Charles Scharf | |
|---|---|
 Scharf in 2020 | |
| Born | (1965-04-24)April 24, 1965 (age 60) New York City, U.S.[1] |
| Education | Johns Hopkins University (BA) New York University (MBA) |
| Occupation(s) | Business executive,Chief Executive Officer |
| Title | CEO ofWells Fargo |
| Predecessor | C. Allen Parker |
Charles W. Scharf (born April 24, 1965)[1] is an American business executive who is the chairman and CEO ofWells Fargo. He has been CEO of Wells Fargo since October 2019, and its chairman since October 2025.[2]
He was previously the CEO ofVisa Inc.[3] andBNY.[4][5]
Scharf was born in 1965 in New York City,[1] and grew up in the New York suburb ofWestfield, New Jersey.[6] His father was a stockbroker, and as a teenager Charles worked in back-office jobs at Manhattan brokerage firms.[6]
Scharf received a BA[7] fromJohns Hopkins University in 1987.[8]
He earned anExecutive MBA fromNew York University Stern School of Business in 1991.[9]
In 1987, a family connection assisted Scharf with an introduction toJamie Dimon,[6] who hired him for a back-office job atCommercial Credit, a growingconsumer finance company[10] where Dimon was CFO andSandy Weill was CEO.[6][8] After six months, Scharf was made Dimon's assistant.[10]
From 1995 to 1999, Scharf was the CFO ofSalomon Smith Barney.[11]
From 1999 to 2000, he was the CFO of the global corporate and investment bank division atCitigroup, Inc.[11]
He was CFO ofBank One from 2000 to 2002, and chief executive of Bank One's retail division from 2002 to 2004.[11] After Bank One merged with JPMorgan Chase & Co. in 2004,[12] he was chief executive ofJPMorgan Chase's retail financial services business from 2004 to 2011.[11] He was a managing director ofOne Equity Partners, JPMorgan's private-equity investment division, from 2011 to November 2012.[13][14]
Scharf took over asVisa Inc.'s CEO in November 2012, succeedingJoseph Saunders.[15] He was also appointed as a board member after increasing the size of the board from 10 to 11 members.[16] Scharf received a total compensation of $24.20 million, including base salary, stock grants and incentives in 2013.[16] Under Scharf's tenure, Visa placed at number 238 on theFortune 500, with $11.7 billion in revenue.[15]
On October 17, 2016, Scharf advised Visa's board of directors that he could no longer spend enough time in San Francisco "to do the job effectively". and that he would step down on December 1 of that year.[17]
Scharf was CEO ofBank of New York Mellon (BNY) from July 2017 to September 2019, and the chairman of its board from January 2018 to September 2019.[18]
Scharf became president and CEO ofWells Fargo on September 27, 2019.[19] He leads the bank from his New York office, and travels frequently to other Wells Fargo hubs.[19]The Washington Post said his "broad experience makes Scharf a safe political choice, who is already well known by both regulators and lawmakers."[19]
On November 7, 2019, Scharf announced that he had appointed BNY Mellon Vice Chairman and formerU.S. Secretary of Commerce andWhite House Chief of StaffBill Daley to be head of Public Affairs for Wells Fargo effective November 13, 2019.[20][21] By September 2020, Scharf had committed to major cost cuts, and had appointed additional new executives including a new chief financial officer, chief operating officer, leader of the credit cards division, and chief compliance officer; many of the new appointees had worked with him at JPMorgan Chase.[22]
In 2023, Scharf's total compensation from Wells Fargo was $26 million.[23] It rose to $31.2 million in 2024, a 7.6 percent increase from the year before.[24][25]
In October 2025, Scharf was appointed chairman of Wells Fargo's board of directors.[2][26]
Scharf is on the board of trustees forJohns Hopkins University, and he is on the board of directors for theFinancial Services Roundtable.[5]
In February 2014, PresidentBarack Obama announced his intent to nominate individuals to key administration posts, including Scharf, who was appointed as a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.[27]
As of 2021, Scharf is on the board of directors forMicrosoft.[28] He is a member ofThe Business Council,[29] and vice chair of theBank Policy Institute.[30]
Scharf and his wife Amy have two daughters.[9] They live in New York.[31][32][6]
During a 2020 video call, Scharf drew both criticism and praise for comments about Black people in the workforce when he claimed that Wells Fargo faced issues reaching diversity goals because there was not enough qualified minority talent to draw from.[33] On June 18, 2020, he had sent out a company memo, saying: “While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from.”[34] Similar comments in the Zoom meeting reportedly angered a couple of unidentified black employees of the company. However, the same report indicated that, "Not all attendees recalled being offended. 'The meeting was incredibly constructive... I walked away being incredibly surprised at how genuine and sincere he is,' said Alex David, president of the Black/African American Connection Team Member Network." However, Ken Bacon, a prominent black executive with Comcast, was "shocked and puzzled" by Scharf’s comments.[35]
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