She Is An Asset For South Texas
By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez
Even though Alma Ortega Johnson holds one of the most important banking positions in the Rio Grande Valley, she is really down to earth.
She works for Wells Fargo Bank, a national chain, as the Area President for South Texas. Her territory covers the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, and the Coastal Bend that includes the cities of Alice, Kingsville, Premont, Robstown, Taft, Rockport, Ingleside, Portland, and Corpus Christi.
Prior to this position, she was leading Patrimonial Banking in charge of high net worth Mexican nationals from San Diego thru Brownsville. In 2007, Alma was given additional responsibilities and asked to manage Retail Banking in the Upper and Mid Rio Grande Valley, which grew to her current position.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.5 trillion in assets. According to Alma, the bank’s vision is to meet all their customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially.
Wells Fargo has an interesting story in the nation and the world. However, it has been attached to the Rio Grande Valley and McAllen for over a century.
Wells Fargo was known over a century ago, as a banking and express company that connected communities across the west in the 1860s by stagecoach. Wells Fargo came to McAllen on the Iron Horse – the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railroad – in 1905.
E. Mullen was Wells Fargo’s first agent in McAllen. Mullen brought access to Wells Fargo’s nationwide express network to town, making it easy for McAllen residents, businesses, and farmers to send money, valuables, or even perishable farm products to markets across the country and around the world.
Like all Wells Fargo agents, Mullen also offered basic financial services, such as money orders, traveler’s checks, and transfer of money by telegraph – the first electronic banking.
Today, Mullen is no longer here, but Alma is with a team of 640, they provide banking with much more services. They include services like insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 branches, 12,500 ATMs, and the Internet (wellsfargo.com). It also has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. At the corporate level, they service approximately 70 million customers.
Alma is proud to say that the corporate vision and values insist that they put the customer at the center of everything they do.
She says, “What makes Wells Fargo different from others is we are a full-service national bank, with resources to handle any financial challenge our customers may face.” She added, “At the same time, we consider ourselves a community bank and are deeply engaged in our communities, we serve on boards and committees, we volunteer our time, we contribute our funds, we support important local initiatives, and we try to play a positive, contributory role in every community we serve.”
Are banking regulations letting you service the business community? “Wells Fargo has been complying with all the new regulations and finding a way to continue servicing our business community with products and services that fit their needs and help them succeed financially.”
Is it difficult for businesspeople to obtain a loan nowadays? “The lending standards for all banks are somewhat higher than they were before the recession, but Wells Fargo is always ready to lend to qualified borrowers.”
I was curious to find out about Wells Fargo’s current lending deals for small to medium size businesses or individuals, and I came across a headline that read, “Convenient credit at low rates – a combination you won’t find anywhere. Their offer is $5,000 to $100,000 at 6.50% APR with no collateral required, just simple lending with no surprises. The offer is an unsecured personal line of credit for large expenses, home repairs, and anything else that you might need to pay.
This offer from Wells Fargo has been in the market since 03-24-2012, and if you are already running to the bank, make sure to call first and find out if other than Texas, other states are participating. What a great deal!
Are you planning to continue the bank’s expansion in the RGV or other cities? “We are always looking for opportunities within the RGV that fit our business model. We are planning to expand our ATM network, and we will continue looking for opportunities within the RGV for new locations that fit our business model.”
How many Wells Fargo Branches are in the RGV? “18 branches.”
When she talks about the bank’s community involvement that is one area where she excels too. Alma is on the Boards of the United Way of South Texas, COSTEP and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce (Past Chairman). She also participates in the Advisory Boards of the McAllen Education Foundation, College of Business (UTPA), and ENCORE.
“I am in the Finance committee of First Christian Church, and in the Banking Advisory Committee of South Texas College. I support the Rio Grande Valley Diabetes Association in the committee for Dancing with the Stars fundraising event.”
However it is not only Alma participating in civic and social activities, “We had 483 team members that donated 9,056 hours in my region in 2013 and donated more than $275,000 in charitable contributions,” she said.
Alma stated that many of those hours were dedicated to financial literacy using their program free to the community. Alma emphasized that this is one of the best tools to engage with the business community and with those starting a business.
According to Alma, the existence of banks is central to the economic health of any community. “In the same way, there are no healthy banks in unhealthy communities.
It is a relationship that works both ways,” she stated.
In this community, Alma is considered to be a superwoman, always active. Among all the activities she is already performing, one is at the top; her passion in developing people. “I have more than 640 team members and I love to see them grow and achieve their professional goals.”
With all responsibilities and such an active professional and personal life, how is she able to deal with the stress?
“Well, I exercise in the morning doing a boot camp at the McAllen Country Club. I have massages, and follow The Zone diet.”
Among her hobbies are water skiing, golfing, reading books, and going to the beach.
Alma pointed out that the challenges she faces are the changes within the banking industry. “I would say trying to comply with all the regulations and leading a team to adapt to the changes, is the biggest challenge for all of us,” she said.
Alma also mentioned that she is in the banking industry because her father had a friend who was the regional president for Banamex in Mexico. “He got me into the Banking world. I was not planning to be in this industry, but I ended up loving it, and I have been in banking for 32 years so far… 32 years is a good start,” she replied smiling.
Born in Chihuahua City, Mexico to parents Hector Ortega Saenz (+) and Irene Rodriguez; Alma graduated from the Universidad Autónoma of the State of Chihuahua Mexico in 1986.
What brought you to the Rio Grande Valley? “We were living in El Paso and I came to McAllen just to have lunch and to drive around the city in 2003. I was here for only two hours, and I fell in love with McAllen. My husband was managing a maquiladora plant in Juarez, Chihuahua and he got an offer to manage a large maquiladora plant in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico within the same company but in a different division. I immediately suggested to him that he accept the offer without even thinking about it twice. It took a lot of effort to convince him, but I did.”
Alma is married to Wayne H. Johnson from Cleveland, Ohio, he moved to El Paso Texas to work in the maquiladora industry. Alma met Wayne in a social gathering in El Paso and even she admits that it was not love at first sight, but she immediately noticed that he was a great man.
“His intelligence, his patience, his passion for caring about people, and his incredible capacity to establish relationships with all individuals,” this was part of the enchantment for her. Now they have two children; Kevin, 11, will start 7th grade and Kayla, 7, is going to start third grade.
If you had a chance to relive your life again, what would you do differently? “I wouldn’t do anything differently. Believe it or not, what I have accomplished as of today has been in my plans since I was very young. I have a College degree; I have traveled around the world and visited more than 25 countries. I am married and have two children, and I am the president of the bank… so far, so good,” she said.
And when you leave this earth, how would you like to be remembered? “As somebody that helped people to make their dreams come true.”
To finalize this conversation, what is your short-term or long-term goal in banking? “To consolidate the South Texas Region as the best and most balanced market within the Southwest Region (Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas).”
Texas Border Business is proud to bring this feature story about Alma Ortega Johnson, the Wells Fargo Area President for South Texas. She is without a doubt an asset for McAllen and the region.
Because of her commitment to her work and team, and the many hours she has devoted to non-profit organizations she was chosen to be the feature Exclusive story the month of July.
Written by Roberto Hugo Gonzalez, the 2009 SBA Journalist of the Year Award Winner & The 2009 and 2012 Paul Harris Award recipient TBB
