Banks Snap Up Bear Stearns Talent

As the Bear Stearns saga draws to a close, several bankers and equity research professionals from the ill-fated investment bank have landed on their feet elsewhere. For example, Bank of America hired David Glaser as global mergers and acquisitions chairman. He had co-led Bear Stearns' investment banking unit and was a member of the bank's management committee.

At least four other senior bankers from Bear Stearns joined B of A in recent weeks. The New York Times cites Davis Beller, who ran Bear's coverage of financial sponsors on the West Coast; Adam Blackman from Bear's media group; Steve Lipman and Fred McConkey, who managed Bear's relationships with all the big private equity firms; and Cary Thompson, who headed corporate finance on the West Coast.

Also, Bloomberg reports B of A hired Phil Barnett from Morgan Stanley to lead coverage of financial institutions.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

The moves indicate B of A is eager to strengthen its banking franchise, contrary to the impression created by Chief Executive Ken Lewis' remark last October that "I've had all the fun I can stand in investment banking." The Times says much of the recent hiring has been led by B of A Vice Chairman Stefan Selig, to whom Glaser will report.

Separately, the boutique bank Evercore Partners said it hired Daniel A. Celentano as a senior managing director in its restructuring advisory practice. He was head of Bear Stearns' financial restructuring group, where his advisory clients included General Motors in the Delphi Chapter 11 case and Time Warner Cable in its acquisition of the assets of Adelphia. Celentano holds an M.B.A. in finance from and a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross.

It's not clear how many of the Bear executives named to posts at other banks had been offered jobs by JPMorgan, Bear's new owner as of last week.

Biotech Analysts Land at Deutsche

In equity research, Deutsche Bank hired two Bear Stearns biotech analysts. Mark Schoenebaum joined as a managing director and senior research analyst, based in New York. He ranked first in the Institutional Investor All-America Research poll for biotechnology, according to Deutsche. He previously worked at Alexandra Investment Management and Piper Jaffray. Schoenebaum has a B.A. from Indiana University and an M.D. from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Robyn Karnauskas joined Deutsche as a vice president, reporting to Schoenebaum. She has a B.S. in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in cancer biology from the University of Chicago.