Movers & shakers: June 16, 2009

Telecom banker George H. "Woody" Young III, who left Bank of America Merrill Lynch in April, will join Lazard on July 6 as head of global telecommunications and a vice chairman, U.S. investment banking. He will work from New York.

Young started out in the mergers and acquisitions group at First Boston Corp. in 1987. Two years ago, Young abruptly departed Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. after disagreements with then-CEO Dick Fuld over Young's management status. Young spent 14 years at Lehman, eventually becoming head of the global communications group.

Later, in September, just before Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch and Lehman filed for bankruptcy, Young arrived at Merrill's New York office as global head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking. He went to work advising CenturyTel Inc. on its acquisition of Overland Park, Kan.-based Embarq Corp. for $11.6 billion in stock and assumed debt.

Last week, oil and gas dealmaker Jack Lentz joined Lazard as chairman, international oil and gas. Lentz was head of Lehman Brothers' worldwide energy practice. Just before that, Thaddeus Shelly arrived from Bessemer Trust to lead a new private wealth management unit, based in New York.

Rothschild hired Laurence Grafstein as a managing director in New York and co-head of U.S. mergers and acquisitions alongside Steven Tishman. Grafstein was co-head of the global technology, media and telecommunications group at Lazard. Before Lazard, Grafstein headed the global telecom practice at Credit Suisse Group and previously headed the TMT group at Wasserstein Perella & Co.

Check The Deal Pipeline for updates on these Movers & shakers:

• Two Harbors Investment Corp., a new real estate investment trust, is merging with public investment vehicle Capitol Acquisition Corp.
• Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. said Dushyant Chadha will join as a managing director and head of equity derivatives in North America.
• Macquarie Group Ltd. of Australia made five hires.