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Drexel Business Leader of the Year: Betsy Z. Cohen

October 27, 2004

Drexel Business Leader of the Year: Betsy Z. Cohen

Betsy Z. Cohen, founder, CEO and chair of RAIT Investment Trust and The Bancorp Bank, two major public companies, will receive Drexel’s 51st Business Leader of the Year award at a luncheon on December 9 at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue.

Established in 1998, RAIT Investment Trust is the leading U.S. provider of real-estate mezzanine loans for the middle market, with a portfolio of almost $1 billion. Headquartered in Philadelphia, RAIT is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Bancorp Bank, which was created in 2000, is a pioneer in electronic banking and has experienced unprecedented growth and success without a single physical branch. Headquartered in Wilmington, Del., Bancorp is traded on the Nasdaq National Market.

Cohen also founded Jefferson Bank in 1974. Under Cohen’s leadership as CEO and major shareholder, Jefferson was the largest bank headquartered in Philadelphia at the time of its sale in 1999.

Cohen’s international business ventures include founding a shipping business in Hong Kong, a leasing company in Brazil and a joint venture with a bank in Spain—all before the age of 30. She is a director of Aetna, Inc. and Maine Merchant Bank, LLC; a trustee of Corporate Office Properties Trust, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Farnsworth Art Museum and Jewish Theological Seminary; vice chair of the Bryn Mawr College Board of Trustees; and chair of the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s audit and executive committees.

The Business Leader of the Year luncheon benefits Drexel’s LeBow College of Business. The 2003 event, honoring Independence Blue Cross President and CEO G. Fred DiBona, raised $500,000 in scholarships and capital support for LeBow College in DiBona’s name. For more information on the Business Leader of the Year luncheon, contact Carol McCormick at 215-895-1526 or carol.mccormick@drexel.edu

Award Recipients 1954-2004

Year Recipient
1954 Earl D. Johnson
1955 Edward R. Murrow
1956 Henry R. Luce
1957 General Douglas MacArthur
1958 Edward T. McCormick Jr.
1959 George W. Romney
1960 Dr. Thomas J. Watson
1961 Walter Reuther
1962 The Honorable Luther Hodges
1963 The Honorable Estes Kefauver
1964 Carl E. Reistle
1965 Charles H. Percy
1966 Harrison F. Dunning
1967 Sir Paul Chambers
1968 Dr. David Sarnoff
1969 John R. Bunting Jr.
1970 Meshulam Riklis
1971 John P. Bracken
1972 J. Willard Marriott Jr.
1973 Harold A. Shaub
1974 William T. Beebe
1975 John T. Connor
1976 Helen Honig Meyer
1977 Edward R. Kane
1978 William P. Tavoulareas
1979 James L. Ketelsen
1980 J. Donald Rauth
1981 Robert F. Dee
1982 M. Todd Cooke
1983 John J. Byrne
1984 William W. Hagerty
1985 Philip E. Lippincott
1986 Norman Braman
1987 Willard G. Rouse III
1988 Reverend Leon H. Sullivan
1989 George M. Ross
1990 James A. Hagen
1991 Dr. Harold A. Sorgenti
1992 Robert McClements Jr.
1993 Warren V. Musser
1994 John F. McCaughan
1995 Dennis J. Alter
1996 The Honorable Edward G. Rendell
1997 William J. Avery
1998 Nicholas DeBenedictis
1999 Lawrence A. Weinbach, C.P.A.
2000 Dr. Corbin A. McNeill Jr.
2001 The Honorable Thomas J. Ridge
2002 Joseph E. Neubauer
2003 G. Fred DiBona Jr.
2004 Betsy Z. Cohen
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