Pierz native makes good

Wells Fargo & Co.'s Board of Directors named Pierz native John G. Stumpf, president and chief operating officer, to be the company's chief executive officer.

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Stumpf, who retains the title of president, succeeds Dick Kovacevich, who continues as chairman. The appointment is effective immediately.

Stumpf earned a bachelor's degree in finance from St. Cloud State University and a master's degree in finance from the University of Minnesota.

John Stumpf

"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," Kovacevich said in a news release. "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."

Consistent with the company's policy for senior executives, Kovacevich has said he will remain with the company no longer than through the end of next year, when he will be 65.

Stumpf said he appreciated the confidence the board placed in him and he looks forward to continuing to build a culture of collaboration at Wells Fargo.

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.

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.

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $486 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance through more than 6,000 stores and the Internet.