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“The dedication, energy and innovation of our company is a reflection of the qualities that characterize our people.” Management Joseph W. Pooler, Jr., Chief Financial Officer Asset Management Capital Markets Technology & Analytics Steven D'Agostino, Chief Technology Officer Mark Tolani, Chief Information Officer Risk Management Constantine T. Boyadjiev, Risk Management Compliance Kenneth R. Smith, Chief Compliance Officer Legal Rachael Fink, General Counsel Management Mr. Cohen is currently Chairman of Cohen & Company. From 2001 to 2006, Mr. Cohen served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Company. Mr. Cohen is CEO of RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS), a provider of secured and unsecured financing of real estate companies, and Chairman of Alesco Financial Inc. (NYSE: AFN), a REIT managed by an affiliate of Cohen & Company. Mr. Cohen holds similar management positions in certain investment advisory subsidiaries and the broker-dealer subsidiary of Cohen & Company. Mr. Cohen has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Bancorp, Inc. (a bank holding company, Nasdaq: TBBK) since 2000, and served as Chief Executive officer for The Bancorp, Inc. from 1999 to 2000. From 2000 until 2006, Mr. Cohen served on the Board of Directors of TRM Corporation (Nasdaq: TRMM), and as its chairman from 2003 until 2006. From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Cohen served as an officer of Resource America (NASDAQ “REXI”), serving as its Chief Operating Officer from 1998 to 2000. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Cohen was a director of Jefferson Bank of Pennsylvania, a commercial bank acquired by Hudson United Bancorp in 1999 that grew to U.S.$3.5 billion in assets.
Mr. Ricciardi is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cohen & Company. Previously, Mr. Ricciardi was a Managing Director and Global Head of Structured Credit Products for Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch was the top Global underwriter of CDOs in 2003, 2004, 2005 and at the time of his departure. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in April of 2003, Mr. Ricciardi was a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Structured Credit Products at CSFB. During the three years he was at CSFB, the firm was the top ranked underwriter of CDOs. Mr. Ricciardi began his career at Prudential Securities as a trader of mortgage and asset backed securities. Mr. Ricciardi earned a B.A. from the University of Richmond and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Ricciardi is also a CFA charterholder.
Mr. McEntee III is the Chief Operating Officer of Cohen & Company and has extensive experience in structuring the Alesco and Dekania CDOs. Mr. McEntee was previously the co-founding and co-managing Partner of Harron Capital, LP, a $100 million private equity fund. In addition, Mr. McEntee was a partner and chairman of the Business Department of the law firm of Lamb, McErlane, with responsibility for representing the firm's banking clients. Mr. McEntee is also a director of The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBBK). Mr. McEntee earned a B.A. from Boston College, a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law, an LL.M. from New York University School of Law, and an M.B.A. from Penn State University.
Joseph W. Pooler, Jr., Chief Financial Officer Mr. Pooler has been our Chief Financial Officer since November 2007 and our Chief Administrative Officer since June 2007. From July 2006 when he joined Cohen & Company, through November 2007, Mr. Pooler also served as Senior Vice President of Finance. Mr. Pooler also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of two of the permanent capital vehicles managed by Cohen & Company: Muni Funding Company of America, LLC and Star Asia Finance, Limited. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, from 1999 through 2005, Mr. Pooler held key management positions at Pegasus Communications Corporation, a publicly traded company operating in the direct broadcast satellite television and broadcast television station segments. While at Pegasus, Mr. Pooler held various positions including Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, and Senior Vice President of Finance. From 1993 through 1999, Mr. Pooler held various management positions with MEDIQ, Incorporated, including Corporate Controller, Director of Operations, and Director of Sales Support. Mr. Pooler holds a BA from Ursinus College, an MBA from Drexel University, and was a Certified Public Accountant in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (License Lapsed). In 2005 and 2006, Mr. Pooler was an Adjunct Faculty Instructor for the Temple University Fox School of Business and Management. Mr. Pooler is currently a member of the President’s Advisory Council of Ursinus College.
Lars Norell, Managing Director, Alternative Investments Mr. Norell is a Managing Director and head of Alternative Investments at Cohen & Company. Mr. Norell has extensive experience in the CDO market and prior to joining Cohen & Company. He served as a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch where he co-headed the U.S. CDO product area and helped develop a market leading franchise as the top global underwriter of CDOs. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in April of 2003, Mr. Norell worked as a Vice President in charge of Trust Preferred and Mezzanine CDOs at Credit Suisse First Boston. While at Credit Suisse First Boston, Mr. Norell helped create the top industry underwriter of CDOs consistently placing in the top of the global issuance league tables. Prior to Credit Suisse First Boston, Mr. Norell was an attorney at Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft. Mr. Norell holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.Sc. in Business from the University of Southern Europe.
Asset Management Shami J. Patel, Alesco Management Mr. Patel serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer for ALESCO Financial Trust and a Managing Director of Cohen & Company where he oversees all financial services, origination, underwriting and structuring. Mr. Patel has extensive financial and capital markets expertise. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer of TRM Corporation. He also served as Vice President for Sirrom Capital, a middle market and mezzanine lender and investor. Mr. Patel was formerly an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Co. in the business services and specialty finance groups. Mr. Patel earned an M.B.A. and J.D. with honors from Duke University.
Mr. Cigolle serves as Chief Investment Officer of Strategos Capital Management, LLC. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Cigolle served as vice president of Delaware Investments in the Structured Products Group. At Delaware Investments Mr. Cigolle directed the trading and structuring of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). In addition, Mr. Cigolle was responsible for credit analysis of various structured products including ABS, MBS, and CDOs. Prior to Delaware Investments, Mr. Cigolle was employed with Banc of America Securities where he was a structurer in the Structured Credit Products Group. Mr. Cigolle is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. Mr. Cigolle is also a CFA charterholder.
Mr. Braddish is the Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer for Emporia Capital Management. He is also a member of the Credit Committee of Emporia Capital Management, which committee will approve the acquisition of all Collateral Debt Obligations by the Collateral Manager on behalf of the Issuer. He was previously Managing Director and Group Head for Commercial Lending at PB Capital, where he managed a U.S. $2 billion portfolio. Mr. Braddish was previously Managing Director of the Leveraged Finance Group at PB Capital, responsible for the unit’s origination, underwriting and syndication of middle market loans to private equity groups. Prior to that he worked as a senior originator at GE Capital’s Commercial Finance Group for four years. Mr. Braddish began his career in the management trainee program at The Bank of New York, where he spent 13 years in various lending groups including middle market lending and leveraged finance. Mr. Braddish is a graduate of The College of William & Mary and received his M.B.A. in Finance from Adelphi University.
Mr. Vernhes is President and Managing Director of Cohen & Compagnie SAS. He has 12 years of insurance experience. Since February 2006, Mr. Vernhes has served as chief financial officer of Dekania Corp. From January 2004 to April 2005, Mr. Vernhes was the chief financial officer of Corifrance, the French reinsurance subsidiary of Markel Corp. Prior to and in addition to Mr. Vernhes' role as chief financial officer, Mr. Vernhes served as a treaty and facultative reinsurance underwriter for Corifrance in Europe and Latin America. Previously, Mr. Vernhes served as a strategy and management consultant to the insurance industry at A.T. Kearney and Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Mr. Vernhes is a graduate of the Ecole de Hautes Etudes Commerciales and holds a M.Sc. in Finance from the London School of Economics. Mr. Vernhes is fluent in French, English and Spanish. He is an officer of EuroDekania Management Limited.
Mr. Woodworth is the Managing Director of EuroDekania Management Limited in London, and has been an analyst and investor in the financial industry his entire career. He first joined Cohen & Company in 2001 as an equity analyst covering banks, finance companies and REITs. In mid 2003, he was ranked amongst the top three bank analysts by Starmine. Since late 2004, he has been focused on developing Cohen & Company’s European platform. Mr. Woodworth began his career in 1994 at SNL Financial, the leading research and publishing firm focused on the financial industry, where he last served as Director of New Product Development. In addition, he has served as an analyst for Shadwell Capital, a financial stock hedge fund. Mr. Woodworth holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and is also a CFA charterholder. Mr. Woodworth is fluent in English and French.
Mr. Hohns serves as a Managing Director and Head of the Municipal Finance Platform for Cohen & Company. He joined the firm at its inception. Additional responsibilities at Cohen & Company have included devising capital market strategies related to the firm's structured credit products and other in-house managed funds as well as various marketing responsibilities. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, Mr. Hohns was the Head of Marketing for iATMglobal, a division of TRM Corporation. Mr. Hohns holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an M.L.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Nacey joined Cohen & Company in April 2006. Previously, Mr. Nacey was the head of the MBS Correlation and Exotics Trading and Structuring Group of Merrill Lynch. In this capacity, Mr. Nacey was responsible for the structuring, trading and risk management of correlation based products in the RMBS and CMBS sectors. Prior to this role, Mr. Nacey was the head of synthetic structuring in the Global Structured Credit Products Group at Merrill Lynch. Before joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Nacey was a lead structurer in the Structured Credit Products Group at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he focused on the development on new CDO products. Before joining the Structured Credit Products Group, Mr. Nacey was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions group in the Investment Banking Division of CSFB. Prior to joining CSFB, Mr. Nacey was a Captain in the U.S. Army, where he served in various assignments. Among his military qualifications and assignments, were Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, Operations Officer, Airborne, Ranger, and Senior Parachutist. Mr. Nacey graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a B.S. in Physics. Mr. Masuyama is President of Cohen Asia and Partner of Star Asia Management Ltd. Previously, Mr. Masuyama was a Managing Director, and Head of Pacific Rim Structured Credit Products and Japan Credit Sales and Marketing at Merrill Lynch. He was responsible for origination, structuring, trading and marketing of all CDOs and fund products in the Pacific Rim region as well as sales and marketing of credit products in Japan. During his seven years at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Masuyama and his team executed numerous transactions in excess of $40 billion including some of the largest and most innovative transactions, resulting in awards from IFR, Thomson Dealwatch, Asiamoney, ISR, Finance Asia, Euroweek and Nikkei. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch in April 1999, Mr. Masuyama was a Vice President of Global Credit Derivatives at Bankers Trust in New York, where for five years he provided various structured balance-sheet solutions primarily to Japanese banks. Mr. Masuyama was also a management consultant at Andersen Consulting in Tokyo, Chicago and Los Angeles, where he helped multi-national corporations streamline their headquarter functions. Mr. Masuyama holds a B.A. from Waseda University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Capital Markets Technology & Analytics Mr. D’Agostino is Chief Technology Officer of Cohen & Company. Mr. D’Agostino and his team are responsible for development of the firm’s CDO structuring and surveillance software. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, Mr. D’Agostino was head of CDO analytics and technology for three years at Merrill Lynch and at Credit Suisse prior to Merrill. Before heading analytics at Credit Suisse, Mr. D’Agostino structured cash-flow and market value CDO’s, CMO’s, and several mortgage repackaging trades during his eight years at that firm and two years at Chase Securities. Mr. D’Agostino holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Mark Tolani, Chief Information Officer Mr. Tolani is Chief Information Officer responsible for Global IT at Cohen & Company, where he and his team manage all application development and IT infrastructure. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, Mr. Tolani was an executive vice president at KBC Financial Products, where he was co-head of the front office technology group in the New York office for most of his four year tenure at the firm. Previously, Mr. Tolani headed an IT group at Morgan Stanley and worked in front office IT and Research groups at Union Bank of Switzerland and Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Tolani was also a principal at two financial services software start-ups. Mr. Tolani is a CFA charterholder and holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.
Risk Management Mr. Boyadjiev is a Managing Director and Head of Global Risk Management at Cohen & Company, where he is responsible for covering all aspects of the firm's risk management process, including the identification, aggregation, quantification, monitoring, and reporting of the various market, credit, operational and other risks, arising from Cohen & Company's business activities. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, Mr. Boyadjiev was a senior vice president at KBC Financial Products, where during his three and a half year tenure he was responsible for the risk management oversight of the firm's US trading operations. Previously, Mr. Boyadjiev spent three years as a vice president with JP Morgan Chase, responsible for the risk coverage of the investment bank's Global Structured Finance business. Mr. Boyadjiev also spent five years with Arthur Andersen LLP's Financial and Commodity Risk Consulting Practice. Mr. Boyadjiev holds a B.S. degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, double majoring in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and Economics, and holds a M.B.A. degree from New York University's Stern School of Business.
Compliance Mr. Smith serves as the Chief Compliance Officer and Director of Operations for Cohen & Company as well as holding the position of Managing Director. Mr. Smith has been with the company since its inception and has worked for JP Morgan and the Vanguard Group of Investment Companies. Prior to entering the financial services field Mr. Smith served with the United States Air Force for six years. Mr. Smith received an honorable discharge after serving tours in South America, Europe, and the Middle East. Legal
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