COLUMN = INSURANCE

Since co-founding the Gaithersburg, MD, health-care benefits firm Golden & Cohen in 1992, Stephanie Cohen has helped it grow into one of the largest among female-owned companies in the Washington metropolitan region.

With more than two decades of experience in small-group health insurance, disability programs, and life insurance, she was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, serves on the prestigious United HealthCare, Coventry, Aetna and Kaiser Broker Council, and is a member of the Women’s President Organization, the District of Columbia Insurance Commissioner Advisory Council, and The Greater Washington Health Underwriters.

Stephanie has grown increasingly frustrated with the ballooning cost of health coverage and has decided to make a change. On October 29, 2008, she hosted the “DC Health Summit”:http://www.dchealthsummit.com—a meeting of 100 top health- care insurance providers, doctors, hospitals, business owners, and politicians who came together to discuss the value of workplace wellness programs as a way to lower insurance rates. Stephanie’s goal is to establish a consortium of leaders that will begin a national dialogue and ultimately develop workable solutions to fix the nation’s health insurance problem.

Stephanie is a native of Maryland and received her BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland in 1986. She has been married to Golden & Cohen co-owner Scott Golden for 20 years. They have two children.

For more information about Stephanie’s insurance firm, visit www.golden-cohen.com or contact Stephanie Cohen by email at Stephanie@golden-cohen.com.