Shift at Mercury S

William A. Shane, 34, has been elected president and chief operating officer of Mercury Savings & Loan Assn. in Huntington Beach, the S&L; that his father helped found 22 years ago. Shane, a Mercury employee for 12 years, had been senior executive vice president, overseeing savings accounts and cash-flow controls.

The chief operating officer’s position is a new one at Mercury, but Shane replaces his father, Leonard Shane, as president. The elder Shane, 64, remains as Mercury’s chairman and chief executive, positions he has held at the $2.2-billion S&L; since its founding.

The younger Shane, who will still report directly to his father, assumes direct line supervision over all regular operations at the S&L;’s 27 branches statewide. The promotion “confirms that which has been in place for some time,” the chairman said.

Mercury’s directors also promoted David Blaney, 49, of Hacienda Heights to the long-vacant post of chief administrative officer. Blaney, a Mercury employee for the last six months, takes over some of William Shane’s former duties.

Blaney also joins Leonard and William Shane and Ronald P. Hansen, the S&L;’s chief financial officer, in the collective “office of the chairman,” which was created to administer the association.