UPDATE 1-MOVES-NYMEX, Compass, Sun Bancorp, Preferred

(Adds NYMEX, Compass, Sun Bancorp, Preferred Bank, Bryan Cave)

Dec 12 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Wednesday. To inform us of other job changes, please e-mail moves@reuters.com.

NYMEX HOLDINGS INC. NMX.N

NYMEX, the parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc., named Thomas Gordon as vice chairman and Howard Gabler as an independent director of its board of directors. Gordon will replace Robert Halper, who resigned from the board. Gordon served as an independent director, and his new appointment has created a vacancy, which the board asked Gabler to fill.

COMPASS BANCSHARES INC.

Compass, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BBVA (BBV.N) (BBVA.MC), said D. Paul Jones, Jr. would retire from his positions of chairman, chief executive officer and president, effective January 1. The company said Garrett Hegel, chief financial officer, would succeed Jones as chief executive officer and president. Additional details were not immediately available.

SUN BANCORP INC. (SNBC.O)

Sun Bancorp said it appointed Thomas Geisel as president and chief executive officer of the bank holding company and its principal subsidiary Sun National Bank. He will join the company on January 7, succeeding Sidney Brown, who has been serving as interim president and CEO. Brown will remain vice chairman of the bank and the holding company, Sun Bancorp said.

PREFERRED BANK (PFBC.O)

The commercial bank, which focuses on the Chinese-American and Southern California market, appointed Frederick Denitz as executive vice president. Denitz will oversee Preferred Bank's commercial lending group. Prior to joining Preferred Bank, Denitz served as an executive vice president at Mellon 1st Business Bank.

BRYAN CAVE LLP

The law firm said it elected 14 lawyers to partnership, bringing the total number of partners to 331. The new partners include George Chen, Nicholas Cherryman, Stephanie Hosler, Keith Kehrer, Jennifer Kingston, Keith Klein, Andrew Klungness, Christopher Lause, K. Lee Marshall, Tara Newell, Margery Perlmutter, Joseph Richetti, Staci Olvera Schorgl and Nicole Simonian.

ZURICH FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP

The Swiss financial services company said Axel Lehmann would become chief risk officer and be part of the group executive committee. The appointment is effective Jan. 1, the company said. Mike Foley will succeed Lehmann as chief executive officer of Zurich's North America commercial division and he will become a member of the group executive committee.

BANK OF AMERICA CORP (BAC.N)

Bank of America named several new executive appointments for its Michigan locations. Among them, Kieth Cockrell was named the bank's Michigan state president, providing business, civic and philanthropic leadership throughout the state.