Cowen Group

Leadership

Peter A. Cohen - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Peter A. Cohen - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cowen Group, Inc.

Peter A. Cohen is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cowen Group, Inc. Prior to Cowen Group, Mr. Cohen was the founder of Ramius LLC. He also served as a managing member and senior member of the Executive Committee of Ramius.

After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University in 1968, Mr. Cohen earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1969 and began a career on Wall Street at Reynolds & Co.

In 1970, he joined the firm which became Shearson Lehman Brothers. In 1973, Mr. Cohen became Assistant to the Chairman of the firm, Sanford Weill, and was involved in all aspects of the firm's activities. In 1978, Mr. Cohen left Shearson for one year to work directly for Edmond Safra at Republic NY Corporation and Trade Development Bank Holdings in Geneva, Switzerland and returned to Shearson in 1979. Shearson merged with American Express in 1981 at which time he became President & Chief Operating Officer and in 1983 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, a position he held until 1990.

In 1991, Mr. Cohen formed Republic New York Securities and Republic Asset Management for Republic National Bank of New York and at the same time commenced the activities around which Ramius was formed in 1994.

Over his career he has served on a number of corporate, industry and philanthropic boards, including The New York Stock Exchange, The Federal Reserve International Capital Market Advisory Committee, The Depository Trust Company, The Ohio State University Foundation, The New York City Opera, The American Express Company, GRC International, Olivetti SpA, Société Générale de Belgique, Telecom Italia SpA, Presidential Life Corporation, Kroll, Inc., and L-3 Communications. He is presently a Director of Mount Sinai Hospital, Safe Auto Insurance, and Scientific Games Corporation.

Jeffrey M. Solomon - Chief Executive Officer of Cowen and Company and Director

Jeffrey Solomon is Chief Executive Officer of Cowen and Company, a Cowen Group company, and a Director of Cowen Group. Mr. Solomon is responsible for overseeing all of Cowen and Company's businesses, including Investment Banking, Capital Markets, Sales & Trading and Research.

Previously, Mr. Solomon served as Cowen Group's Chief Operating Officer and Head of Investment Banking at Cowen and Company. Mr. Solomon joined Ramius, Cowen Group's investment management division, when it was founded in 1994 and was responsible for the development, management and oversight of a number of the investment strategies employed by Ramius.

From 1991 to 1994, Mr. Solomon was at Republic New York Securities Corporation, the brokerage affiliate of Republic National Bank, now part of the HSBC Group, where he was the firm's Chief Administrative Officer. Prior to Republic, Mr. Solomon was in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group at Shearson Lehman Brothers.

Currently, Mr. Solomon is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. He is also on the Board of Directors of NuGo Nutrition, the manufacturer of NuGo Nutrition Bars.

Mr. Solomon graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988 with a B.A. in Economics.

Thomas W. Strauss - Chief Executive Officer and President of Ramius and Director

Mr. Strauss is the Chief Executive Officer and President of Ramius, a Cowen Group company, and a Director of Cowen Group. From 1995 to 2009, Mr. Strauss was a Managing Member and a member of the Executive Committee of Ramius LLC. Mr. Strauss was also the Chief Executive Officer of the Fund of Funds Group. From 1963 to 1991, Mr. Strauss was with Salomon Brothers Inc. He was admitted as a General Partner in 1972 and was appointed to the Executive Committee in 1981. In 1986, he became President of Salomon Brothers and a Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Salomon Inc, the holding company of Salomon Brothers and Phibro Energy, Inc. From 1986 through 1991, Mr. Strauss was responsible for the firm's Investment Banking, Sales and Trading, Asset Management and International Activities.

During his first nine years at Salomon Brothers, he served in various Fixed Income Sales and Sales Management capacities. From 1972 to 1981, Mr. Strauss managed the Government Securities, Money Market and Foreign Exchange departments. In 1978-1979, with the advent of listed Fixed Income Futures and Options trading, he separated the firm's Proprietary Trading activities from the traditional client based business, which provided the foundation for Global Proprietary Trading in New York, London and Tokyo.

From 1981 to 1986, Mr. Strauss was responsible for the development of the firm's international business in Europe and the Far East, including both Sales and Trading and Investment Banking. From a single office in London in 1971, the firm built an international presence in Europe, Asia and North America. In 1986, he further became responsible for the Global Investment Banking, High Yield and Equity businesses and several years later initiated the firm's Global Asset Management efforts.

In 1993, Mr. Strauss became Co-Chairman of Granite Capital International Group, a private investment management firm, where he developed an Absolute Return Alternative Asset Class investment business. In July of 1995, he joined Ramius.

Mr. Strauss is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Stock Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Public Securities Association, the Securities Industry Association, the Federal Reserve International Capital Market Advisory Committee and the U.S. Japan Business-Council. He is a past President of the Association of Primary Dealers in U.S. Government Securities. Mr. Strauss currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the U.S.-Japan Foundation and is a member of the Boards of Trustees and Executive Committees of The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and The Mount Sinai Hospital. Mr. Strauss is also Trustee Emeritus of Riverdale Country School and Vice President and Treasurer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation.

Michael Boxer - Head of Real Estate

Mr. Boxer is a Partner Managing Director of Ramius. Mr. Boxer is responsible for Ramius' real estate related investments and other specialized investment products. Ramius' real estate activities have included investments in mortgages, tax liens, direct acquisitions and development. Currently, Ramius acts as manager and invests in real estate primarily through the RCG Longview Debt funds, the RCG Longview Equity fund, and the Urban American funds.

Mr. Boxer began his career as a real estate attorney with Shea & Gould where he represented owners and lenders in the structuring and consummation of development, leasing and financing transactions. Prior to joining Ramius in 1994, Mr. Boxer was at Victor Capital Group, a real estate investment and advisory firm. While there, he helped to negotiate and structure the disposition of real estate and real estate related assets on behalf of institutional lenders. Additionally, he was involved in negotiations related to the identification, pricing and acquisition of assets from a variety of financial institutions suffering from the real estate downturn in the early 1990's.

Mr. Boxer received a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College in 1989 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1992.

Dan Charney - Co-Head of Equities

Dan Charney - Co-Head of Equities.

Mr. Charney joined Cowen from Jefferies where he most recently served as Managing Director and Head of Global Electronic Trading Services as well as Head of U.S. Salestrading. Before joining Jefferies, Mr. Charney was a Managing Director and head of West Coast equity distribution at UBS Securities and he held various other positions in the financial services sector earlier in his career.

He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at University of California Berkeley.

John Holmes - Chief Administrative Officer

Mr. Holmes serves as Chief Administrative Officer of Cowen Group. Previously, Mr. Holmes was the Head of Technology and Operations at Cowen Group following the merger between Cowen and Company and Ramius. Mr. Holmes joined Ramius in June 2006 as Global Head of Operations.

Prior to joining Ramius, Mr. Holmes was Global Head of the Equity Product Team at Bank of America Securities. Mr. Holmes has also held senior operations management positions at Deutsche Bank, Credit Lyonnais and Kidder Peabody. His experience includes treasury, foreign exchange, equity, fixed income & derivative operations.

Mr. Holmes is NASD licensed as a General Securities Representative, General Securities Principal and a Financial & Operations Principal.

Stephen A. Lasota - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Lasota serves as Chief Financial Officer of Cowen Group. Mr. Lasota was appointed Chief Financial Officer in November 2009. Following the consummation of the Transactions, Mr. Lasota was the Chief Financial Officer of Ramius LLC and a Managing Director of the Company. Mr. Lasota began working at RCG in November 2004 as the Director of Tax and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in May 2007.

Prior to joining RCG, Mr. Lasota was a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Mr. Lasota has been working in the accounting industry for over twenty years and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Owen Littman - General Counsel

Mr. Littman serves as the General Counsel and Secretary of Cowen Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries. In such capacity, Mr. Littman is responsible for overseeing all aspects of legal and compliance for Cowen Group, Inc. Mr. Littman joined Ramius LLC in October 2005 as its senior transactional attorney, becoming the General Counsel of Ramius LLC in February 2009 and the General Counsel of Cowen Group, Inc. in July 2010. From September 1997 to October 2005, Mr. Littman was an associate in the Business and Finance Department of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he represented public and private companies in various corporate transactions, including public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions. Mr. Littman also represented underwriters in initial public offerings of securities.

Mr. Littman received a B.A., cum laude, in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University in 1994 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1997.

Chris McCabe - Co-Head of Investment Banking

Chris McCabe is Co-Head of Investment Banking and Head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications Investment Banking. Mr. McCabe joined the firm in 2011 from Piper Jaffray where he was a Managing Director and Global Co-Head of both the Clean Technology and Renewables and Industrials Groups. Mr. McCabe led the Clean Tech practice from 2008 until he left the company, organizing and branding the group and helping to turn the practice into the top equity underwriter in the sector over the past three years. Mr. McCabe's responsibilities included coverage of Solar, Energy Efficiency, Industrial Biotech, Industrial Technology and Industrial Growth. He joined Piper Jaffray in 2002 as Head of Semiconductor Banking and was Head of Technology from 2005 to 2008. Before that, Mr. McCabe was Head of Semiconductor Banking at Robertson Stephens, where he had a broad range of deal experience in IPOs, follow-ons, convertible debt and M&A transactions. Previously, Mr. McCabe was Head of West Coast Technology Banking at Bank of Boston.

He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and holds a MBA in International Management from the University of South Carolina.

Thomas F.X. O'Mara - Co-Head of Equities

Mr. O'Mara is Co-Head of Equities for Cowen and Company. Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. O'Mara spent over 14 years at Credit Suisse First Boston where he held a number of senior positions including Global Head of Convertible Securities, Global Head of Cash Equities and Global Chief Risk Officer for the equities division. He also served as a member of the Global Equity Management Committee. Prior to Credit Suisse First Boston, Tom spent five years at Lehman Brothers in the convertible securities group. Mr. O'Mara has also spent time on the buy side, including managing multi-strategy assets in a hedge fund structure.

After receiving a B.S. in Business Administration from Villanova University in 1984, Mr. O'Mara matriculated at the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business and received his M.B.A. in 1986.

Kevin Raidy - Co-Head of Investment Banking

Kevin Raidy is Co-Head of Investment Banking. Prior to his current position, Mr. Raidy served as Co-Head of Cowen's Equity Capital Markets group, which is responsible for the origination and execution of all equity capital-raising transactions. Prior to that, Mr. Raidy was a managing director at Ramius LLC, where he was portfolio manager for PIPEs/opportunistic financings and convertible bonds. Mr. Raidy also was the founder of H4 Capital Management LLC. His sell-side experience includes ten years at Shipley Raidy Capital Partners LP, a boutique investment banking firm he co-founded, where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and structuring numerous debt and equity financings and also performed M&A advisory services. Prior to founding Shipley Raidy, Mr. Raidy was an associate at Philadelphia First Group. Mr. Raidy started his career at Cantor Fitzgerald before moving to Merrill Lynch as an analyst in the municipal finance group.

Mr. Raidy has a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kevin Reynolds - Head of Global Capital Markets

Kevin Reynolds is Head of Global Capital Markets at Cowen and Company. Mr. Reynolds has more than 24 years experience in the financial services industry focused on Credit Research, Bankruptcy and Distressed Trading, Emerging Market Debt Capital Markets, and Corporate Asset Backed Securitizations.

Prior to joining Cowen, Mr. Reynolds was Co-Head of Capital Markets Origination at Gleacher & Company and had spent 12 years at UBS in a number of senior roles. He ran the UBS Corporate ABS business where he structured and executed the first whole business securitization for a tender of a public company, NUCO2. He was also Global Co-Head of Liability Exchange offer and Corporate Recapitalizations. Under his management UBS executed well over 200 separate open market repurchases, wavier and consent solicitations, tenders, and exchanges in the U.S. Domestic, European, and Emerging Markets. These recapitalizations included industries in High Yield and Investment Grade issuers. Most notably was the development of the private exchange for convertible instruments and UBS' role as a lead in the Argentina debt exchange. Mr. Reynolds also has held senior management roles in emerging market debt capital markets and syndicate. During that time UBS was a significant presence in emerging market corporate debt issuance and was awarded IFR Deal of the Year for executions in Latin America, Emerging Europe and Asia. Mr. Reynolds spent the first half of his career in the investment banking industry in other senior positions in high yield credit research, bankruptcy and distressed credit trading, and inter-capital arbitrage.

Mr. Reynolds earned a B.A. from Boston College in 1979 and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1984.

Morgan B. Stark - Chairman of Ramius Alternative Investments and Head of Macro Trading Strategy

Morgan B. Stark is Chairman of Ramius Alternative Investments and Head of Macro Trading Strategy. He is responsible for overseeing the firm's multi-strategy investment platform. From 1994 to 2009, Mr. Stark was a Founder, Managing Member and member of the firm's Executive Committee of Ramius LLC.

Mr. Stark attended the Cornell University Industrial Labor Relations School and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from New York University. He served for 3 ½ years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1963, he started his business career in the Chase Manhattan Bank Municipal Department and received a comprehensive grounding in syndicate management, general obligation, discount note and bond trading and sales management. In 1970, Mr. Stark was named sales and syndicate manager of the Primary Government Dealership and promoted to vice president to build a domestic and international distribution team and to manage the Federal Agency Underwriting and Selling Group participations. In 1975, Mr. Stark was named Manager of the Government Dealership and proprietary-trading desk.

In 1979, Mr. Stark joined Chemical Bank as Senior Vice President and Treasury Department Deputy Head. He had senior management responsibility of the Capital Market's Primary Government and Municipal Dealerships, Public Finance, Retail Securities Distribution, Asset Sales and Bank Funding, Liability Management and Portfolio Departments. He also managed the marketing and investment-related products for foreign institutions and a related multi-billion dollar asset management program. Mr. Stark was promoted to Executive Vice President in 1984 and served on the Bank's Asset & Liability Policy and Management Committees. In 1986, Mr. Stark was appointed senior officer in charge of the Private Banking Group to build assets, improve investment performance and grow fee income for the Global Group. In 1988, Mr. Stark returned to the Capital Markets Group. In 1989, he became President and CEO of Chemical Securities, Inc., a Section 20 securities subsidiary. He, in addition, supervised the discretionary management of foreign client funds until January 1993.

In 1993, Mr. Stark joined the Granite Capital International Group as portfolio manager and Managing Director to develop a non-correlating investment management business. As such, Mr. Stark was directly responsible for trading, back office, asset raising and client services. In July of 1995, he and Thomas W. Strauss joined Ramius as partners with Peter A. Cohen in the development of Ramius' investment management business.

Mr. Stark is a member of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is the former Chairman and member of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of the Bond Market Association. He served on this Committee for 24 years.

Mr. Stark's industry and philanthropic activities include his position as member of the Investment Committee for the American Heart Association - Heritage Affiliate and President of the Board of Directors of the Perlman Music Program. He previously served as President, Vice President, and member of the Board of Directors of the Dealer Bank Association and as a trustee to various charitable organizations.

Barry J. Tarasoff - Head of Equity Research

Mr. Tarasoff joined Cowen and Company as Head of Equity Research in May 2002. Mr. Tarasoff has a long and distinguished record of achievement on Wall Street. Prior to joining Cowen, he was Director of Research and a member of the Executive Committee at Robertson Stephens in San Francisco. Before Robertson Stephens, Mr. Tarasoff was the Global Head of Research at Schroders plc, Vice Chairman of Schroders-U.S. and a member of its Executive Committee. In addition to his career in research management, Mr. Tarasoff spent 20 years as an Institutional Investor-ranked technology analyst at H.C. Wainwright, Goldman Sachs and Schroders.

Mr. Tarasoff graduated from Duke University and holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.

Cowen Group

The Firm

Leadership