Meet David Hockmuth, a banker who has a way with crème brulée
THE BASICS: Kevin David Hockmuth was born 51 years ago in New York City; attended New York University and University of New Mexico, Anderson School of Management, and Western States School of Banking; married to Cassandra Hockmuth; two children — Alleyne, 20, and Kevin Jr., 12; one dog, Bella, a West Highland terrier
POSITION: Named Wells Fargo Bank region bank president this year; board president of Pennies for the Homeless, board member of the New Mexico Bankers Association; former president of the Nob Hill Merchants Association; former president of Belen Economic Development Corp.; served as board member of the University of New Mexico Valencia campus, a fundraising committee for Los Lunas Public Schools and the Valencia County chapter of the American Red Cross.
DID YOU KNOW?
Hockmuth’s favorite ■ authors include Somerset Maugham, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. “I also love the Russians (and) Chaucer.”
Hockmuth, Sandia High ■ School graduate, was on the debate and football teams. He also played guitar in a rock band.
If David Hockmuth invites you to dinner at his Los Lunas home, proceed with caution.
The new top official at Wells Fargo Bank, who doubles as something of a food connoisseur, wields a mean blowtorch.
But it’s all in the service of the crème brulée, one of Hockmuth’s favorite desserts.
“You can bake it under the broiler, but I think the blowtorch makes it a little bit more interesting,” he said. The blowtorch is “a little mini one. It caramelizes the sugar.”
Hockmuth, who became Wells Fargo regional president in July, has other ways to unwind, as well.
Hockmuth says he is writing a novel, although he won’t provide details other than to say it’s about life. He’s got a working title, but he won’t reveal that, either.
“It’s kind of secret to me,” he said. “I don’t want to jinx it, because if I share too much then I feel like I won’t complete it.”
Lately, though, the effort has taken a back seat to career and family.
Hockmuth has a 20-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son whose homework load is fairly hefty.
“Trying to find work/life balance between my professional career and home/life balance and then supporting his academic endeavors … is what I’m doing on the weekends,” Hockmuth said.
On the career side, the 51-yearold banker has been in the business for a long time.
It all started in New York, when Hockmuth was on a pre-law track at New York University, with a double major in history and English. But he needed to pay the bills, so he took a “fairly entry-level” job at J.P. Morgan’s American Depository Receipts desk, dealing with investments in foreign markets.
He describes the job as “very interesting and kind of bewildering to a 20-year-old who had the courage to get up out of New Mexico and go see the world.”
It turns out he was good at being a banker.
“You kind of fall into banking and then you realize that maybe you have a talent at it and you start to determine that you’ve got an opportunity to help a lot of people in various ways,” he said.
Hockmuth stayed in New York for about seven years and came back to New Mexico in 1992.
Among his goals for his new position is “to restore faith and trust at Wells Fargo.”
Hockmuth was the company’s area president in New Mexico when controversy broke out over millions of fraudulent accounts opened across the country using fictitious or unauthorized customer information.
The bank has since shelled out more than $300 million in fines as well as settlement costs associated with a class-action suit. ThenCEO John Stumpf retired, and other executives nationwide were ousted.
The bank at the time said about 1,000 account-holders in New Mexico were charged a fee to cover accounts they hadn’t signed up for, and those people were refunded a total of $25,825.
This month, New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced his office has been investigating Wells Fargo for more than a year and is demanding the company pay restitution to customers in the state.
Hockmuth said when the first disclosures were made last year, “I was heartsick. It was bewildering and tough, but I think we are making great progress.”
You have been or are on the board of the Red Cross and Pennies for the Homeless, so you are something of a do-gooder on top of your day job. I try to be.
What motivates you and why those two groups in particular?
Well, Pennies for the Homeless has been an organization that I’ve been affiliated with through the years. But helping those in need has been kind of near and dear to my heart, especially given all the blessings I’ve received in my profession and career so (I like) to be able to support the underprivileged . ...
Red Cross approached me when I was in Valencia County, and that’s where we live, obviously. Many years ago, in 2004, I became community bank president in Belen and had oversight of Valencia County and that building happened to house the Red Cross and we started in some conversations about how I could get involved with the Red Cross and again wanting to help and support people in need.
You mentioned your faith. That’s important to you?
Of course. I’ve been a devoted Catholic all my life and a parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church.
Tell me about your family.
Well, I’m married to my lovely wife, Cassandra, and we’ve been married now for 11 years. We have two beautiful children, Alleyne and Kevin. Kevin is currently 12 and Alleyne is 20, and Alleyne is kind of getting launched here a little bit and Kevin is a lot of joy and a lot of work, but it’s so rewarding and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
What was your very first job?
My first work for pay was mowing lawns and cutting down pyracantha bushes in the local neighborhood when I was a kid. The first official job that I held where I was actually on a payroll was for a business owned by my aunt and uncle known as Mueller Aero Service at the Albuquerque International Airport. What do you cook?
Well, as a bachelor, I loved good food. It’s a matter of necessity these days because my wife does not cook. We would be in trouble if we relied on my wife’s cooking because she burns water. I love a variety of cuisines. …
I just can’t imagine a food lover’s life without French cooking. I think it’s just your baseline, which everything kind of springs from. Interestingly enough, I also have an appreciation for Russian cuisine, but that came from my years in New York when I lived there after high school. The Russian Tea Room, you may have heard of … was frequented by the likes of Yul Brenner, and while I was going to school and working in New York, I frequented the Russian Tea Room and acquired their cookbook and I love making things like beef stroganoff and their borscht, stuff like that.
What do you write?
I’ve written nothing published, but I certainly enjoy writing poetry, short stories, and I’ve got a novel half-way finished. But that’s been a little bit buried.
What’s the last great book you’ve read?
I’m in the short stories right now of Somerset Maugham, and I am thoroughly enjoying those. A lot of those are set in the South Pacific pre-World War II and coming up on World War II. I just took a family trip with the wife and kids to Hawaii, and so it was good reading for the beach. I love a little bit of nostalgia. I think sometimes that’s missing in this age of technology. I think it’s always interesting to look back on history and gain perspective and sometimes being able to bring that forward and put that into your present thinking. Some of those lessons learned.
What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?
That’s a bit of a tough one. My father passed away a few years ago. And he was on his way out, and I was really worried about him. I was headed to El Paso on a business trip, and I was talking to him. I didn’t know that he was on his way out, and I was trying to convey to him how concerned I was about him, and he said, “David, I’m stronger with you in the world.” That was one of the best compliments I’ve every gotten. Any pet peeves? What makes you crazy? Laziness.
Do you have any superstitions?
I do. I’ll avoid walking under a ladder. I really don’t like a hat on the bed.
If you could wave a magic wand and have an extra hour every day what would you do?
To concentrate on family, for sure. I think that’s an important reminder to us all to strike that work/life balance.