Ask Bob McCann. The former Merrill Lynch executive co-chaired the American Ireland Fund’s 28th annual New York gala dinner, which was held in May at the Waldorf-Astoria and raised in excess of $2 million for Irish charities. But the experience gave McCann more than just the satisfaction of helping others -- he also got a new job. McCann’s co-chairman, Axa Financial CEO Kip Condron, hired him as head of distribution and product development for the asset management firm. He starts this month. McCann, 45, can use the change of scenery. Best known for heading Merrill’s equities business during the late 1990s, he was most recently tapped to oversee the firm’s troubled research department during the dark days of the investigation by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The probe ripped Wall Street research and culminated in April’s $1.4 billion settlement, in which Merrill was accused of issuing fraudulent research and its former Internet analyst, Henry Blodget, was barred from the securities business. McCann resigned in February. “They were some trying days, and while I can’t say it was an enjoyable experience, I learned an awful lot about what I’m made of,” he says. With the past behind him, he’s looking forward to working with Condron on a for-profit basis: “I’ll learn a lot from Kip.”
