Wells Fargo's newly appointed southern Colorado region president has

Colorado Springs Business Journal, May 6, 2005 by Rob Larimer

As part of Wells Fargo's crusade to conquer the banking world, it has appointed a new president to oversee operations in southern Colorado.

Gene Sullivan took his newly-created Colorado Springs post as regional president of Southern Colorado earlier this year. He'll work under Wells Fargo's president of greater Colorado for 12 years, Don Sall, who will remain in Colorado Springs.

Sall said Sullivan's mission is clear.

In order to grow our resources and profits, we brought in Gene, he said. We're controlling the largest portion of the market by a large margin, and we want to make that margin larger.

Sullivan has been with Wells Fargo for about 20 years and spent the last 12 advancing the bank's retail and business stronghold in the Boulder area.

But he's no stranger to Colorado Springs.

Sullivan graduated from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in 1978 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

My dad was in the military, so, we moved around a lot. And I was fortunate enough to spend some time here, Sullivan said, adding that over the years he's frequented the Springs to visit family.

This is a great community, and it's a beautiful community, Sullivan said. And, Colorado Springs for us has been a big market and a growing market.

With 18 locations in southern Colorado, including 12 in Colorado Springs and two in Monument, local growth for Wells Fargo has been steady. At least one more location is planned by year's end, Sullivan said.

Sall said that while the number of employees and locations has expanded, the number of executives has not and that Sullivan's position has been long needed.

And even though the position is fairly new, Sall said it is part of a Wells Fargo philosophy.

We want to out localize national competition and out nationalize local competition, Sall said.

Fulfilling that philosophy means having local executives who manage local operations. That's why Sullivan and Sall now call Colorado Springs home.

And when Sullivan talks about competing in his new home banking market, there's not a hint of doubt about where he feels Wells Fargo's status lies in the future.

We're the leading small business lender, and we're strong on technology, Sullivan said. We want to serve our customers from the cradle to the grave.