Laura Howe, Wells Fargo | Next 2022

Regional Bank Director

Laura Howe, who started as a call-center banker for Wells Fargo in 2004 and worked her way up through the ranks, credits a string of strong female mentors for helping to shape her trajectory. “I think about how fortunate I am to have had really great women mentors,” she said. “They’ve taught me how to harmonize my work and home life, and how to inspire other leaders.”

Howe manages branch banking operations across five states: Iowa, western Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. She is in charge of 99 branches with $11.7 billion in deposits and 847 employees, including the 17 Wells Fargo branches in the Des Moines region.

She spends three days a week visiting branch managers and meeting customers. Some branches are within a 10 to 40 mile radius of her home in Des Moines, while the most remote branch is 416 miles away. Her visits to Nebraska, Kansas and western Illinois are generally around 500 miles round trip for those weeks. “I think of myself as a servant leader. I work to serve our teams so they can serve our customers,” she said.

Howe has a hands-on style of leadership, which became readily apparent during the pandemic. “Our teams were deemed essential workers, so I wanted to make sure everyone was safe. When supplies were running short, I’d run to Target to look for hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes. If they were out, I’d run to Walmart to look for them,” she said. 

Her teams worked tirelessly during the pandemic, so she and other Wells Fargo executives wanted to find a way to express their gratitude. In November 2021, the bank launched a "Seasons of Gratitude" initiative for all of the branches around the country. Employees were treated to weekly lunches, cards and visits from senior executives. “The employees were so thankful. Quite a few told me they had never felt so appreciated,” she said. And an additional bonus of the initiative was that those feelings “trickled down” to the customers, said Howe. “We had a lot of customers tell us how appreciative they were of the work our frontline employees did during this difficult time.”

More recently, the Great Resignation has affected her region, so she and other leaders are being more creative about hiring and retention. But the upside to this, said Howe, was that some of the people she mentored were promoted to fill the new vacancies: “I spend a lot of time coaching and mentoring, so it’s really cool to see the payoff to employees.” 

Howe serves on the board of the United Way of Central Iowa and a local women’s committee. “I’ll do anything I can to give back to the community, and I try to get my family and my team involved,” she said. In late April, her work team and home team—a “very supportive husband” and two of her three children—will be working on a Habitat for Humanity build together. 

Howe’s motto, which she said was passed on by one of her mentors, is to “be where your feet are.” It’s a reminder, she said, to be fully present whether you are at work or at home.