San Marino resident Tim Sloan stepped down last Thursday as chief executive and president of Wells Fargo Bank and will be retiring on June 30, the bank announced on March 28.
“I am focused on the transition through my retirement and then look forward to traveling with [wife] Lisa and visiting our family,” Sloan told The Tribune when asked of his plans.
The bank’s general counsel C. Allen Parker was inserted as interim president and chief executive. Wells Fargo said last week it would immediately begin the search for Sloan’s replacement.
Sloan was named The Tribune’s 2012 Citizen of the Year for his many contributions to the community and ongoing support of youth programs. He served as president of San Marino National Little League in 2001, the year a group of young ladies advanced all the way to the Little League Softball World Series. In 2011, Sloan and Greg Forgatch received the prestigious Paul Harris Honorary Fellowship from the Rotary Club of San Marino. In 2017, Lisa and Tim Sloan received Villa Esperanza’s Guardian Angel Award for the impact they are making in the lives of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are served by Villa Esperanza. The Sloans also played a key role in bringing the artificial turf surface to San Marino High School’s Titan Stadium.
Sloan had also served as Wells Fargo’s chief financial officer, chief administrative officer and also managed corporate communications, corporate social responsibility, enterprise marketing, government relations, and corporate human resources.
Sloan earned his B.A. in economics and history and his M.B.A. in finance and accounting, both from the University of Michigan.
He serves on the Board of Overseers of the Huntington Library and is a member of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business advisory board. He is a trustee of Ohio Wesleyan University and City of Hope and a member of the board of directors of California Resources Corporation and a member of the board of trustees at the California Institute of Technology.
Sloan’s retirement was announced as Wells Fargo received new new criticism of its efforts to recover from a 2016 scandal that was uncovered when the bank acknowledged it had opened millions of fake accounts, among other problems. In September 2016, Wells Fargo absorbed $185 million in penalties in a settlement with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Los Angeles legal officials. Sloan became CEO and president of Wells Fargo in October 2016 after his predecessor, John Stumpf, resigned under pressure from the scandal.
“This was my decision based upon what I thought and believe is the best for Wells Fargo because there’s just been too much focus on me and it’s impacting our ability to move forward,” Sloan, a 31-year veteran of Wells Fargo, said in in a conference call last Thursday announcing the move. “I just care so much about this company and so much about our team that I could not keep myself in a position where I was becoming a distraction.”
The Sloans gracefully withstood several protests at their San Marino home by the Occupy movement. One brought dozens of protestors and an inflatable representation of the Dakota Pipeline, which was partially financed by Wells Fargo, accompanied by shouts of “lock him up,” aimed at Sloan.
“I was surprised to see some of my neighbors out there,” Sloan joked as he delivered the keynote address to the San Marino City Club at its February 2017 dinner meeting.
The city of San Marino eventually changed the zoning on Sloan’s street to allow for better traffic management.
The Sloans have three children; Ben, Andrew and Kathleen, each of whom graduated from San Marino High School and have all since taken college degrees. They can expect visits from mom and dad in the near future. But Sloan still holds a soft spot in his heart for San Marino.
“I have traveled all over the world in my many roles at Wells Fargo,” Sloan told The Tribune. “When people ask me to name my favorite place, I tell them it is San Marino because of the quality of the people and the sense of community. The support I have received over the past few years has been remarkable.”
And vice versa.
