but I think the
Fascination
to
occupation. Jewish heritage and history
lead people to want to make rs.
it on their own.
"I've never felt that my religious beliefs c"
have held me back. At General Motors, .
we're looking for people with diversity of —
thoughts and backgrounds, and with that
diversity comes richness of thinking and
the ability to advance in the world.
"For me, that has been a very support- <
ive environment where I have the oppor-
tunity to continue to try to maintain my 83
identity." 0