Mark Tolani to Head Development at Cohen Bros.

Cohen Brothers (Philadelphia), a boutique investment bank specializing in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), hired Mark Tolani for the newly created position of global head of IT development. Based in New York and reporting to CTO Steve D'Agostino, Tolani is charged with the upgrade of Cohen Brothers' front-office systems for portfolio managers and sales people. "My main goal is to build the best CDO system -- not just for us to take advantage of, but also one that we can possibly license out to other players in the CDO market in due course," he explains.

Tolani most recently was EVP and cohead of front-office technology at KBC Financial Products. He also has worked in fixed income technology and research for Morgan Stanley, Union Bank of Switzerland and Credit Suisse First Boston. --C.L.