# Neil Cohen

> Neil Cohen is a Manhattan-trained investment banker who co-founded American Rock Salt Company, the largest-producing salt mine in the United States, after the historic Retsof mine collapsed and flooded in the 1990s. As Founder, Co-CEO and Vice Chairman, he helped assemble the financing for the first successful new U.S. salt mine in over four decades, in Mount Morris, New York. In parallel he runs Emerald Development Managers LP, an early-stage venture capital firm he founded in 1994, backing science-heavy startups in diagnostics, digital pathology, nanotechnology and fuel cells. His career spans the deeply physical (20,000 tons of rock salt a day, mined 1,200 feet underground) and the deeply speculative (frontier-tech venture bets).

- **Role:** Founder, Co-CEO & Vice Chairman at American Rock Salt Company LLC; Founder & Chairman of Emerald Development Managers LP
- **Organizations:** American Rock Salt Company LLC, Emerald Development Managers LP, AmBase Corporation, Dillon, Read & Co.
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor of Engineering Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Master of Science in Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Sloan School of Management)
- **Known for:** Co-founded the largest-producing salt mine in the United States, Helped finance and build the first successful new US salt mine in more than four decades, Founded Emerald Development Managers LP, a venture capital firm active for over three decades

## Career timeline

- **1986** — Joined Dillon, Read & Co. as a Vice President
- **1992** — Joined AmBase Corporation as Executive Vice President, CFO and Board member
- **1994** — Founded Emerald Development Managers LP, an early-stage venture capital firm
- **1997** — Co-founded American Rock Salt Company via a $4M asset purchase from Akzo Nobel Salt Inc.
- **1998** — Construction of the Hampton Corners mine begins
- **2000** — American Rock Salt sells its first truckload of rock salt
- **2001** — Hampton Corners mine completed - first successful new US salt mine in over 40 years

## Achievements

- Co-founded the largest-producing salt mine in the United States
- Helped finance and build the first successful new US salt mine in more than four decades
- Founded Emerald Development Managers LP, a venture capital firm active for over three decades
- Serves or has served on boards of Babson Diagnostics, Proscia, Sustained Nano Systems and TBT Pharma
- Advisory board member at the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins and Columbia University Irving Medical Center

## Links

- Website: https://americanrocksalt.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-cohen-5051a816

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/neil-cohen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-22