Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. has kicked off 2011 with plans to open several new offices in the Northeast and by adding new executives to the firm’s public finance and investment banking teams.

The Memphis-based investment banking subsidiary of Regions Financial Corp. has hired James Dornan, formerly a Washington-area branch manager for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and a more than 25-year veteran of the industry, as a managing director.

It’s tasked him with leading the firm’s expansion in Washington and Baltimore, where Morgan Keegan is eager to pour new resources, add personnel and open several new offices over the next year or two. Dick Ferguson, executive managing director and president of Morgan Keegan’s private client group, said the firm wants to boost its presence in and around the nation’s capital and that Dornan’s hire is one outgrowth of that push.

Dornan’s to-do list includes hiring financial advisors and support staff for new offices Morgan Keegan is planning to open in Washington, Baltimore, North Virginia and Bethesda, Md.

“Jim has been a towering figure in the financial services industry here for many years and we are confident that he can build a strong, prosperous branch that will bring to bear the full scope of products and services that our firm has to offer,” Ferguson said.

Meanwhile, Morgan Keegan has added two consumer investment bankers with nearly 40 years of combined experience to the firm’s consumer investment banking practice.

Mike Grady and Ryan Fischer come to Morgan Keegan from Jefferies & Co. Grady, who’s been hired as a managing director and whose experience includes a focus on retail and apparel companies, has expertise in a variety of transactions including mergers and acquisitions and public and private equity and fixed income offerings.

Fischer has executed deals for leading restaurant industry operators and has experience advising clients on mergers and acquisitions as well as equity and debt capital market transactions.

Among the other additions is Euriah Bennett, formerly the head of the municipal derivatives group for Dexia Credit Local in New York. He has joined Morgan Keegan’s public finance group in New York City as a senior vice president.