Strapline

Wells Fargo’s most newer advertisements celebrate their recent merger with Wachovia. They have adopted the strapline, “Together we’ll go far”. The merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia bank charters was completed on March 20^th 2010, formally dissolving Wachovia as a separate entity. US States containing both brands will convert by this year, and all remaining branches will rebrand by 2011

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Key people

John G Stumpf, Chairman, President and CEO 

John Stumpf became Chairman for Wells Fargo & Company in January 2010. He was named Chief Executive Officer in June 2007, elected to Wells Fargo’s Board of Directors in June 2006, and has been President since August 2005.

A 28-year veteran of the company, he joined the former Norwest Corporation (predecessor of Wells Fargo) in 1982 in the loan administration department and then became senior vice president and chief credit officer for Norwest Bank, N.A., Minneapolis. He held a number of management positions at Norwest Bank Minneapolis and Norwest Bank Minnesota before assuming responsibility for Norwest Bank Arizona in 1989. He was named regional president for Norwest Banks in Colorado/Arizona in 1991. From 1994 to 1998, he was regional president for Norwest Bank Texas. During his four years in that position, he 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, Texas, Utah, 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 May 2002, he was named Group EVP of Community Banking. In December 2008, he led one of the largest mergers in history with the purchase of Wachovia.

He serves on the Board of Directors for The Clearing House, the Financial Services Roundtable, Target Corporation and Chevron Corporation. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

A Minnesota native, he earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota and his MBA with an emphasis in finance from the University of Minnesota.

Howard I Atkins, Chief Financial Officer

Howard I. Atkins, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer, is responsible for Wells Fargo’s financial management functions (including controllers, financial reporting, tax management, asset-liability management, treasury, corporate development, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions), its investment portfolios (including fixed income, venture capital and private equity investments) and its corporate properties functions. 

A 37-year veteran of the financial services industry, he joined Wells Fargo in 2001. Formerly, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of New York Life Insurance Company responsible for financial management and information technology. 

Before joining New York Life in 1996, he was Chief Financial Officer at Midlantic Corporation before its merger with PNCBank Corp. He helped design and oversee Midlantic’s financial restructuring, taking the company from near bankruptcy to one with among the best operating margins, productivity levels and capital ratios in commercial banking in the United States at that time.

He also spent 17 years at Chase Manhattan Bank, where he rose to Corporate Treasurer. During his tenure at Chase, he was responsible for asset liability management, capital planning, funding and investments and interest rate insurance products. He spent four years in Europe with responsibility for Chase’s foreign exchange and capital markets business.

He is a member of the American Banker CFO Advisory Board, the Financial Executives Institute, and the Conference Board. He also is a director of Ingram Micro, the largest IT distributor in the world, and serves on the board of trustees for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

He received a B.S. degree in mathematics from City College, New York, and his master’s degree in economics from Ohio State University.