Betsy Cohen

Vice President and Corporate Futurist, Extended Enterprise Group, Nestlé Purina

Lawyer, doctor, architect, teacher—many of us dreamed of those careers when we were young.

But how many people can put ‘futurist' on their business cards?

As Nestle Purina's corporate futurist, Betsy Cohen is responsible for identifying societal trends and harnessing emerging technologies to help the world's largest food company adapt to consumers' changing tastes and improve the way it does business.

Interestingly, Cohen never envisioned a career in business until a visit to Wall Street while she was a student at Wellesley College. "I thought it was fascinating and when I came back to school I changed my schedule to economics."

Named one of the St. Louis Business Journal's Most Influential Business Woman in 1999, Cohen got her start at Purina 26 years ago, working in cereal brand management and marketing for what was then a pet and human food company.

Today, she's vice president of Nestlé Purina's Extended Enterprise Group, including running the veterinary business for Purina and being the Champion for Environmental Sustainability for Nestlé overall. "I'm always looking at the science and technology to see where new trends will be important to consumers and brands for our company," says Cohen.

Embracing change has been the cornerstone of her business philosophy. For instance, the dawning of the Internet age changed the way the company operates, both in terms of outreach to consumers and—since Purina's purchase by Switzerland-based Nestlé in 2001—internally, as technology became crucial to communication within a company that spans the globe.

Cohen's team has used streaming video for employee interaction—filming statements from the company's CEO that employees around the world can access—as well as for dealings with retailers, and has helped move most of the company's interactions with trading partners online.

She also has led the team for testing Radio Frequency Identification, an evolution of the bar code that allows Nestle Purina to more easily track its products as they make their way around the world.

"I relish it when there is something new to be created, something we haven't done before," Cohen said. "I love figuring out how to help the company grow in new ways."

On the consumer side, Cohen has to stay abreast of societal changes that may affect what people eat, for example, or the way they treat their pets. That involves not just the ingredients used in Nestlé Purina products and the company's environmental practices, but also the way the company presents itself to consumers.

"At Ralston Purina, we thought we were in the pet-food business—fairly simple," Cohen has said. "The new economy showed us that we need to rethink the business we were in: the business, the partnerships, and what our customers want."

Cohen helped launch Purina.com, which doesn't sell pet food but is a wide-ranging resource on pet care and health.

The company can use its Web site "to respond to all of our customers' pet needs," Cohen has said. "We have 100 years of history. We understand nutrition and behavior. We have trainers and veterinarians. But previously, our customers never knew that. All they knew was what we put in a bag. Now we have dialogues where our customers can interact with experts."

"Pets are basically family members, so the money people spend on health and pleasure with their pets is very high," Cohen says. "We have to be a part of their lives that is very relevant."

Working in a company so big, however, Cohen realizes she can't take as long a view as other futurists who try to anticipate trends five to 25 years ahead. Her time frame—two to three years ahead—is more modest.

"How do I bridge the gap between those long-term ideas and where we are today in a very big company?" she asks. "How do I use it as a catalyst to make sure Nestlé Purina is taking bolder steps to do some learning in new ways, yet still make it accessible to people who may not embrace where some of these futurists say things are going?"

The idea is to accept and embrace change—and to manage it well.

"We want to be one step ahead of the curve," she says. "We can't be too far out; we don't want to be on the bleeding edge, but on the leading edge. But we definitely don't want to be followers."