Company: COHN
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001104659-25-035625
Chunk: 79

Company: Cohen & Co Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-17
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 79
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”) (see “ Certain Relationships and Related Party Transactions — JKD Investor ”). It is the policy of our Board of Directors that the independent members of our Board of Directors meet separately without management directors at least twice per year during regularly scheduled Board meetings to discuss such matters as the independent directors consider appropriate. In 2024, the Company’s independent directors met separately without management directors two times. Leadership Structure The roles of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer are currently filled by separate individuals. Daniel G. Cohen is our Executive Chairman and Lester R. Brafman is our Chief Executive Officer. The Board believes that the separation of the offices of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is appropriate at this time because it allows our Chief Executive Officer to focus primarily on the Company’s business strategy, operations and corporate vision. However, the Board does not have a policy mandating that the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer continue to be separated. Our Board elects our Chairman and our Chief Executive Officer, and each of these positions may be held by the same person or may be held by different people. We believe it is important that the Board retain flexibility to determine whether the two roles should be separate or combined based upon the Board’s assessment of the Company’s needs and leadership at a given point in time. As noted above, the independent directors meet without management present at regularly scheduled executive sessions. The current leadership model, when combined with the composition of the Board, the strong leadership of our independent directors and Board committees and the highly effective corporate governance structures and processes already in place, strikes an appropriate balance between consistent leadership and independent oversight of the Company’s business and affairs. Role of the Board in Risk Oversight The Board of Directors, as a whole, has responsibility for risk oversight, with reviews of certain areas conducted by relevant Board committees that report on their findings to the Board. The oversight responsibility of the Board and the Board committees is facilitated by management reporting processes designed to provide information to the Board concerning the identification, assessment and management of critical risks and management’s risk mitigation strategies and practices. These areas of focus include compensation, financial (including accounting, reporting, credit, liquidity and tax), operational, legal, regulatory, compliance, political and strategic risks. The full Board (or the appropriate Board committee), in concert with the appropriate members of management within the Company, reviews management reports to formulate risk identification, risk management and risk mitigation strategies. When a Board committee initially reviews management reports, the Chair of the relevant Board committee briefs the full Board on the specifics of the matter