CEO Charlie Scharf Reinforces Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
September 23 2020 - 9:27AM
Business Wire
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf sent the following message to all
employees today:
Some of you may have seen media stories referencing a comment on
diverse talent from my June “Our commitment to change” memo. I
apologize for making an insensitive comment reflecting my own
unconscious bias. There are many talented diverse individuals
working at Wells Fargo and throughout the financial services
industry and I never meant to imply otherwise. I’ve worked in the
financial services industry for many years, and it’s clear to me
that, across the industry, we have not done enough to improve
diversity, especially at senior leadership levels. And there is no
question Wells Fargo has to make meaningful progress to increase
diverse representation. As I said in June, I have committed that
this time must be different.
Just in the last few months, we have announced and welcomed new
diverse senior leaders who have deeply impressive resumes. We hired
two members of the Operating Committee: Lester Owens, head of
Operations, and Ather Williams III, who joins in October as head of
Strategy, Digital and Innovation. We are also close to hiring a
leader for the new Diverse Segments, Representation & Inclusion
Group, who will report to me and be responsible for advancing the
company’s diversity efforts in the marketplace and workplace. We
are pleased that Kristy Fercho recently joined our company to lead
Home Lending. We have also promoted talent internally, like Gigi
Dixon to head of External Relations.
Over the past several months, I have greatly enjoyed and
benefited from many conversations with the Black/African American
Connection and other Team Member Network affinity groups. I am
committed to continuing to listen and learn and appreciate all of
your help in driving meaningful change at our company.
While we have a lot of work to do, I am encouraged by our early
progress. In addition to the new senior leader hires, we recently
launched a “returnship” program focused on diverse talent who have
been out of the workforce for an extended period to support their
return to the industry. Additionally we are requiring diverse
candidate slates for key roles with compensation of more than
$100,000 and increasing business with diverse suppliers. Other
efforts underway include:
- Reaching out to diverse talent: To help expand our
outreach and sourcing opportunities with diverse talent, our
University Programs team has been working closely with our
Operating Committee leaders to help build engagement with
historically Black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, and
Hispanic-serving institutions, or HSIs.
- Anti-racism training course: A new live anti-racism
training course is being developed — we’ll share more information
as details come together.
- Senior leader accountability: Operating Committee
leaders have been working with their Diversity & Inclusion
consultants and HR business partners to integrate D&I into
their business plans and reviews, and each Operating Committee
member is an executive sponsor for at least one of our Team Member
Networks.
- Executive compensation: As part of the year-end
evaluation process, Operating Committee members will be evaluated
based upon their progress in improving diverse representation and
inclusion in their area of responsibility. These evaluations will
have a direct impact on year-end compensation decisions.
This is an important moment in our firm and we will not let it
go by without substantive changes. I cannot do this alone, and I am
asking for your help. I know we will be judged based on our
outcomes. Thank you for all you do for our company.
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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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200923005604/en/
Media Beth Richek, 704-374-2545
Beth.Richek@wellsfargo.com
Vickee Adams, 515-537-3276 Vickee.J.Adams@wellsfargo.com
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