Seth Cohen

President Cedar

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Seth Cohen is President of Cedar, the New York company that sells a patient billing and payments platform to health systems. He arrived through an acquisition. He had co-founded OODA Health, which was built on a thesis Cedar did not yet cover: that a medical bill is only simple if the insurer and the provider work from the same data at the moment of care. Cedar had been selling to providers and OODA to payers, and in 2021 Cedar bought OODA for a reported $425 million in cash and equity. Cohen became President under co-founder and chief executive Florian Otto. Before OODA he led sales and alliances at Castlight Health and worked as a McKinsey consultant. More recently he has been Cedar’s public voice on the effect of Medicaid cuts on patients and providers.

Career Highlights

• President of Cedar since its 2021 acquisition of OODA Health, listed second on the company’s leadership team after the CEO.
• Co-founded OODA Health and served as its co-CEO until the acquisition, which Payments Dive valued at $425 million.
• Reported at the time of the deal to be joining Cedar’s board of directors.
• Spoke for Cedar at the October 2025 launch of Cedar Cover, a tool that finds Medicaid-eligible patients and helps them keep coverage under new work requirements.
• Earlier VP of Sales and Alliances at Castlight Health and a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Professional Journey

Cohen studied at Harvard, earning an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. He began as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and then moved into healthcare technology at Castlight Health, the employer health benefits navigation company, where he was Vice President of Sales and Alliances.

He then co-founded OODA Health and served as its co-CEO. OODA worked through health plans. Its premise was that confusing patient bills come from payers and providers settling claims separately and slowly, and that connecting them in real time would let patients see and pay a correct bill at the point of care. By 2021 the company projected more than $80 million in revenue for the year, according to Payments Dive.

Cedar had built the other half. The company, co-founded by Florian Otto, sold a patient financial engagement platform to health systems and had just raised a $200 million Series D. In May 2021 Otto and Cohen announced together that Cedar would acquire OODA. Payments Dive reported the price as $425 million in cash and equity and said Cohen would become President of the combined company and join its board. The two described the logic in a joint post: Cedar approached the problem through providers and OODA through payers, and together they could offer both sides a single financial experience. Cohen remains President of Cedar, and the company’s leadership page lists him directly after Otto. He has become one of its most visible spokespeople on affordability. At the October 2025 launch of Cedar Cover, which identifies Medicaid-eligible patients, reminds them about eligibility checks and work requirements, and connects them to co-pay assistance, he told Healthcare Dive that the federal cuts would “directly drive increases in uninsured patient care” and would be “hugely devastating for providers.” He also presents Cedar’s annual PFX Awards, which recognise people working on the patient financial experience inside health systems.

Education

Harvard Business School

MBA

Harvard Kennedy School

MPA

No undergraduate institution was found in the sources reviewed.