Jennifer Cohen joined Point72 in January as Chief Human Resources Officer, following more than 25 years working across human capital and business operations. We recently sat down with Jenn for a conversation about the experiences that shaped her career and how she thinks about leadership and growth.

Let’s start at the beginning. How did your career unfold?

A lot of my career came down to timing, the people around me, and some luck. Goldman Sachs recruited at my small liberal arts college, and I was fortunate to land a role for when I graduated in 2000. Over the next 13 years, I worked across the organization in distressed assets, the executive office, and later in the securities division.

In 2013, I joined the Goldman Sachs Reinsurance Group, a business that was in the process of spinning out and building something new. After a year, my leader asked me to help think through compensation, as we had grown from 150 to 500 people through an acquisition and AUM had increased tenfold. In the process of learning as much as I could and running a year end process, I realized I had finally found a career in HR. I loved the mix of numbers, spreadsheets, and analytics, along with seeing the impact on people directly.

After a decade of building expertise in HR, I had the opportunity to move to the hedge fund world and joined Schonfeld, which gave me a firsthand view of how investment teams operate in a fast-moving environment. When this opportunity came up at Point72, it felt like the right fit. I was excited by the entrepreneurial nature of the platform, the pod structure, and the close collaboration between the investment teams and investment services.

You’ve spoken about how important sponsorship has been in your career. Tell us about that.

Early in my career, I worked for a leader who took a real interest in my growth. Even after I moved on, she stayed connected and continued to advocate for me. Years later, when I mentioned I was open to a new opportunity, she immediately made introductions and put her credibility behind me.

That experience shaped how I think about leadership. Just because someone no longer reports to you does not mean you stop caring about their career. I believe that sense of accountability, even when it is informal, makes a real difference.

What advice has stayed with you over the years?

You have to build relationships in a way that feels authentic. Early on, I tried networking in a very structured way, and it never quite worked for me. What did work was being a giver. Finding small ways to add value and create space for real conversations is how relationships form naturally.

That mindset still guides how I show up today. Whether I am meeting someone new or working with a senior leader, I try to bring something useful to the table.

How do you think about leadership in a high‑performance environment?

I think there are two different leadership characteristics that are the most important.

First, the transition from individual contributor to manager is one of the hardest shifts people make. When you are used to being valued for your own output, it takes time to adjust. As a leader, your job becomes making sure the people around you get praise for their good work and protection when mistakes are made. Your value is no longer tied to a set of clear deliverables with your name on them. As a visual, it shifts from the sun shining directly on you to basking in the reflection of the sun shining on those that work for you.

Second, people can get to the same place in different ways, and allowing them to take their own journey, even when it means making mistakes and taking more time, is how they develop and even can find a better way. Your role is to know when to step back, when to lean in, and when to protect your team.

What has stood out to you about Point72 so far?

The tenure here really struck me. People stay because they are trusted, supported, and given room to grow. When employees feel respected and taken care of, engagement and effectiveness tend to follow.

There is a strong connection between development, wellbeing, and results, and that shows up across the firm.