As a project manager at the St. Louis office of Wells Fargo Advisors, Patricia Strong Hodges is tasked with making sure that her financial advising firm complies with all government regulations.
With many different regulatory agencies affecting the financial sector, this could be enough to occupy anyone’s time. But Hodges has taken it upon herself to help the company comply with a different set of standards as well, by starting initiatives to diversify her workplace.
“I created an internship program that focused on directly linking to Harris-Stowe State University,” Hodges said.
Students in the program work in a variety of departments at Wells Fargo, but Hodges said they also learn to be comfortable in a business environment. Hodges wanted to partner with Harris-Stowe State University not only because their campus is located right next door to her office, but because it is a historically black university.
Hodges is a firm believer that that people of diverse backgrounds all bring important perspectives to a business, and Wells Fargo, she said, is as well.
“One of the things Wells Fargo is focused on is that you can come to work as who you are,” Hodges said.
Angela Ruffin-Stacker, a diversity and inclusion strategist at Wells Fargo, first met Hodges ten years ago. Ruffin-Stacker was working on a few diversity initiatives at the company that Hodges was assigned as a project manager.
“Little did I know at the time that I would have found a project manager with an incredible amount of energy and passion for the body of work that I was working on,” Ruffin-Stacker said.
Since then, the two have continued working on diversity projects together. Ruffin-Stacker said Hodges has made a significant difference at Wells Fargo and that her internship program has positively affected the firm as well as the students.
“I’ve gotten to see her growth and development not only as a professional but also as an advocate for many of our diversity and inclusion initiatives,” Ruffin-Stacker said.
Erica Ragsdale, another project manager at Wells Fargo, said she considers Hodges a mentor who is always striving to help others succeed.
“She really took me under her wing when I first started in this department,” Ragsdale said.
Ragsdale said the internship program is just part of Hodges’ commitment to making Wells Fargo a workplace where everyone can feel comfortable and at ease and that she always seeks to help the interns succeed in their final projects and employment searches.
“She is a very happy, bubbly person,” Ragsdale said. “She is very passionate about diversity.”
In addition to her internship program, Hodges managed a diversity recruiting pilot program at Wells Fargo, with the goal of hiring financial advisors whose racial makeup matched that of the community they were serving.
Wells Fargo gives financial advice to its clients, and Hodges wanted to make sure everyone could get advice from someone who looked like them, someone they could trust. The program successfully hired 52 new trainees and 21 experienced financial advisors.
Hodges started her career working not in the financial field, but in IT. Her first job was at defense company Lockheed Martin, where she worked with computers and information technology. Eventually she began doing much the same job for financial brokerage firm AG Edwards.
“Ever since then, it’s been my passion to leverage my talents not only to do my job well, but to help others,” Hodges said.
Jessica Karins is an editorial intern for the St. Louis American from Webster University.
