Bank of America Corp. announced the global banking, securities and wealth management leadership team that will be in place once it completes the $50 billion acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. BofA had already announced that Merrill chairman and CEO John Thain would become president of the group.

New York-based Greg Fleming (pictured), current president and chief operating officer of Merrill Lynch, will head global corporate and investment banking, which will include commercial banking. David Darnell, president of global commercial banking, will remain head of global commercial banking, reporting to Fleming. He will work from Charlotte, N.C.

Tom Montag, global head of sales and trading at Merrill, will work from New York and become head of global markets, which includes sales, trading and research. Capital markets will report to Montag and Fleming.

Peter Kraus, executive vice president of global strategy at Merrill, will leave the company after the merger to pursue other opportunities. Keith Banks, president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America, will be head of U.S. Trust and Columbia Management. He will operate from New York.

Bob McCann, vice chairman and president of global wealth management at Merrill, will head the combined financial advisor organization. He will work out of New York. BofA said the leader of global wealth and investment management will be determined.

Cathy Bessant, president of global product solutions at Bank of America, will be head of global product solutions for the combined companies. She will work from Charlotte.

And Jim Kelly, business executive for technology and operations at BofA, will head technology and operations support for all of Thain's businesses. He is also based in Charlotte.

Collins Stewart plc, the U.K.'s largest broker, said Joel Plasco resigned as chief executive.

Mark Brown, who was CEO of Arbuthnot Banking Group plc's securities division, will replace him. Before that, he was global head of equity research at ABN Amro Bank NV. Brown is now an executive director of Collins Stewart.

Plasco oversaw the acquisitions of Hawkpoint Partners Ltd. and C.E. Unterberg, Towbin LLC. He left Collins Stewart in 1999 to found technology investment firm NewMedia Spark plc, where he was a director for five years. He rejoined Collins Stewart Tullett plc in 2004 and became chief operating officer of the interdealer brokering business after the acquisition of FPG Holdings Ltd., known as Prebon Group Ltd. Plasco was named CEO of Collins Stewart in May 2006.

Jefferies & Co. hired Jason Roelke as a managing director and head of derivative sales.

Roelke joins from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., where he was a senior vice president in liquid market sales, specializing in equity derivatives. Before that, he worked in equity derivatives at Citigroup Inc.

Highland Capital Partners promoted Bijan Salehizadeh to general partner, based in Menlo Park, Calif. He covers early stage medical devices and biotechnology healthcare companies.

Also, the firm brought in Elazer Edelman as an adviser, focusing on investments in the medical technology sector. Edelman was a co-founder of Pervasis Therapeutics Inc.

In Los Angeles, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP hired Robert Hubbell as a partner. He specializes in accountants' liability, securities litigation and securities enforcement. Hubbell was a partner with Heller Ehrman LLP, where he spent 17 years and was firmwide managing partner.

Separately, Thomas Hungar will return to the firm's Washington office as a partner and co-chair of the appellate and constitutional law practice. He spent five years as deputy solicitor general of the United States.

Hungar, who practiced with Gibson Dunn from 1994 to 2003, will continue to focus on appellate and complex trial litigation.

Todd Glass, formerly chair of Heller Ehrman LLP's energy practice and co-chair of its energy and clean technology practice, joined Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC as a partner in its clean technology and renewable energy practice.

Glass will split his time among Wilson Sonsini's Seattle, San Francisco and Palo Alto, Calif., offices.

Foley & Lardner LLP hired 10 Heller Ehrman LLP attorneys and one patent specialist for its litigation and intellectual property departments. David Kleinfeld, litigator and former co-chair of Heller's complex commercial litigation practice, will lead the group.

Former Heller partners Kurt Kjelland, Dan Silverman, Chad Fuller and Barry Tucker will join Kleinfeld. Fuller, Silverman and Tucker join the litigation department, while Kjelland joins Foley's national IP department.

Five former Heller associates will join Foley's San Diego and Del Mar, Calif., offices, including Steve Moore, Sam Hellfeld, Richard Thill, Nicole Cunningham and Tammy Boggs. Bob Palmer joins as a patent specialist.