Peter A. Cohen is the chairman and CEO of Andover National Corporation, a public holding company. He was formerly the chairman and CEO of
Cowen Inc.
TD Cowen (formerly Cowen Inc.), is an American multinational investment bank and financial services division of TD Securities that operates through two business segments: a broker-dealer and an investment management division.
The company's bro ...
, also known as Cowen & Company now TD Cowen. Prior to his current role, Cohen founded Ramius Capital Management in 1994, a $13 billion investment firm, which he merged with Cowen Inc. in 2009. Prior to this, Cohen was the chairman and chief executive officer of
Shearson Lehman American Express
Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonVanities on The Bonfire: Peter Cohen Time, February 12, 1990
Early life and education
Cohen was born and raised on
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. He is of
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
descent. Cohen graduated from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
in 1968 and received his
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
from
Columbia Business School
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and one of ...
in 1969.
Career
Cohen began his career on Wall Street at Reynolds & Co., later part of
Dean Witter Reynolds
Dean Witter Reynolds was an American Brokerage firm, stock brokerage and securities firm catering to a variety of clients. Prior to the company's acquisition, it was among the largest firms in the securities industry with over 9,000 account execu ...
and in 1970, joined
CBWL-Hayden Stone
Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, originally Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, was an American investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1960 and acquired by American Express in 1981. In its two decades as an independent firm, Cogan, Berlind ...
. In 1973, Cohen was appointed assistant to the firm's chairman,
Sanford I. Weill
Sanford I. "Sandy" Weill (; born March 16, 1933) is an American banker, financier, and philanthropist. He is a former chief executive and chairman of Citigroup. He served in those positions from 1998 until October 1, 2003, and April 18, 2006, res ...
, the architect of a major consolidation of brokerage and investment banking firms in the 1960s and 1970s. Cohen would remain with the firm and was integral to its various mergers in the 1970s, including Shearson, Hammill & Co. and Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. While there he held various positions including CAO, CFO, COO, chairman and CEO.
In 1978, Cohen left Shearson for one year to work for
Edmond Safra
Edmond Jacob Safra (; 6 August 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Lebanese-Brazilian billionaire banker and philanthropist of Syrian descent. He continued his family tradition of banking in Brazil and Switzerland, and was married to Lily Watkins ...
at
Republic New York Corporation
Republic New York Corporation was the holding company for
Republic National Bank of New York,
Safra Republic Holdings,
and Safra Republic Bank.
The company was controlled by Jewish Lebanese billionaire Edmond Safra (1932-1999), who was killed ...
Shearson
Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonAmerican Express
American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...
in 1981 at which time Cohen became president and chief operating officer and in 1983 chairman and chief executive officer. At age 36, Cohen was by far the youngest head of a major Wall Street firm. Shearson went on to acquire Lehman Brothers Inc. in 1984 and EF Hutton in 1988. During Cohen's career at Shearson, the firm made 24 acquisitions.
In 1988, Cohen was a key player in the
leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...
of
RJR Nabisco
R. J. Reynolds Nabisco, Inc., doing business as RJR Nabisco, was an American conglomerate, selling tobacco and food products, headquartered in the Calyon Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. R. J. Reynolds Nabisco stopped ...
. Cohen and
Shearson Lehman
Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonF. Ross Johnson in a proposed $17 billion buyout. Ultimately, Johnson and Cohen lost their bid for the company and RJR Nabisco was acquired by the private equity firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
. Cohen was portrayed by
Peter Riegert
Peter Riegert ( ;) (born April 11, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein in ''Animal House'' (1978), oil company executive "Mac" MacIntyre in '' Local Hero'' (1983), pickle store owner Sam Posner ...
in the 1993 film ''
Barbarians at the Gate
''Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco'' is a 1989 book about the leveraged buyout (LBO) of RJR Nabisco, written by investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. The book is based upon a series of articles written by th ...
'' depicting the RJR Nabisco buyout.
In 1991, Cohen founded the securities and asset management businesses of Republic National Bank of New York. From November 1992 to May 1994, Cohen was vice chairman and a director of Republic New York. In July 1994, he founded an asset management company, Ramius Capital Group, which grew to $13 billion in assets undermanagement by 2008. In 2009, Ramius acquired Cowen and Co., a 100-year-old biotechnology and technology-focused securities firm where Cohen was chairman and CEO until December 2018 and chairman through June 2019.
In 2019, Cohen retired from Cowen to pursue building new businesses and subsequently started three companies: Peter Cohen LLC, a personal holding company that invests in private and public companies; Difesa Capital Management, an arbitrage investment partnership he started with his son, Andrew Cohen; and Andover National Corporation, a holding company created for the purpose of acquiring essential-service companies.
Over his career, Cohen has served on numerous corporate and philanthropic boards including those of
American Express
American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...
, The
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
,
Kroll Inc
Kroll (formerly Duff & Phelps) is a financial and risk advisory firm established in 1932 and based in New York City. In 2018, Kroll was acquired by Duff & Phelps. In 2021, Duff & Phelps decided to rebrand itself as Kroll, a process it completed i ...
.,
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been owned b ...
, Linkem S.p.A.,
Telecom Italia
TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed, public and mobile telephony, and DSL data services.
It is ...
, L-3 Corporation, The
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived.
The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...
, The
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Mount Sinai Hospital, formerly at times known as Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a 319-bed major urban hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with its main campus located adjacent to Douglass Park at 15th Street and California Avenue on the city's West Si ...
and the Children's Hearing Institute. He is currently lead director for Scientific Games, chairman of the board of directors of PolarityTE, a biologics company, and a director of Quadrant Biosciences, a diagnostics company built around epigenetics. He is also chairman of the American Museum of Finance and a director of the Gift of Life Marrow Foundation.
Personal life
Cohen has been married twice. His first marriage ended in divorce. He is married to former flight attendant Brooke Goodman; they have a daughter.