Rachel L. Warren

Rachel L. Warren was elected Chair of the board of trustees in 2016.

She is President and Senior Trust Officer of a family office and its affiliated private trust company. 

Before that, Ms. Warren served as COO of MK Enterprises, a diversified holding company founded by Maurice Kanbar, the creator of SKYY® Vodka and one of Cooper Union’s single largest benefactors.  As COO, Ms. Warren oversaw a complex real estate portfolio, an independent film production studio, a wine & spirits company, and numerous other investments, business ventures and philanthropic interests.  

Prior to MKE, Ms. Warren was a partner at Davidoff & Malito, LLP, a New York law firm, where she served as a member of the firm’s management committee.  Ms. Warren’s practice focused on commercial litigation and she represented closely held companies and family owned businesses through all stages of operations.   

Ms. Warren is also the principal and founder of Warren Advisory Group, Inc., which provides corporate, legal and financial guidance to privately held companies, family offices and high net worth individuals. 

Ms. Warren received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her J.D., cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  Ms. Warren served on Cardozo’s Board of Overseers and she was a member of the Board of Directors of Drexel University’s School of Law.  Ms. Warren is a founding board member of the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing.

Ms. Warren is the proud daughter of Cooper alumnus Willard L. Warren EE'50.

Role: Trustee, Chair
Elected to the Board: December 2012
Class Term: 2020
Term Limit: 2020

Community Messages

October 16, 2020

December 21, 2019

September 3, 2019

January 15, 2018

December 20, 2017

June 28, 2017

February 24, 2017

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.