Wells Fargo Advisors to pass the reins to company veteran Mary Mack

Mark Calvey^[1]

Senior Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.^[2]  | Twitter^[3]  | LinkedIn^[4]  | Google+^[5]

Wells Fargo Advisors^[6] said Friday that Danny Ludeman^[7] will retire on Jan. 1, to be succeeded by Mary Mack^[8], who has been with the bank and its predecessors for almost 30 years.

Ludeman has led the nation's third-largest retail brokerage firm for almost 15 years. Wells Fargo Advisors has 15,000 advisers and manages more than $1 trillion in client assets.

He led Wachovia Securities for nearly a decade before Wachovia merged into Wells Fargo in 2008. Prior to Wachovia, Ludeman worked at Wheat First Securities, which Wachovia predecessor First Union bought.

"Under Danny's leadership, we have created a premier brokerage and advisory firm," said David Carroll^[9], head of Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) wealth, brokerage and retirement business.

Reuters reported Friday that Ludeman's decision to retire at just 56 came as a surprise to some. The news service quoted one adviser who said Ludeman and his wife were moved by their experience of living for a week on a budget of about $30 when he chaired a local United Way campaign a few years ago.

"He became much more passionate about family, openly talking at a broker events and personally about the importance of it," the broker told Reuters.

The fact that his comments left an impression on his troops offers some insight into life on Wall Street, in my opinion. The anecdote reminds me of the time I sat down with one of the biggest names on Wall Street, who didn't work at Wells Fargo. The executive shared with me one of his business cards doctored up by his young daughter, who had crossed off the fancy title and written, as I recall, "Jennifer's dad." I thought it was touching, but also telling that he asked me to keep it off the record.

Mark Calvey covers banking and finance for the San Francisco Business Times.

References

1. ^{^} Mark Calvey (feeds.bizjournals.com)
2. ^{^} This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (feeds.bizjournals.com)
3. ^{^} Twitter (twitter.com)
4. ^{^} LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)
5. ^{^} Google+ (plus.google.com)
6. ^{^} Wells Fargo Advisors (www.bizjournals.com)
7. ^{^} Danny Ludeman (feeds.bizjournals.com)
8. ^{^} Mary Mack (feeds.bizjournals.com)
9. ^{^} David Carroll (feeds.bizjournals.com)