US-Japan Foundation Honors Mr. Thomas W. Strauss

New York, NY – February 2019

The United States – Japan Foundation awarded Mr. Thomas W. Strauss, Chairman, Cowen Investment Management LLC, and former Trustee and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the US-Japan Foundation, with its Distinguished Service Award on February 6, 2019 at a board dinner in New York, NY. Mr. Strauss was honored for his dedication to the Foundation and to US-Japan relations.

Mr. Strauss joined Cowen Inc. in 1995 and during his tenure has served as Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Cowen Investment Management (formerly known as Ramius LLC) and Chief Executive Officer of the Ramius Fund of Funds Group.

Prior to Cowen, Mr. Strauss was Co-Chairman of Granite Capital International Group, a private investment management firm, where he developed an Absolute Return Alternative Asset Class investment business.

From 1963 to 1991, Mr. Strauss was with Salomon Brothers Inc. He was admitted as a General Partner in 1972 and was appointed to the Executive Committee in 1981. In 1986, he became President of Salomon Brothers and a Vice Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Salomon Inc, the holding company of Salomon Brothers and Phibro Energy, Inc. From 1986 through 1991, Mr. Strauss was responsible for the firm’s Investment Banking, Sales and Trading, Asset Management and International Activities. During his tenure at Salomon, Mr. Strauss was responsible for separating the firm’s Proprietary Trading activities from the traditional client based business, which provided the foundation for Global Proprietary Trading in New York, London and Tokyo. He was also responsible for the development of the firm’s international business in Europe and the Far East, including both Sales and Trading and Investment Banking.

Prior recipients of the award include: Ambassador Thomas S. Foley, US Ambassador to Japan 1997–2001 (2005); Ambassador Yoshio Okawara, Japan’s Ambassador to the US 1980–88 (2007); Mr. Tadashi Yamamoto, JCIE, President and Founder 1970–2012 (2008);Ambassador Walter F. Mondale, US Ambassador to Japan 1993–96, Vice President of the United States 1977–81 (2008); Honorable Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan 1982–87 (2009); Honorable Robin Chandler Duke, Former Ambassador to Norway, Co-Founder of the US-Japan Foundation (2010); Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda, Honorary Chairman, Toyota Motor Corporation (2010); Mr. Minoru “Ben” Makihara, Senior Corporate Advisor and Former Chairman, Mitsubishi Corporation (2011); Dr. Ezra F. Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences, Emeritus, Harvard University (2012); and Dr. Kurt A. Gitter, Ophthalmologist and Founder, Gitter-Yelen Art Study Center, New Orleans (2014); Mr. Shigeaki Mori, hibakusha or “atomic bomb victim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Thomas W. Strauss receives the Distinguished Service Award from Foundation Chairman James W. Lintott.