Geoff Flynn to Head Cowen and Company’s Consumer Banking Group

NEW YORK, May 18, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) —

Cowen Group, Inc. (“Cowen”) (NASDAQ: COWN) announced today that Geoff
Flynn has re-joined the firm as Managing Director and Head of Consumer
Investment Banking. Mr. Flynn had been the Head of Consumer Investment
Banking at Cowen from 2005 until August, 2010. He is based in San
Francisco and reports to Jeff Solomon, Cowen’s Chief Operating Officer
and Head of Investment Banking.

“We welcome Geoff back to Cowen,” Jeff Solomon stated. “He is an
accomplished banker that successfully advised clients on many important
transactions for us in the past and we look forward to recreating those
successes around his renewed partnership with Owen Hart, Frank Dunlevy
and the rest of the team here at Cowen.”

Mr. Flynn re-joins Cowen from Piper Jaffrey where he was co-head of
their Specialty Retail investment banking practice. Prior to joining
Cowen in 2005, Mr. Flynn was with Thomas Weisel Partners where he was a
partner and Co-Head of its Consumer practice. Mr. Flynn, who was one of
the founders of Thomas Weisel Partners, began his career at Kidder
Peabody in 1992 and was a key member of the Montgomery Securities
consumer team in the 1990’s. Mr. Flynn holds a B.A. from Cornell
University.

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.

SOURCE: Cowen Group, Inc.

Cowen Group, Inc.
Peter Poillon, 646-562-1983
Head of Investor Relations/Corporate Communications