Richard Marco Kovacevich (born October 30, 1943) is an American business executive and the former CEO of Wells Fargo & Company.
Early life and education
A native of Tacoma, Washington, he grew up in Enumclaw, Washington, a small city about 30 miles southeast of Seattle, where his father (of Croatian origin) worked in the sawmill. His parents are Joseph and Dorothy Kovacevich.
Career
General Mills
Early in his corporate career, Kovacevich was a strategic planner with General Mills. He became chief financial officer of Palitoy, a UK company acquired by General Mills, and later general manager of General Mills' Kenner Products.
Citicorp
Kovacevich joined Citibank in 1975, where he ran mortgage, consumer finance and other retail operations in New York state. He is credited with turning around Citi's New York branch system and doubling the market share of Citi's credit card business. Kovacevich left Citibank in 1986, after being passed over for Citigroup's top consumer banking job. The higher revenues, relative to stable fixed costs which this method produced allowed Norwest to purchase many other banks, culminating with the 1998 purchase of Wells Fargo. Although Norwest was effectively the survivor, the merged company retained the better-known Wells Fargo name and moved to Wells Fargo's headquarters in San Francisco. After the merger, Kovacevich was given the positions of president and CEO of Wells Fargo. In 2001 he was elected chairman as well.
He relinquished the presidency of Wells Fargo to John Stumpf in August 2005. On June 27, 2007, the board of directors elected Stumpf CEO, with Kovacevich retaining the chairmanship.
In September 2009 Wells Fargo announced Kovacevich would step down as chairman and a director at the end of 2009 and retire from the company in early 2010 after 23 years with Norwest and Wells Fargo. As of October, 2020, it was reported that he still had an office and personal assistant at Wells Fargo.
Other positions
Besides Wells Fargo, Kovacevich is a former member of the boards of directors of Cisco Systems, Inc., and Target Corporation. He is also vice president of the board of governors of the San Francisco Symphony, and a member of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's California Commission on Jobs and Economic Growth, and the Financial Services Roundtable.
Theranos
Kovacevich joined the board of directors of Theranos in 2013 on the recommendation of George Shultz. The board transitioned from an advisory role to a fiduciary one in mid-2016. Despite criticisms, Kovacevich defended Theranos as "a good company" and claimed the treatment of CEO Elizabeth Holmes was "unfair." He resigned from the board in February 2017 and was deposed in 2018. He had invested over $4 million in the company.
In the political realm, he has supported Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Kamala Harris.