Diversity is a key initiative at Wells Fargo Advisors.
“Diversity goes beyond hiring; it’s about making certain that our industry reflects the real world around us and not the world as it once was,” Danny Ludeman, president and CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, said.
“We are determined to foster an environment where that kind of thinking can flourish, where every individual can be successful by being themselves and feel valued for their perspectives and experiences, even when they are different.”
Ludeman has chaired the Wells Fargo Advisors’ Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council (DIAC) for 10 years. In his role, he ensures that the DIAC upholds policies, initiatives and programs regarding diversity and social inclusiveness.
“He’s extremely visible, active and impactful in the community,” Luther (Lu) Reames, Vice President with the Wells Fargo Law Department, said. “It’s made it easier for me to go out into the community in my role and interact with people. The brand of Wells Fargo Advisors gets a very positive reaction from folks.”
Reames is an attorney who received a juris doctorate from the University of the District Columbia. He works as a Senior Complaint Analyst whose role is to analyze and resolve complaints. These complaints are pre-litigation claims and associated regulatory inquiries received by the Law Department from multiple investment-related business channels.
Reames is equally “visible” within the firm. For the past three years, he has chaired the St. Louis chapter of the Black and African-American Team Member Network with Wells Fargo Advisors.
Team Member Networks provide opportunities for “professional growth and education, community outreach, recruiting and retention, and customer insight,” the company website states.
“I feel good about what we’re doing out in the community. It’s a community we live in and work in. We’re a part of that community, and when we’re able to do so under the Wells Fargo banner, it makes our team members feel good,” Reames said.
Wells Fargo Advisors have seven Team Member Networks. They consist of the following groups: Asian, Latin, Native Peoples, PRIDE, Veterans, Black and African-American and Women.
Team Member Networks are “a part of the overall commitment by the firm to diversity. It makes a difference,” Reames said.
Last November, Wells Fargo Advisors was given the St. Louis American Foundation’s 2011 Corporate Diversity Award at the Salute to Excellence in Business Awards & Networking Luncheon. Wells Fargo & Co. was rated by BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine as one of the “top 40 best companies for diversity” in 2011.
Bob Mooney, managing director and chief compliance officer at Wells Fargo Advisors, is one of several senior-level leaders involved with Team Member Networks in an advisory role.
“Team Member Networks in general provide great opportunities to get input, not just on issues that are facing the firm but as we try to improve our success in our diversity hiring,” Mooney said.
“Hopefully, it’s positioning us as a destination of choice for diversity candidates because they recognize that there’s a firm that cares enough to devote some pretty significant resources to this.”
Reames is a Charleston, South Carolina native who was working at JP Turner, LLC in Atlanta, Ga. when he was recruited and hired by Mooney in November 2001. After Reames was hired, he relocated to Richmond, Virginia to work for Wachovia Securities, LLC.
According to the Wells Fargo & Co. website, Wachovia Corporation acquired St. Louis-based A.G. Edwards in October 2007. The Wachovia Corporation decided to move its brokerage operations, Wachovia Securities LLC, from Richmond to St. Louis. It resulted in the largest corporate relocation of hundreds of employees and their families.
In 2008, the merger between A.G. Edwards and Wachovia Securities, LLC was completed. During the financial crisis in 2008, however, Wachovia Corporation and Wachovia Securities, LLC was bought by Wells Fargo & Company. From these buyouts and mergers, Wells Fargo Advisors would become its own entity. To date, Wells Fargo Advisors is the third largest brokerage firm in the U.S. based outside New York with $1.2 trillion in client assets.
Reames was among those who “made the move west” from Richmond almost four years ago.
As a whole, Reames thinks that “St. Louis is a great place to be and live.” Asked his initial opinion about diversity in St. Louis’ corporate business world, he said, “It was a little bit discouraging.” But, he admits that circumstances have changed.
“I think the folks that came here from Richmond had a lot to do with that,” Reames said. “We’ve moved the needle a bit. I feel like it’s a lot more embracing.”
Wells Fargo Advisors will continue in its efforts to increase diversity in the future as it prepares for a series of diversity recruitment events in September.
Danny Ludeman said, “True diversity in action – diversity of thought, experience and people – can be a game changer.”
