Patty Juarez, the People’s Banker
Transforming Banking for the Latino Community
By Christine Bolaños
Patty Juarez has dedicated 27 years of her life to Wells Fargo where she started
as a financial analyst working her way up to eventually becoming head of
Diverse Segments for Commercial Banking, creating, developing and
executing Wells Fargo’s Diverse Segments business strategy for this line of business.
In this position, she forms the team and creates the strategy to drive growth in
Wells Fargo’s share of diverse business owners in the community. In her role, Juarez
focuses on serving communities of color, including Indigenous, Black/African American
and Latino groups and other underrepresented communities like women – and soon
— veterans and LGBTQ.
“It’s my passion project. I really love to come up with ways in which we can be
helpful to the Latino community and all other diverse segments,” Juarez says. “This is
not only a priority for Diverse Segments, but a priority for us as an organization and it
transcends into other areas of the bank like home mortgage and corporate investment
banking.”
“We have come to understand that the only way Wells Fargo succeeds as an
institution is if our diverse communities succeed,” she explains. “We want to help
provide diverse business owners the tools and resources they need, when they need
it, how they need it, and in the language they need it.”
Juarez says Wells Fargo is the leading lender for the Native American community,
has a strong presence in the Latino and Asian communities and that Diverse Segments
recently added a business leader who will focus on serving the Black/African
American community.
“We have a fantastic staff with as much passion and commitment to close gaps
(as Juarez does) when it comes to access to capital and some of the challenges that
our business owners face,” she adds.
Her love of banking started as a child watching her father run his own small
business with a commitment to community service, hard work and a strong sense of
ethics. There were times where he would meet payroll by paying out of his own pocket.
She knew she wanted to help small business owners, particularly those from
disenfranchised communities, succeed by using all the tools and resources available
to them.
“My most significant role models in life have been my parents and my
grandmother Pina,” Juarez shares. “I grew up at my grandmother’s house where
I spent many, many weekends of my childhood in Mexico. She taught me everything
I know about cooking, culture and traditions and my parents were critical in
instilling the value of working hard, keeping myself grounded, being tenacious and
respecting everyone.”
Patty Juarez, Head of
Diverse Segments for
Commercial Banking, Wells Fargo.
Photo credit: ©2022 Wells Fargo/
Michael Dambrosia.
12 www.latinastyle.com LATINAStyle V ol. 28, No. 1 , 2022
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