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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Ramius LLC (Ramius), the global alternative investment management business of Cowen Group, Inc. (Cowen) (NASDAQ: COWN - News), today announced that Eric Greenhut has joined the firm as a Managing Director and Head of Quantitative Trading. Ramius quantitative trading platform was developed in-house and has been deploying proprietary capital through systematic trading programs since early 2010. Ramius is now seeking to expand and diversify the platform in order to enhance returns to proprietary capital and ultimately create systematic trading products for Ramius clients. In a newly created role, Mr. Greenhut will be responsible for the management and development of the group, including the ongoing search for premier quantitative traders, researchers, and programmers. Mr. Greenhut will report to Thomas W. Strauss, President and CEO of Ramius.

We welcome Eric to the firm and believe that his experience and skillset will be a valuable asset as we expand and advance our quantitative trading platform, said Mr. Strauss. Over the last two years, this platform has been generating superior results for Ramius own proprietary trading activities. As a result, we intend to grow the group substantially, both to enhance returns on our proprietary capital and to develop systematic trading products that will meet the ever evolving needs of our clients. We look forward to Erics contributions as we continue to build out Ramius quantitative trading group.

Mr. Greenhut brings 16 years of financial services experience with him to Ramius. Prior to joining the firm, he served as Managing Member of quantitative trading firms Hut Trading LLC & Hut Capital LLC since 2003. Previous to that, he was Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, and a Director of Research at BNP Paribas/Cooper Neff. Mr. Greenhut is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Phillips Academy.

About Cowen Group, Inc.

Cowen Group, Inc. is a diversified financial services firm and, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, provides alternative investment management, investment banking, research, and sales and trading services through its two business segments: Ramius and its affiliates makes up the Company's alternative investment management segment, while Cowen and Company is its broker-dealer segment. Its alternative investment management products, solutions and services include hedge funds, replication products, managed futures funds, fund of funds, real estate, health care royalty funds and cash management services. Cowen and Company offers industry focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Founded in 1918, the firm is headquartered in New York and has offices located in major financial centers around the world.

About Ramius LLC

Ramius offers a broad range of investment solutions to institutions and private clients worldwide. Founded in 1994, Ramius and affiliates manage $10.3 billion* (as of January 1, 2012) across multiple asset classes and investing styles. Ramius is headquartered in New York City with offices located in London, Tokyo, Luxembourg and Munich.

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Eric Greenhut Joins Ramius as Head of Quantitative Trading Group

SAKONNET AREA The state cant afford to properly care for its roads and bridges and needs the estimated $27 million that tolling the new Sakonnet River Bridge might provide each year.

So says Michael P. Lewis, director of the state Department of Transportation, who visited this newspaper last week to defend the toll proposal.

Governor Lincoln Chafees 2013 budget includes a plan that would hand over the Sakonnet River and Jamestown-Verrazzano bridges to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority and allow RITBA to place tolls on the Sakonnet span when it is finished.

He is aware that people in this corner of the state feel strongly about the subject, Mr. Lewis said, but the state has about run out of transportation funding options.

We dont have the money, plain and simple, to maintain our bridges, he said. And he predicted that, with the present climate in Washington, the situation will only get worse. There isnt a status quo option. Without tolls, the day the new bridge opens, we wont be able to adequately maintain it it will go the way of the old Sakonnet Bridge.

The administration is pushing the toll issue now because there is a window of opportunity that will close forever in about 12 months, he said. Once the new bridge is complete and the old one removed (the Coast Guard permit requires that the old bridge be gone within 18 months after the new bridge is done), it will be too late to add tolls.

Mr. Lewis said the DOT thinks the Sakonnet River Bridge is the best candidate for tolls in part because it sees one-and-a-half times more traffic than the Newport Bridge. He said there would be no need for toll booths since tolling could be automatic.

Local lawmakers have already pledged to fight tolls either on the Sakonnet River Bridge or the Mount Hope Bridge. Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., Rep. John G. Edwards and Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr. introduced bills earlier this year aimed at preventing the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority from instituting tolls on the Mount Hope and Sakonnet River bridges.

And Senator Louis DiPalma told the Senate Finance Committee recently that another toll would isolate Aquideck Island and hit county businesses hard.

Mr. Lewis acknowledged that people in Newport and Bristol counties believe it is unfair to toll only bridges here while their tax dollars have assisted projects throughout the state like the Iway.

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DOT chief pushes Sakonnet Bridge toll

SHES as much an institution at Olympians as the inspiration behind the clubs name is and this year will see Dot Burgess surpass a half-century of service.

Burgess has been there almost from the clubs beginnings and is a testament to longevity, with this season her 51st of grade hockey in Tamworth and for Olympians.

We (family) came up here in 1956 (from Mayfield), Burgess recalled.

I played juniors down at No. 3 Oval in those days (now Bicentennial Park).

Then in 1961, Beryl Griffiths, who had founded the Olympians club a few years earlier, asked her to play for Olympians.

Dot was still a teenager at the time and over the years has enjoyed her share of success with the club, winning a handful of titles in the 20 plus years she played in first grade.

There were a few years too they were minor premiers but beaten at the final hurdle.

We had two or three years when we went through undefeated and got beaten in the grand final, Burgess said.

It was a different game back then rules, equipment and even the competition.

We used to go to carnivals, Burgess recalled.

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Dot's a sticker for her sport

MORIARTY, N.M. (KRQE) - Veteran Department of Transportation employee and Torrance County Commissioner Lonnie Freyburger is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Freyburger, who has been a DOT manager for nearly 25 years, has also served on the Torrance County Commission for the last 16 months, which he recently found out was against state law.

"(My supervisor) left a message that said, 'I need to talk with you. It's urgent,'" said Freyburger, who received the message earlier this month. "He told me I had to by the end of the day either resign from the highway department or resign from the commission."

According to State Personnel Director Gene Moser, classified state workers, including most DOT employees, can't hold partisan elected office.

"If they are elected, then by law, they must resign their position from state government," said Moser. "That was the concern to remove politics from the classified act."

Freyburger said he had no idea it was against the law. He told News 13, he got permission from a supervisor last year giving him the okay to sit on the county commission.

State officials said that's not an excuse. Freyburger was placed on paid suspension and given an ultimatum.

"The law is the law," said Adjutant DOT Secretary Mike McEntee. "We have to follow it. We are the government."

McEntee and Moser both said they don't know how Freyburger flew under the radar for more than a year.

McEntee said the department has launched an investigation to find out who allowed Freyburger to hold elected office.

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DOT worker breaks law, given ultimatum

Shares of Green Dot (Nasdaq: GDOT) hit a 52-week low yesterday. Let's look at how the company got here and if cloudy skies are still in the forecast.

How it got hereWhy Green Dot, a provider of prepaid debit cards, is trading at a new low is a general mystery to me, as the entire credit services sector has been on fire. Credit processors Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) have both seen double-digit international transaction growth, while Green Dot's direct prepaid card competitor, NetSpend Holdings (Nasdaq: NTSP) , also logged robust growth with the number of direct deposits climbing by 20%.

Green Dot has been no slouch either. Despite management claiming the company missed its target growth for its most recently ended quarter, Green Dot grew revenue by 26% and non-GAAP income by 40%. The company has also been aggressively adding high-profile companies to its network, including Sears Holdings' Kmart and Rite Aid, which is in addition to longtime partners CVS Caremark, Walgreen, and Wal-Mart.

How it stacks upLet's see how Green Dot compares to its peers.

GDOT data by YCharts

It appears that investors are anticipating pressure on prepaid debit companies' business from American Express' (NYSE: AXP) entrance into the prepaid market.

Company

Price / Book

Price / Cash Flow

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52-Week Low Alert: Green Dot