Wells Fargo Taps Derek Ellington As SMB Banking Chief

Wells Fargo has announced its head of Small Business Banking will be Derek Ellington after luring him away from Bank of America where he worked for two-dozen years, according to a press release.

The appointment is effective Oct. 18, and Ellington will oversee about 2,000 colleagues, the release stated.

“Over the past year and a half, we have sharpened our focus on serving the most fragile small businesses through the pandemic and into economic recovery, and Derek’s experience and leadership will serve us well as we continue to elevate our support of small businesses,” Wells Fargo Consumer and Small Business Banking CEO Mary Mack, to whom Ellington will report, said in the release.

At Bank of America, Ellington worked in retail banking, commercial banking, credit and small business banking, according to the release. Ellington’s Bank of America experience was largely in the Southeastern United States.

Ellington holds degrees from Troy University and Birmingham Southern College, the release stated. According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked at BBVA Compass before Bank of America.

Ellington was recognized at Bank of America with an award for diversity and inclusion — an area the bank cited as a priority in May with the launch of new efforts to expand banking among Black, Hispanic and Native American households.

PYMNTS noted in an article about Wells Fargo’s diversity efforts that FDIC data held that 12.2 percent of Hispanic households, 13.8 percent of Black households and 16.3 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native households lacked access to checking accounts at U.S. banks. In comparison, according to the FDIC, only 2.5 percent of white households and 1.7 percent of Asian households lacked such accounts.