(Bloomberg) -- Mary Mack, head of consumer and small-business banking at Wells Fargo & Co., former head of Wells Fargo Advisors and onetime contender to run the entire firm, is retiring this summer.
She’ll be replaced by Saul Van Beurden, the firm’s current head of technology, next month, according to a statement Thursday. Tracy Kerrins, who currently oversees consumer technology, will succeed Van Beurden and join Wells Fargo’s operating committee.
“Mary has spent her entire career at Wells Fargo, which spans nearly four decades,” Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf said in the statement. “I can think of few Wells Fargo colleagues who have done as much for our company – and who have been as visible in the communities that we serve – over such a long period of time.”
Mack, who joined Wells Fargo in 1984, served as head of the bank's retail brokerage from 2014 until she vaulted to prominence in mid-2016 when she was assigned to run the firm’s community-banking division as a fake-accounts scandal was erupting. Less than two years later, she also took over consumer lending, where problems had also emerged.
She was a rising star under former CEO Tim Sloan, gaining prominence among investors and praise from the board as she tackled Wells Fargo’s problems. But after Sloan stepped down in 2019 and the board brought in Scharf, an outsider, to move the firm past its scandals, he installed a largely new crop of leaders to his top management team. Mack was one of few survivors.
Among his first moves atop Wells Fargo, Scharf split the company’s three business lines into five, carving out consumer lending from Mack. Since then, she’s been in charge of the firm’s massive branch network, small-business banking and deposits.
“The consumer and small-business banking leadership team is incredibly strong and focused on continuing to improve the experiences our customers have with Wells Fargo, which affirms that this is the right time to retire,” Mack said in the statement. “I am grateful to everyone who has been a part of my journey over the years.”