Executive edge: Rob Cohen: chamber chairman finds fulfillment in giving back.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Attitude at altitude - Robert Cohen speaks - IMA Financial Group Inc. - Interview

Fish swim in a large, colorful aquarium outside Robert Cohen's office at IMA Financial Group Inc. in Lower Downtown Denver.

"They're fun to look at," says the chairman and CEO of the 15th largest privately held retail insurance broker in the U.S. "Plus, aquariums create a certain sense of calmness and serenity in a business environment."

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And to look at Cohen's current resume, he could use a little calm now and then. He's chairman of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, founder and chairman of the Metro Denver Sports Commission, and chairman of the Olympics International Bid Committee. He serves on boards of Adventures Within, the I Have A Dream Foundation as well as for-profit boards. And he's chairing the economic development committee of Gov. Bill Ritter's Transition Team.

He's no less busy at home, as he and his wife, Molly, have four children.

"I try to live a balanced life but that doesn't mean it's going to be balanced every day," says Cohen.

Cohen traces his community involvement to growing up in Wichita, Kan., where his family operated Insurance Management Associates and his parents were involved in the community.

"They believed in giving back," says Cohen. "When I got out of college, by most people's standards I was successful. But I didn't feel that fulfilled or that successful based on the model that I grew up with. The piece that was missing was giving back."

So upon settling in Denver in 1989 to open a division of his family's agency--IMA Colorado--among the first things Cohen did was walk into the chamber office and volunteer. The move would ultimately lead to his chairing the chamber board and helping to set a 2007 agenda to identify...