Foot-in-mouth CEO smacked
Wells Fargo CEO Charles Scharf is being called on the carpet over his claims that the bank’s diversity woes are the result of a lack of talent.
Scharf, who took over the embattled $1.97 trillion bank last year to save it from a series of financial scandals, has left black employees “exasperated” with repeated claims that the bank has not yet met its diversity goals due to a dearth of qualified candidates, according to Reuters.
The 55-year-old chief exec reportedly made the remarks on a 90-minute Zoom call in the summer and reiterated them in a June 18 memo. “While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of black talent to recruit from,” the memo said.
Scharf has promised to double the number of African-American employees in key positions at Wells Fargo in the next five years, and he has already added two people of color — Lester Owens, head of operations, and Ather Williams, head of strategy — to the bank’s powerful operating committee.
But Scharf, former CEO of BNY Mellon and longtime lieutenant to JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon, has also added five new senior players — all white — in recent months as he seeks to rebuild the troubled bank. The highest-profile additions are Mike Weinbach, Bill Daley and Mike Santomassimo, who has been tapped to be CFO.
A Wells Fargo spokesperson told Reuters Scharf “is committed to deep and systemic change to increase diversity and has held several forums where there has been candid conversation and unfiltered feedback.”
Reuters also reported that not everyone was offended by Scharf’s comments. “The meeting was incredibly constructive . . . I walked away being incredibly surprised at how genuine and sincere he is,” Alex David, president of the Black/African American Connection Team Member Network, told the news service.
While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool ofblacktalentto recruit from.