Sallie Krawcheck has made one of the most important hires in her career at Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), tapping John Thiel to run the bank's brokerage operations, the company announced.

Thiel gains responsibility for Merrill Lynch and will be tasked with brining it fully into the Bank of America fold, mending rifts and finding synergies and cross-selling opportunities.

Thiel has long and deep roots in Merrill Lynch, and that undoubtedly figured in the selection process. He apparently won the job over others with Merrill Lynch experience, including Andrew Sieg, who's in charge if retirement operations.

Thiel joined Merrill's private-banking and investment group 11 years ago and eventually rose to the top. He also opened the firm's Pacific West department.

Krawcheck's legacy at the bank hinges on somehow making the Merrill Lynch deal work out. The Thundering Herd accounts for a large majority of her group's revenue and posted revenue growth of 4 percent last year.

So far, the results have been unspectacular. She's counting on the new hire to turn all that around. She would like to get the revenue growth rate to 7 percent.

For more:
- here's a Reuters article

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