having been a wall street banker for 17 years, william cohan has in-depth inside knowledge of investment banking. in addition to his years as an associate and then vice president, at lazard frÈres, mr. cohan was a director in the acquisition eckert but merrill lynch and a managing director of jpmorgan chase. he left jpmorgan to write the last tycoons, which received the 2007 financial times goldman sachs business book of the year award. he probably wishes that was the to those of seven just financial times business award. [laughter] after today's wall street journal report on the sec problem. the last tycoon also appeared on the best-seller list of "the new york times," "the wall street journal" and usa today. mr. cohan writes regularly for "fortune magazine," the daily beast, art news and the financial times. he is a contributing editor and writes an opinion column on business for "the new york times." mr. cohan is a graduate of phillips academy, duke univ. of the columbia university graduate school of journalism and the columbia university graduate school of business. he lives in manha