Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced the appointment of six new Corporate Risk leaders as part of its enhanced Risk model to further strengthen the independent oversight of all risk-taking activities and a more comprehensive view of risk across the company. In addition, the company announced that Mike Roemer, the current Chief Compliance Officer, has decided to leave Wells Fargo following a transition period.
"Our new model will strengthen our centralized, independent risk management program, provide greater consistency in how we manage risk across our businesses, and better position us for the future,” said Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Mandy Norton.
The model consists of five line-of-business CROs, along with other teams aligned by risk type, each reporting to Norton. The new leaders, who will all report to Norton, are:
Paula Dominick, who will join Wells Fargo as Chief Compliance Officer in October. Dominick was most recently Chief Compliance Officer of Credit Suisse USA and previously held leadership roles at Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. In this role, Dominick will be responsible for oversight of all regulatory compliance risks for Wells Fargo.
Brian King, who will join Wells Fargo as CRO for Consumer & Small Business Banking in October. King was most recently CRO and Head of Finance for the Consumer Business at Goldman Sachs and previously held risk leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase.
Ellen Koebler, who will join Wells Fargo as CRO for Commercial Banking in September. Koebler was previously Deputy CRO at Truist, CRO for SunTrust Banks, and held leadership roles at E*Trade, JPMorgan Chase, First Union, and Shell Oil & Shell Chemical Companies.
Prasanna Someshwar, who will join Wells Fargo as CRO for Wealth & Investment Management in October. Someshwar previously held various risk leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase, including CRO and Chief Credit Officer for Wealth Management/Private Bank.
Jeff Colson, who has been named CRO for Finance, joining the risk team in September following a transition period from his current role. Colson was most recently Head of Capital Management at Wells Fargo, and his successor will be named shortly. Colson joined Wells Fargo in 2015, and he previously held executive financial and risk management positions at Bank of America.
Patrick Dillon, who has been named Enterprise Testing & Validation leader, effective immediately. Dillon joined Wells Fargo’s risk organization in 2018 and was previously in compliance leadership roles at PNC Financial Services and Bank of America Merchant Services. In this role, Dillon will lead the team responsible for the development and design of methodologies and standards for review activities across the company and provide strategic leadership of significant enterprise-wide testing programs.
The new CROs will each provide independent, holistic risk leadership and oversight for their respective business lines and functional areas, creating streamlined interaction with independent risk management and a comprehensive view of risks across each of the businesses. The CROs will work in strong partnership with leaders who will continue to oversee market, credit, operational, compliance, strategic, and model risk holistically across the entire company.
"These new leaders bring impressive experience, diverse insights, and strong leadership skills to their roles,” said Norton. "They will each play an important part on the risk leadership team under our newly enhanced organizational structure as we strengthen our independent risk management function and better position how we manage risk for the future.”
The new leaders were named following the May 2020 announcement of the enhanced Corporate Risk model, which noted that Kevin Reen would join Wells Fargo as CRO of Consumer Lending and that Bill Juliano would join Wells Fargo as chief operational risk officer. A search for the new CRO for Corporate & Investment Banking remains underway.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.97 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,300 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 31 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 266,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2020 rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter: @WellsFargo.
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Kearl and her family at Beth's Farm Market in Warren, Maine.
Mary KearlIn 2019, Mary Kearl and her family traveled to 12 countries while working remotely. As COVID-19 spread, they decided to move from Los Angeles to Maine to shelter in place.
While following social distancing regulations, Kearl and her family found safe ways to adventure locally while she and her husband kept their freelance businesses afloat/
Kearl says the time she's able to dedicate to family by being a freelancer has proved invaluable during the ongoing pandemic.
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In 2019, after saving up for several years and setting aside $36,000 for our world travels, my husband, toddler, and I managed to visit 12 countries together, all while working remotely.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we're no longer traveling globally and our daily routine looks a lot different. Still, the lessons we learned from running our own businesses as freelancers, caring for a young child, and exploring the world have stuck with us, so we've found new ways to make the most of our surroundings
We moved to Maine in summer 2020 to help my parents with their expenses after my dad lost his job at the start of the pandemic, get extra help with childcare, and have a safe place to isolate and work remotely.
The area we live in is relatively new to us and even while wearing masks and social distancing, we've enjoyed discovering the new place we call home.
Most weekday mornings we head outdoors as a family of three on local adventures - taking in hikes, picnics on the beach, riding the local ski lift, visiting state and national parks, discovering new lighthouses, and going blueberry and apple picking.
Kearl and her family at Beth's Farm Market in Warren, Maine.
Mary Kearl
Here's how we manage to grow our freelance careers and have time to enjoy nearby excursions together safely during the pandemic.
Read more: My husband and I left our full-time jobs to travel the world for 6 months - and only spent $288 from our savings. Here's how we found remote work.
We used to work a combined 100 hours a week. Now my husband and I work about 40 hours a week total and earn about the same income.
When I gave birth to our child, my husband and I were both working full time for two LA startups. Between commuting and working in our roles in marketing (mine) and operations (his), we were logging about 100 hours a week, often on opposite schedules that left little time to see each other, let alone enjoy time together with our newborn.
For over a dozen years, I'd freelanced in writing, social media, and marketing in addition to working full time. However, it wasn't until 2019 when our little one was a year old that I thought about going solo and exclusively working for myself.
Despite earning over $150,000 annually as a family, we knew that rent and childcare costs could easily add up to $45,000 a year if we stayed in Los Angeles, where the median cost of a just a one-bedroom apartment totalled $2,131 per month.
I had a hypothesis: If we could become remote freelancers, we could potentially live somewhere more affordable and, even if we made less annually, we could more easily break even or possibly net out ahead.
In 2020, as we wrapped up our second year of both freelancing part time, my hope became a reality. We'd managed to earn our old combined income of over $150,000 annually while both only working about 40 hours a week - about 25 hours a week for me and 15 for my husband. We'd also saved on rent and childcare expenses.
These days I work with about six or seven "anchor" clients, who have a need for freelancer support on either a monthly or bi-monthly basis. My husband has several anchor clients as well. This means we spend nearly 100% of our working time doing paid work, rather than logging inviolable hours looking for more opportunities.
Read more: I made 6 figures in 2020 while only freelancing part time. Here's how I'm able to set high rates and work less hours.
We plan everything around meals and sleep schedules.
Kearl and her family in Camden Hills State Park.
Mary Kearl
Many people ask us how we managed to travel with a baby (now toddler) and get work done at the same time. The answer is through careful planning.
As a freelancer, I avoid the kind of work that involves too many meetings, projects with short same-day turnaround times, or the expectation to be "always on" email or Slack - duties that would keep me tied to a desk (or, in my case, a couch) and wouldn't allow the flexibility to get out and about on my family's schedule. Independent, project-based work on the other hand, allows me to work at nights, during my kid's naps, and over the weekends.
As a result, we generally have the mornings off, and enjoy breakfast, lunch, and pre-nap story time all together. My husband and I work while our little one naps, and, if we have additional projects to work on, my parents, who we're living with, often help with childcare before dinner. Otherwise, either I or my husband will take over and let the other one finish up an assignment as needed.
Kearl and her family on a chair lift at the Camden Snow Bowl.
Mary Kearl
After that, we all have dinner together and enjoy another evening activity before bedtime. If either of us has deadlines to meet, we'll pick things back up for a couple of hours at night. We stick to this schedule on weekends, too, when we have busier weeks.
For standing weekly video calls with some of my regular clients, I tend to schedule these outside of naptime, so I don't disturb my sleeping coworker, and outside of our morning outing hours, so we have the time off for our adventures.
With an almost 3-year-old, we've started the process of potty training, but that's been impacted by the pandemic as well. Open public bathrooms are a lot harder to come by, so we still use diapers on our longer morning excursions or full day trips.
Read more: I'm a freelancer who's brought in 5 figures a month in income since the start of the pandemic even after losing half my clients. Here's how I've found additional work and kept business up.
We travel like locals.
Kearl and her family in Birch Point Beach State Park.
Mary Kearl
I used to be the kind of person that liked to pack as many activities and destinations into one trip as possible. After traveling six months straight in 2019, however, I realized not only is that unsustainable, it's also not the best way to really get to know a place. We found we were able to learn more about our new environment by taking part in routine daily activities, like going shopping at a local market, having a picnic, going to the playground, visiting the local library, and simply hanging out.
While we can't do all the things we might have normally if there weren't a pandemic, we've managed to fit quite a lot in since moving to Maine in June.
We enjoy getting outdoors and going hiking.
Through careful planning we've managed to visit several state and national parks during the pandemic including Acadia National Park in October for peak fall foliage.
Kearl and her family in Acadia National Park.
Mary Kearl
Since Acadia is a two-hour drive from our house and we didn't want to stay overnight, we went on a weekday to avoid weekend crowds and planned it on a day when we didn't have any work deadlines. As it turned out, one of my regulars did need something last minute the next day, so I used my phone as a hotspot and took care of some work on my laptop on the drive back while my husband drove and my child played with the plenty of toys and books we always pack on longer drives.
Even as the temperatures cooled down, we've continued to head outdoors. Inspired by reading about the Norwegian concept of "friluftsliv" or "open-air living" in all kinds of weather, we've invested in gear to stay warm and dry during rainy, windy, and snowy weather - with one set of boots rated to keep us comfortable in up to -20 to -40 degree weather and another pair for Maine's notoriously rainy and muddy spring. I've also kept to a personal goal of walking 10,000 steps, or about four miles, a day so far, mostly outside. That's allowed me to catch many a full moon, as well as shooting stars.
We take advantage of local seasonal activities.
Blueberry picking in Beech Hill Preserve.
Mary Kearl
In the summer, we enjoyed blueberry picking with a local farm that required patrons to follow physical distancing guidelines.
We've continued the seasonal activities with apple picking, going through a corn maze, going "trunk or treating" at Halloween, and riding a local ski lift in our Halloween costumes.
Trunk or treating in Thomaston, Maine.
Mary Kearl
We also participated in our town's holiday light decorating competition and going on a driving tour to see all of the lights, and visiting this year's Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens holiday lights display, adapted to a driving tour due to COVID-19.
While we can't enjoy local museums or libraries, our child can't play with other kids, and we can't travel longer distances to see family and friends, there's a lot of beauty we've been able to enjoy all within a short drive, thanks to planning our schedules in a way that allows us to have time together.
Read more: A 29-year-old 'California girl' moved to Nova Scotia with her husband last year. She says it's been a culture shock, but living in Canada meant they could finally afford the American dream.
Holiday lights driving tour at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
Mary Kearl
We're grateful for the chance to be able to work remotely and create moments of joy in otherwise challenging times. One difference we've found in seeing the world this way is compared with being a visitor on a short stay, we can experience all of Maine's seasons and take part in local customs. We've not only picked apples, but we've learned to make applesauce and cider. We've hiked and gathered pine cones for wreaths we made at home. During our beach excursions, we've gathered driftwood and abandoned buoys we've found washed up on the shore to add to our home decor.
Leaving the inflexible workforce behind was a great decision for our family. It opened up a wealth of opportunity for me and my husband to not only leverage our professional skills and work on our own terms, but to also prioritize family time and adventure, regardless of a pandemic.
