US jobs roundup: Susan Merrill joins NYSE; strong hiring in compliance?

The New York Stock Exchange hired Susan Merrill, a litigation partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell in New York, as executive vice president in charge of regulatory enforcement. Merrill acted for one of five trading firms that agreed a $241.8m settlement in March over alleged trading abuses on the exchange.

On the other side of the enforcement coin, Strong Capital Management may be on the lookout for new compliance staff. Its founder, Richard Strong, was banned last week from the mutual fund industry for life along with two senior executives, one of whom, Thomas Hooker, was head of compliance. The ruling by the SEC was part of a settlement of alleged mutual fund trading violations by the firm.

Other moves in the past week include JPMorgan appointing William Daley to head its Chicago-based Midwest operations after the completion of its merger with Bank One this summer. Daley is a former US Commerce Secretary and a member of the family dynasty which has dominated Chicago's mayoral posts for decades. Daley resigned on Friday as President of Texas-based SBC Communications.

Barclays Capital made seven appointments to its IT team based in New York. Five were external hires in areas such as fixed income pricing and global credit derivatives. The bank said the increase in senior IT staffing will support growth plans for front-office divisions. It also appointed two new co-heads of the global private placement group, Michael Kane and Andrew Lee; both have been at the firm for three years.

Credit Suisse Asset Management appointed Joseph Cherian as managing director of its newly formed quantitative resources group. Cherian's experience includes directing quantitative equity research for Banc of America Capital Management and professional teaching at the business schools of Cornell, Boston University and the University of Amsterdam.

Banc of America Securities has returned the favor by recruiting David Russell, former director of CSFB's retail investment banking group, to head its New York retail team as a managing director.

Deutsche Bank appointed Stephen O'Rourke as director of equity research for the semiconductor capital equipment sector. O'Rourke joins Deutsche Bank from Piper Jaffray, where he was a senior research analyst covering the semiconductor and foundry sectors.

KPMG has hired Steve Blizzard, former senior vice president of Mellon Financial, to direct its financial services practice. Meanwhile Mellon recruited Ian Harvey from SG Asset Management, to head the marketing of pooled funds including the Newton Investment Management division.

Stonehedge Partners, a direct investment hedge fund platform, hired Shelley Goldberg as principal responsible for risk management. Goldberg worked previously with Deloitte & Touche and was an assistant vice president at AIG Trading Corporation.