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Ronald Meraz has presided over Merrill Lynch & Co.'s key Orange County operations at a pivotal time for the New York investment bank.
Since coming on a year ago, Meraz has closed branches and streamlined operations at the county's largest brokerage. His predecessor, Louis Parks, oversaw expansion locally for Merrill during Wall Street's go-go days.
In June, Merrill closed its office in Newport Center-a hub for financial services-and moved workers to Newport Beach's MacArthur Court on the Irvine border, where Meraz is based.
Before that, Merrill closed two Irvine offices. A San Juan Capistrano office was shuttered about the time Meraz took over for Parks, who now is retired.
The downsizing comes after two years of losses on Wall Street and pain across the brokerage industry. Leases for the closed offices were up, Meraz said, and renewing them didn't make sense.
"I think (the consolidation) is pretty much over," Meraz said.
As director of Merrill's Newport Beach complex, Meraz also oversees offices in Costa Mesa and Laguna Hills. A counterpart handles Merrill's Santa Ana and Brea offices along with branches in Los Angeles. Meraz's boss, Guy Williams, district director for Southern California, works out of Costa Mesa.
In all, Merrill Lynch employs about 400 people in OC, down from 450 at year's end. Meraz oversees a big chunk of those workers-190 brokers and 85 other people-as manager of three branch offices.
Despite...