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Kristy Fercho Named Wells Fargo’s Head of Diverse Segments

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Kristy Fercho, Head of Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion, Wells Fargo

Kristy Fercho, Head of Home Lending for Wells Fargo [1], has been named the company’s new Head of Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion (DSRI). With her extensive experience running a line of business, Kristy is well-positioned to lead this strategic function by integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into every aspect of the company’s business and delivering marketplace and workplace outcomes.

Since it was launched in 2020, the DSRI function has coordinated Wells Fargo’s DE&I efforts across the company–developing products and services to serve customers from underserved communities and driving DE&I initiatives firmwide.

“Our work on diversity, equity, and inclusion is a long-term commitment, and we will continue to advance it under Kristy’s leadership,” said Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf [2]. “Her deep business experience, including her most recent role as head of our Home Lending business, puts her in a unique position to make our DE&I work even more central to how we operate as a company and to drive positive outcomes for our employees and communities.”

Fercho will succeed Kleber R. Santos [3] in the DSRI role, as Santos became CEO of Wells Fargo’s Consumer Lending Business in July 2022 after joining the company in 2020 as the company’s head of DSRI. Fercho will remain Head of Home Lending while the company conducts a search for her successor, and she will transition to the Head of DSRI role fully once her Home Lending successor is named. She will join the company’s Operating Committee effective immediately, and will report to Scharf in her Head of DSRI role.

As EVP and Head of Wells Fargo Home Lending, Fercho leads a team of mortgage professionals in sales, operations, servicing, capital markets, portfolio management, and related business, risk management, and supporting functions.

Before joining Wells Fargo, Fercho was at Flagstar Bank, where she served as President of the company’s Mortgage Division. Prior to joining Flagstar, she spent 15 years with Fannie Mae, where she led the strategy and business performance of single-family customers in the Western United States, and served in customer engagement and human resources roles, including as VP of Human Resources.

In addition to her role with Wells Fargo, Fercho serves the industry on the Board of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) as Immediate Past Chairwoman, and is a member of its Residential Board of Governors (RESBOG).

She also leads the Affordable Housing Working Group for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) Project REACh (Roundtable for Economic Access and Change) [4]. Project REACh promotes financial inclusion through greater access to credit and capital. The project brings together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business, and technology to reduce specific barriers that prevent full, equal, and fair participation in the nation’s economy. Project REACh convenes people with the ability to help solve inherent policy problems so underserved populations may have the same opportunities to succeed and benefit from the nation’s financial system as others. The group identifies and works to reduce barriers to access that exist at the national or local levels to expand access to credit and capital.

In addition, Fercho serves on the boards of the National Urban League [5], the MBA Opens Doors Foundation [6], and City Year [7].

Click here [8] for a recent chat with Fercho conducted by Five Star Institute Editor-in-Chief David Wharton that appeared in the October 2022 issue of The MReport.