Wall Street veteran Jeff Lane, formerly head of Bear Stearns' asset management unit, has been named CEO of Modern Bank NA, a two-year-old private bank that caters to high-net-worth individuals. Lane's short employment at Bear -- he only joined the bank last summer -- was cut short by the bank's collapse and eventual sale to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. He told The Wall Street Journal that Stearns' issues made it difficult for him to restore credibility to the asset management unit.
What the Journal overlooks is Lane's long history on Wall Street. Before joining Bear Stearns, Lane, who is 66 years old, held a number of roles at Lehman Brothers Inc., dating back to when it was Shearson Lehman. He most recently was a vice chairman of Lehman, a title he obtained after he oversaw the sale of Neuberger Berman Inc., where he was CEO, to Lehman in 2003.
Meanwhile, Bear Stearns general counsel Michael Solender was named executive vice president and chief legal officer of Washington Mutual Inc., notes Law.com.
J.P. Morgan has already let go of 10,000 of Bear Stearns' 14,000 employees. At the time of the acquisition, CEO Jamie Dimon requested that Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Credit Suisse Group management not poach Bear Stearns employees until after the deal was complete, and Bear employees were told they had to give the contractual obligatory 90-days notice before resigning.
There has been no word on whether former Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz, who allegedly was offered a vice chairman position at J.P. Morgan, will stay at the firm. - Maria Woehr
See Corporate Dealmaker: From laid-off i-banker to corporate dealmaker?
See Dealscape: Citigroup, Goldman Sachs to issue pink slips
See Dealscape: Credit Suisse expects more layoffs
See Dealscape: Pink slips at J.P. Morgan
See Dealscape: More Wall Street layoffs at Goldman Sachs
See Dealscape: More Lehman layoffs
See Dealscape: Bear Stearns layoffs begin
See The Deal's Career Center
Two former Bear Stearns Cos. executives, Jeff Lane and Michael Solender, are moving on to greener pastures (institutions), metaphorically speaking. 
