Authentically

KRISTY FERCHO IS TAKING OVER WELLS FARGO’S DIVERSITY INITIATIVE, AND SHE’S LEADING AS HER MOST AUTHENTIC SELF

By SARAH WOLAK , Staff Writer, Mortgage Women Magazine

If you were to ask Kristy Fercho during her college years where she pictured herself working, her answer would have been Wall Street. The former finance major dreamed of leaving her West Coast roots and working amidst New York’s bustling stock exchange.

However, Fercho has taken a path different from her original Wall Street aspirations. Most recently, Fercho’s been named Wells Fargo’s new head of Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion, which seems light years away from her business school beginnings.

Fercho’s been at Wells Fargo as its head of home lending since August 2020, leading a team of over 25,000 professionals. In her new role, her job will entail extending outreach to underserved customers and taking charge of projects designed to enrich a more diverse customer experience.

“Although I’m only a few weeks into this new role, I know that [this role] is about understanding how we drive representation and make sure that we look like the communities in which we serve,” Fercho said. “If we are showing up to work at Wells Fargo as our full selves and who we are, and every employee has permission to do that when we serve customers, [customers] will feel that.”

Fercho says that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has always been important to her, especially as a black woman who grew up in a predominantly white area. Fercho grew up in Compton, Calif. — a predominantly black area known for its hip hop and rap scene — but relocated to Tucson, Ariz. after her father became a track coach for the University of Arizona. “We went from a 99.9% black environment in south central Los Angeles to a 99.9% white environment,” Fercho said. “My upbringing was really spent traversing both of those worlds.”

An Uncommon Start

As soon as she graduated high school in Tucson, Fercho returned to California to study at the University of Southern California. During her senior year amidst a flurry of interviews with top-flight firms on Wall Street, Fercho’s plans came to a halt as she watched the stock market crash on a day notoriously known as Black Monday. Fercho panicked and worried immediately about her post-college job opportunities, and began seeking out job leads. “I ended up running into a friend over Christmas break who told me about a job opening at Baxter Healthcare. I didn’t want to interview, but he encouraged me to apply for a sales position,” Fercho said. Despite Baxter being out of her comfort zone and far away from her finance background, Fercho says that she immediately felt aligned with the company and its values during her interview. Fercho wound up working for Baxter for six years, first embarking in a sales role and then shifting into HR as a manager. Following an exit from Baxter, Fercho worked at Pepsico in a similar human resources role, but says that she often wished for a job that was more analytical, business-oriented and aligned with the rigorous work ethic that she put to good use back in finance school. She started researching companies that could connect her finance major background with her newfound love for HR. One company that stood out was Fannie Mae. “What was really compelling to me about Fannie Mae is it was this very mission-oriented [business] of putting people in homes and [they had a] mission-oriented perspective,” she said. She started in October 2001, holding several roles like the vice president of human resources, SVP of customer engagement, and the SVP of single-family business in the West. In Fercho’s time at Fannie Mae, she also served as an interim DEI officer.

After serving on the GSE side of mortgage lending, Fercho landed a major career move in 2017 after becoming president of mortgage at Flagstar Bank. Three short years later, Fercho moved to her current position at Wells Fargo.

Diversity Through The Decades

Fercho’s diversity ties are nothing new to her. During her career at Pepsico, Fercho recalled that thenCEO Steve Reinemund had a “bullish” take on diversity efforts. “We had hiring targets and the leadership team was compensated based on this,” Fercho said. “[Steve] wanted X amount of our workforce to be diverse. And there was a lot of conversation at the time like, how is that different from affirmative action? And Steve was like, ‘I don’t care. That’s how you’re getting paid.’ He was way before his time.”

However, Fercho says that while conversations and diversity initiatives that she’s seen within her jobs have alluded to progress, it’s still not enough. “We’re still having these conversations [about inclusivity] at Wells Fargo today. However, one thing is different: It’s OK to discuss race at work.”

Fercho recalled a time after George Floyd was murdered when Wells Fargo hosted an open forum where workers were encouraged to share their feelings. The meeting occurred on a day when involved officers were convicted, Fercho recalled that the room was filled with anxiety and heavy emotions. “My boss asked if I wanted to share my thoughts, But I was literally unable to speak and all I could get out was that during my entire life and my entire career, I have been told not to talk about race at work. It was astonishing to me that we were having this conversation at work.”

Although Fercho is only a couple months into her new role, she’s carrying her experiences with diversity efforts into creating a more inclusive culture at Wells Fargo. “[I want to] create this culture where employees feel valued and included, [and] that’s gonna permeate in every customer discussion that we have,” Fercho said. “And people will start to say, ‘Wells Fargo’s different than the other banks.’”

The Heart Of The Industry

Fercho says that throughout every job she’s held — including her first job at Wendy’s — that she has an incredible work ethic. “Work has always been my hallmark,” Fercho said. “For every one of the boards that I have joined, it’s something that I am personally passionate about. There’s this whole notion of leaving things better than you found them, which is what I try to do.”

Fercho alluded to the several board positions she holds; she’s on the board of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) as Immediate Past Chairwoman and is a member of its Residential Board of Governors — prestigious, peer-nominated positions. Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the MBA, worked closely with Fercho during her three-year MBA board service. Broeksmit says that Fercho worked on reducing the minority homeownership gap and had a mission to provide affordable housing initiatives. Fercho also campaigned for the “home for all” pledge, which aimed to provide racial equity and inclusion in housing. “Kristy is a real force of nature. She has such enthusiasm and dedication to the job,” Broeksmit said. “She has a rare combination of being able to hone in on details but keeping an eye on the horizon and the bigger picture. Not many leaders can do both.”

Fercho also leads the Affordable Housing working group for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s Project REACH (Roundtable for Economic Access and Change), which aims to remove financial barriers for underserved communities. Fercho continues to prove herself as a champion for underserved borrowers, as she also sits on the boards of the National Urban League, the MBA Opens Doors Foundation, and City Year. “[These groups] are what I’m passionate about,” she said. “It really is all about identifying where there is a need or some segment of the population that is not being served and leaning in and serving that in a substantial way. I didn’t grow up as a mortgage banker, but I’ve been in it for the last 20-plus years. And I love everything about it. I love the heart of the industry.” n