Wells Fargo Receives ``My Boss is a Patriot'' Award from the Department of Defense

Business Wire, Jan 16, 2003

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2003

Award Recognizes Post September 11th Support for Wells Fargo's

Team Members in the National Guard and Reserve

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) today announced the Department of Defense (DOD) will recognize it as a "Patriotic Employer" for practicing personnel policies that go above and beyond The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) to support employee participation in the National Guard and Reserve.

Portland Burchfield, eBusiness analyst for Wells Fargo's Internet Services Group, nominated Wells Fargo's Chairman and CEO Dick Kovacevich and Debra Rossi, executive vice president of Business Internet Services, among six Wells Fargo managers recognized for the "My Boss is a Patriot" award by the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), an agency of DOD whose mission is to gain and maintain employee support for the men and women who serve in the Guard and Reserve. Burchfield -- who lives in the East Bay and has been a Wells Fargo team member since 1996 -- was deployed immediately after September 11th for nearly a year.

"Wells Fargo clearly goes above and beyond its duty in serving its military members and their families with differential pay and extended benefits," said Ken Wilson, Chair of Northern California Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. "By providing encouragement and support for Wells Fargo members in the armed forces, Wells Fargo sets an outstanding example for other companies." Burchfield's Commander Captain Monroe, Second Lieutenant Moreno and ESGR's Ken Wilson will present awards to the Wells Fargo executives today at the company's headquarters at 420 Montgomery Street.

"All of us at Wells Fargo are proud to support our team members who made sacrifices during deployment post September 11th," said Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO. "We're committed to provide a number of incentive and benefit enhancements, as well as giving our team members and their families support during National Guard and Reserve activations. We're very thankful to these team members for their service to our country."

Burchfield said, "I am fortunate to have a job after being activated for nearly a year and to have received differential pay throughout my deployment. Wells Fargo offers great support to their team members in the National Guard and Reserve, and I am grateful for not having to endure financial hardship that some military members at other employers experienced during my deployment."

"Wells Fargo extended my benefits and paid me differential pay during my entire deployment," Burchfield said. "That helped me enormously financially, because without the differential pay that brought me up to the level of my former Wells Fargo salary, I would not have been able to pay my debts off and return to purchase a home."

The nomination also makes Wells Fargo eligible for the 2003 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, to be announced this June. This award recognizes the nation's top employers that provide the highest standard of civic responsibility and unique support to National Guard and Reserve employees.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $334 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,600 stores, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and other distribution channels across North America and elsewhere internationally.

About ESGR

The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency, seeks to gain and maintain active support from all public and private employers for the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve as defined by demonstrated employer commitment to employee military service. ESGR can be reached by calling 800-336-4590 or at www.esgr.com.