Patni names Fred Cohen as group VP

BANGALORE, INDIA:Patni Computer Systems, a provider in IT and BPO services, today announced the appointment of Fred Cohen as group vice-president, heading the company's global asset management practice.

He would operate in Patni's North American headquarters in Cambridge, Mass, said a press release. Patni's Asset Management Practice works with financial services firms, including mutual fund companies, hedge funds and banks, helping them to strategically align their IT and business processes to improve efficiencies, contain costs and reduce market risks, said a press release.

"We are perfectly positioned to help the financial services industry retool during these difficult times," said Vic D'Alfonso, senior vice president, Financial Services, at Patni Americas.

"Under Fred's direction we will be able to further develop our asset management portfolio in a way that will enable customers to realize their business initiatives."

Cohen joins Patni from State Street Corp., where he was a senior vice-president in the company's conversion PMO management. He has earlier also held senior roles at The BISYS Group, DST Systems, Thomson Financial and Lehman Brothers, the release added.

"I look forward to guiding Patni's strong global Asset Management Practice and developing new vertically integrated solutions to help companies involved in mergers, acquisitions and carve-outs of business units," Cohen said.

"We can help companies take their business objectives to the next level by leveraging our expertise and driving operational improvements in middle- and back-office systems, introducing new cost containment methodologies and instituting IT portfolio rationalization techniques," he added.