Wells Fargo & Co. named David Kowach head of Community Banking, Jim Hays president and head of Wells Fargo Advisors, Andy Rowe Enterprise Customer Excellence executive, and Elli Dai Small Business and Personal Lending Group executive.
Kowach, Rowe, and Dai report to Mary Mack, head of Consumer Banking. Hays reports to Jonathan Weiss, head of Wealth & Investment Management.
Interim Chief Executive Officer Allen Parker said, “These new roles and leaders will help advance Wells Fargo’s top three priorities — focusing on our customers and team members, meeting the expectations of our regulators, and continuing the important transformation of the company. Our commitment to these priorities and to a new level of excellence in customer care is critically important, and I believe these leaders will help propel Wells Fargo forward. It is an enduring strength of our company that we have so many leaders who can draw upon vast experiences, passions and business capabilities to make us better while also helping us better serve our customers. David, Jim, Andy and Elli exemplify those characteristics, and I am grateful for the skills and perspectives they bring to these roles.”
Kowach most recently was president and head of Wells Fargo Advisors, one of the largest full-service retail brokerage organizations in the U.S. In his role as head of Community Banking, Kowach is responsible for Regional Banking (including 5,400 Well Fargo bank branches), Distribution Strategies, Customer and Branch Experience, and Regional Services — providing leadership to approximately 68,000 team members.
Mack said, “Now is the right time to bring the organizations that support our team members and customers in bank branches closer together under one leader. David’s experience running Wells Fargo Advisors — one of Wells Fargo’s most distributed, regulated and customer-centric organizations — will help us move Community Banking forward as we continue our transformation.”
Kowach has worked in the financial services industry for more than 28 years, most with Wells Fargo Advisors. Previously, he led the Private Client Group and Business Development. He also was head of National Sales at Evergreen Funds (a predecessor to Wells Fargo Asset Management). He started his career serving clients as a financial advisor. He holds a B.S./B.A. degree in finance from Villanova University.
Hays, based in St. Louis, assumes leadership of Wells Fargo Advisors, which had $1.7 trillion in client assets as of June 30. Wells Fargo Advisors provides investment advice and guidance to clients through 13,799 full-service financial advisors and referrals from 5,390 licensed bankers. This network, one of the largest in the U.S., serves investors through locations in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Weiss said, “Jim is a strong leader with deep experience in numerous brokerage channels. He has long modeled collaborative approaches across Wells Fargo to serve complex client needs in the best way.”
Hays has been with Wells Fargo for 14 years and most recently was head of the newly formed Private Wealth Financial Advisors group, a team of advisors in Wealth hubs who partner and collaborate on behalf of primarily high-net-worth clients. Previously, he led both the Private Client Group and Wealth Brokerage Services. Hays holds a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Virginia.
Rowe has led Customer Segments and the Consumer Strategy at Wells Fargo for two years. As executive of the new Enterprise Customer Excellence team, he is responsible for leading and integrating the Consumer Strategy, the Customer Remediation Center of Excellence, the Enterprise Complaints Management Office, Conduct Management, and an enterprise customer experience system in partnership with the lines of business.
Mack said, “The Wells Fargo Operating Committee has identified an opportunity to create this new organization that brings together many customer excellence functions from across the enterprise, providing a more holistic picture of critical customer interaction points. Under Andy’s leadership, the Enterprise Customer Excellence group will help connect the dots between many of the very important functions and initiatives that are helping us serve our customers even better. In addition, a holistic view will give us greater insight into the customer experience.”
Previously, Rowe led Bank of America’s Retail Strategies and Solutions group and held leadership roles in its Consumer Deposits & Payments, Strategies Global Card Services and Consumer Finance groups. He joined Bank of America through its merger with MBNA and played a key role in integrating that company’s consumer finance products into Bank of America channels. Rowe holds a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Delaware. He is based in Charlotte.
Dai assumes leadership of the Small Business and Personal Lending Group, which is made up of Small Business, Wells Fargo Practice Finance, and the Personal Lending Group. In addition to supporting skills development for bankers in our branch network, Wells Fargo’s dedicated small business teams offer and service lending products. In addition, a relationship management team serves larger small business clients with more complex needs. Wells Fargo Practice Finance provides specialized financing and resources to help dentists, veterinarians, physicians, and optometrists buy, equip, expand and refinance their practices. The Personal Lending Group offers and services personal loans and lines of credit as well as private student loans.
Mack said, “We want to focus on making it easier for small business owners and consumers with personal lending needs to manage their finances and achieve their goals. Elli’s business acumen, experience running various business functions, commitment to the customer and team member experience, and proven record partnering across Wells Fargo will serve our customers and company well.”
Dai most recently was Human Resources senior leader for Wells Fargo’s Payments, Virtual Solutions, and Innovation business. Previously, she was head of Benefits, where she was responsible for the overall strategy, design and implementation of all benefits programs for Wells Fargo team members. Before joining Human Resources, she was a senior leader within Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust, responsible for the overall customer experience for 3 million retirement plan participants. She holds a B.S. degree in marketing and international business from Marquette University and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She is based in Charlotte.