Cohen was raised in a Jewish family in
Wichita, Kansas. His father, William C. Cohen Jr., created the company Insurance Management Associates by merging his own father's William C. Cohen Insurance with two other Wichita insurers in 1973. Cohen's mother, Pennie (), was a psychologist. Cohen attended the
University of Texas at Austin, where he received two bachelor's degrees, in finance and risk management, in 1984. ==Career==