Wells Fargo promotes from within in search for national sales manager

Wells Fargo’s home lending unit announced its second major personnel move in the past three months Friday, naming Sue Barber national sales manager of its distributed sales team. Barber had been in the role on an interim basis since June.

“The national sales manager position is among the most important and impactful in our organization,” said Kristy Fercho, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “As the leader of our distributed sales team, Sue will be responsible for ensuring that our best-in-class team is equipped and empowered to deliver care and certainty to our customers.”

Before stepping into the position this summer, Barber served as the banking giant’s Northeast home lending division manager, responsible for sales from Maine to Kentucky, a region that includes some of the country’s hottest housing markets. Her career in the mortgage industry, which spans almost three decades, also includes mortgage sales and business development leadership positions at a pair of large banks, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

She takes on the high-profile role at Wells Fargo, whose home mortgage operation is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, after a third quarter that saw the bank originate $59.1 billion in loans. According to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau data, Wells Fargo was the fourth-largest mortgage lender overall in 2020, and the largest originator among banks.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has faced a series of public relations setbacks in the past several years within its consumer banking businesses, including mortgage, forcing it to operate under regulatory consent orders. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the bank indicated that it would likely face delays in meeting regulators’ demands.