Pub. 16 2019 Issue 3

20 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S BANKERS ON THE MOVE New Mexico First Financial Promotes Snow to Western Heritage Bank Chairman of the Board Jim Volk, chairman of Las Cruces-based New Mexi - co First Financial Inc., the parent company of Western Heritage Bank, announced that Robert A. “Bob” Snow had been promoted to chairman of Western Heritage Bank’s board of directors. Snow has served as the board’s vice-chair since January 2018. Snow started his career with Broadway National Bank in San Antonio. He moved to El Paso in 1985 to work for Chase Bank (formerly Texas Commerce Bank), where he managed the retail and international divisions. He was responsible for all cross-border maquiladora business for Chase Bank in Arizona and Texas. Snow served as president of Chase Bank in El Paso from 1995 to 2017. Snow serves or has served as a member or board chair of the following organizations: El Paso Child Crisis Center, Hospice of El Paso, Project Arriba, Accion El Paso, Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce Founda - tion, University of Texas-El Paso development board, El Paso Community College Foundation, YMCA, United Way of El Paso County, International Folk Art Alliance and the president’s council for the Texas Tech University Medical School in El Paso. “When Bob joined our leadership team last year, our business was positioned to provide an even greater commitment to serving the Borderplex region,” Volk says. “The decades of experience he has and his dedica - tion to our community continue to be essential to our growing business.” Established in 2000, Western Heritage Bank oper - ated locations in Las Cruces and Deming, as well in El Paso, Texas. Wells Fargo Names Charles W. Scharf Chief Executive Officer and President Wells Fargo & Co. announced that it had named Charles W. Scharf as the company’s chief executive officer and president, and a member of the board of directors, effective Oct. 21. Scharf was chairman and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon. Scharf said, “I am honored and energized by the opportunity to assume leadership of this great institu- tion, which is important to our financial system and in the midst of fundamental change. I have deep respect for all the work that has taken place to transform Wells Fargo, and I look forward to working closely with the board, members of the management team, and team members. I am committed to fully engaging with all of our stakeholders, including regulators, customers, elected officials, investors and communities. Before his role at BNY Mellon, Charlie was CEO of Visa, Inc. Before joining Visa, Scharf was managing director of One Equity Partners, the private investment arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. He also served as CEO of Retail Financial Services at JPMorgan Chase and CEO of the retail division of Bank One Corp. Scharf has been CFO of Bank One Corp., CFO of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank division at Citigroup, and CFO of Salomon Smith Barney. MFA Announces Jay Czar’s Retirement New Mexico Mortgage Finance Author - ity (MFA) announced that Jay Czar will retire from his position as executive director after 13 years with the organi - zation. Before joining MFA, Czar had a distinguished 27-year career with the City of Albuquerque, which culminated in being named to the city’s top position of chief administrative officer. “Jay has provided outstanding leadership to MFA,” said MFA Board Chair Angel Reyes. “He was a steadying hand throughout the housing recession and helped the organization emerge as an even stronger entity. MFA now provides affordable housing to almost 18,000 New Mexicans every year, which is largely due to the vision and direction Jay has provided over the last 13 years.” Czar held several senior positions with the City of Albuquerque, including four years as the Director of Avi - ation. Between his tenures at the city and MFA, Czar was the vice president of marketing and governmental affairs for Lovelace Health Systems. He is a past-president and member of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta board of directors. Czar is also the current chair of the New Mexico Mutual board of directors. He has served on and chaired numerous boards throughout his career. The MFA is an associate member of the New Mexico Bankers Association. The authority is a quasi-governmen - tal entity created in 1975 to provide financing for housing and other related services for low and moderate-income New Mexicans. The organization manages $4.2 billion in assets and more than $530 million in annual production. MFA is responsible for 30 affordable housing-related programs that include affordable housing construction, down payment assistance, homelessness prevention and assistance, housing rehabilitation, and energy efficiency upgrades. It is self-supporting and receives no operation - al money from the State of New Mexico. n