Lisa Stevens, key figure in Wells Fargo saga, is out

Complimentary Access Pill
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.

Another top executive who was embroiled in the fake-accounts scandal at Wells Fargo is leaving the company.

Lisa Stevens, head of regional banking for the Western division, will depart from the San Francisco bank later this month after working there for 29 years.

“I have spent my career at Wells Fargo, and it’s been a rewarding journey,” Stevens said in a news release Monday. “It has been an honor and a privilege to work with such a talented group of dedicated team members.”

Stevens reported directly to Carrie Tolstedt, head of retail banking at Wells Fargo, when the bank’s widespread fake-accounts scandal was uncovered. In a 110-page report on the fiasco that Wells Fargo issued in April 2017, Stevens is described as the head of a region that had been an “unfortunate leader” in sales-integrity violations.

However, Stevens was also cited in the report as being a “vocal advocate within the Community Bank for instituting changes to the sales-goals model and to the sorts of behaviors” that led to the creation of fake customer accounts. Stevens raised her concerns with other executives at Wells Fargo, including Chief Risk Officer Michael Loughlin, the report said.

Since Tolstedt’s September 2016 dismissal, Stevens had remained with Wells Fargo as co-leader of the national branch network and head of the Western region. Stevens was previously head of small business at Wells Fargo

Other Wells Fargo executives who have departed the company in the wake of the unauthorized-account scandal include: former CEO John Stumpf; Shelley Freeman, former Los Angeles regional president; John Sotoodeh, who succeeded Freeman in L.A.; Claudia Russ Anderson, former community bank chief risk officer; Pamela Conboy, former Arizona lead regional president; Matthew Raphaelson, head of community bank strategy and initiatives; and Tracy Kidd, former head of community bank human relations.

Don Pearson, lead region president for the Desert Mountain region, was named the interim replacement for Stevens. In her current position, Stevens oversees Wells’ operations in 24 states; they include about 2,500 branches and 33,000 employees.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Career moves Consumer banking Corporate governance Wells Fargo Women in Banking
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER