Wells Fargo names new chief executive officer
Wells Fargo & Company’s (NYSE: WFC) Board of Directors has named John G. Stumpf, President and Chief Operating Officer, to be the Company’s Chief Executive Officer. Stumpf, who retains the title of President, succeeds Dick Kovacevich, who continues as Chairman.
The appointment is effective immediately. Consistent with the Company’s policy for senior executives, Kovacevich has said he will remain with the Company no later than the end of next year when he will be 65.
“Our Board has great confidence that John Stumpf will be an outstanding chief executive officer of Wells Fargo because of his quarter century of experience with our company, his broad and deep understanding of our unique culture, his personal commitment to people as a competitive advantage and his passion for our vision, values and business model which we’ve executed successfully for more than 20 years,” said Kovacevich. “We firmly believe there’s no other leader, anywhere in financial services, better equipped to lead Wells Fargo to the next stage of success in satisfying all our customers’ financial needs and in achieving our goal of industry-leading, double-digit growth in revenue and earnings per share.” “I appreciate the confidence the Board has placed in me and I look forward to working with all of our team as ‘one Wells Fargo’ to continue building a culture of collaboration that, instinctively and naturally, puts what is best for the customer first and then exceeds customer expectations,” said Stumpf.
Kovacevich said that given the company’s size, complexity, and growth prospects that Stumpf, in effect, oversees a team of seasoned CEOs - who average almost 30 years in financial services - each leading a group of businesses that separately would be the size of a Fortune 200 company: **Includes reinvested dividends The past 20, 15, 10 and five year periods Wells Fargo has achieved double-digit annual compound increases in revenue, earnings per share, and total stockholder return which was about double that of the S&P. Among the 268 companies that have been part of the S&P 500 for all the past 20 years, Wells Fargo ranks fifth in total stockholder return at 4,200 percent. Stumpf, 53, joined the former Norwest Corporation in 1982 in the loan administration department of Norwest Bank Minneapolis, N.A. He held management positions at Norwest Bank Minneapolis and Norwest Bank Minnesota before being named chairman and CEO of Norwest Bank Arizona in 1989. He became regional president for Norwest Banks in Greater Colorado/Arizona in 1991. From 1994 to 1998, he was regional president for Norwest Bank Texas and led Norwest’s acquisition of 30 Texas banks with total assets of more than $13 billion. In 1998, with the merger of Norwest Corporation and Wells Fargo & Company, he became head of the Southwestern Banking Group (Arizona, New Mexico and Texas). Two years later he became head of the new Western Banking Group (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming). In 2000, he led the integration of Wells Fargo’s acquisition of the $23 billion First Security Corporation, based in Salt Lake City. In July 2002, he was named head of Community Banking, reporting to Kovacevich. In August 2005, he was named President and Chief Operating Officer and last June was elected a Director. Stumpf is a native of Pierz, Minnesota, and earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from St. Cloud State University (Minn.) and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Minnesota. He is Chairman of the Board of Visa U.S.A, Inc., on the Board of Visa International, The Clearing House, the San Francisco Committee on Jobs, the Bay Area chapter of Junior Achievement, and the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He also is a member of the California Business Roundtable and the Financial Services Roundtable. Kovacevich, 63, became President and CEO in November 1998, after the Norwest-Wells Fargo merger and became Chairman in April, 2001. He was named CEO of Norwest Corporation in 1993 and Chairman in 1995 after serving as President and COO since 1989. He joined Norwest in March 1986, as Vice Chairman and COO of the Banking Group. — www.theasianbanker.com (June 28 2007)–