Derek Flowers, chief risk officer (CRO) of Wells Fargo, intends to retire from the bank in mid-January after nearly three decades of dedicated service. Upon Flowers’ retirement, Scott Powell, chief operating officer (COO), will become CRO.
Flowers started at Wells Fargo in 1995 and advanced through a series of roles, developing deep credit expertise across Wells Fargo’s business lines. He later was chief credit officer before serving in a role to advance the company’s risk and control priorities, in close partnership with Powell. He has been CRO since 2022.
“Derek played a pivotal role in strengthening our risk and control framework and fostering the strong risk culture that positions Wells Fargo for continued growth,” Charlie Scharf, chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, said. “Working closely with Scott, he helped advance a significant transformation of the company’s risk and control capabilities, leaving a lasting mark on our company and the industry. On behalf of all of us at Wells Fargo, we thank Derek for his many contributions and years of service. We congratulate him on an exceptional career at Wells Fargo and wish him and his family all the best in this next chapter.”
Powell has served as COO at Wells Fargo since December 2019. Powell led the company’s multi-year efforts to drive transformation across its risk and control priorities, and currently leads a portfolio that includes global operations, control management, corporate properties, corporate security, strategic sourcing, resiliency, customer complaints and remediations and regulatory relations. Powell spent many years in risk management roles before leading the consumer banking and retail investments business at JPMorgan Chase and then serving as CEO of Santander Holdings USA. Powell’s successor as COO will be named in the near future.
“It has been a true privilege to build my career at such an exceptional financial institution,” Flowers said. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together and confident that our strong risk culture, talented team and commitment to our customers, position Wells Fargo for continued success. I am grateful to my colleagues for their partnership and dedication.”
