Wells Fargo Advisors is close to a deal to land long-time Merrill Lynch veteran Tom Isaacs to oversee its New York City branches, according to a source familiar with the talks.

Merrill Lynch, which is a unit of Bank of America Corp. [BAC], confirmed Tuesday that Isaacs left the firm, and that a replacement would be named soon, but declined to disclose any more details

This position at Wells has been vacant since the end of last year when former New York manager Rick Frick left the firm.

Isaacs resigned from Merrill on Friday and is waiting to see if the New York-based company will enforce a “garden leave” clause in its employment contract that can require branch managers to take a 60-day leave when they leave the firm, according to the source. If Merrill does not enforce that clause, Isaacs could begin immediately at Wells.

As Group Managing Editor of SourceMedia’s Investment Advisor Group, Lee oversees all editorial aspects of our Bank Investment Consultant brand. He has spent half his 20-year journalism career at SourceMedia and legacy companies. Before taking over BIC in April 2011, he spent more than three years as managing editor of On Wall Street. And before that he was a senior editor at U.S. Banker magazine for four years. He also worked as an editor in the newsletter unit of legacy divisions of the company for three years, covering various aspects of the fixed-income markets.

ûLee started his career as a reporter at the St. Louis Business Journal after graduating from the University of Missouri with a B.S. in economics. He is currently working toward an MBA at Baruch College, part of City University of New York.