Heading Operations at Wells Fargo

As any seasoned college professor knows, sometimes academic late bloomers turn out to be the biggest success stories. For Lester Owens, ’79, head of operations at Wells Fargo, a slow start in college proved to be an early hurdle in what would turn out to be a remarkable career–one that is still going strong today. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Owens attended St. Pascal Baylon High School. The school closed abruptly and Owens passed an exit exam that granted him his diploma, leading him to graduate after his junior year. He went on to briefly attend Rutgers University, but felt overwhelmed given his abbreviated secondary education. His mother died at the young age of 33, so Owens’ grandparents played a large caretaking role in his youth. When he found himself uncertain of where to go after the failed stint at Rutgers, Owens’ grandmother told him to call his priest, who recommend he attend Southampton College, a former campus of Long Island University. Fortunately for Owens, he had a character trait more important for success in any vocation than a high grade point average, namely, diligence. After earning his degree from LIU, Owens went to a temp agency, which landed him a position at Chemical Bank, now part of J.P. Morgan. “I’ve always had a strong work ethic,” he said. “I knew nothing about banking and I was a temp, so I just started working really hard.” The persistence and consistency led to a full-time role at Chemical Bank. Once he entered the professional world, his determination and resolve translated well to project management. “If you gave me a project to do, I became very adept at understanding how to do it,” he said. “I was able to take complex processes and go about implementing them.” After six years at Chemical Bank, Owens took a position in 1986 as vice president at Bankers Trust, now part of Deutsche Bank. He considers that move to be a pivotal one in his career as it led him to manage a large team for the first time. Following seven years there, he moved up to Wilmington, Delaware to become site director at Citibank. In 1998, Owens returned to New York to become managing director and head of global cash and trade operations at Deutsche Bank. “I was traveling the globe quite a bit, because I had a lot of different countries I was responsible for besides just Germany, and I really enjoyed it,” he said. Owens moved on to J.P. Morgan in 2007, working as managing director and global head of treasury service operations. After a decade at J.P. Morgan, he became head of operations at

the Bank of New York Mellon in February of 2019 until his appointment to the same role at Wells Fargo earlier this year. Owens also serves as vice chair on the board of directors at RWJBarnabas Hospital in West Orange, New Jersey. “I do pinch myself sometimes. My wife and good friends tell me sometimes that I don’t take the time to smell the leaves, or whatever,” he said. “When I do get a chance to think about it, I say, ‘Here’s a black kid that didn’t have the opportunities some people did, but was lucky by the grace of God to meet some people who believed in me – both black and white – when I didn’t believe in myself.’” Good fortune has a long track record for finding its way to those who show courage in the face of hardship and gratitude once successful. For Owens, this paradigm unlocked the potential that lay dormant during his teen years. “Being responsible I think makes a big difference in this world,” he said. “I’ve never allowed myself to work less than anybody else and I love challenges. I don’t know anything about quitting.”