Leadership
Understanding the Immigrant Experience: Wells Fargo’s Michelle Scales
BY PETER ORTIZ / © 2006 DiversityInc
Michelle Scales’ parents made it
clear that she and her siblings were
expected to academically succeed,
even as many girls and women in
her native Pakistan went uneducated. Today, her résumé reflects little
about her immigrant history, even
though her experience is of great
value to Wells Fargo.
Scales’ 18 years in the financial-services industry encompass all
aspects of banking and made her an
obvious choice to direct Wells
Fargo’s diverse growth segments. Her
immigrant perspective, from working and living in Bahrain, London
and the United States, gives the
company a competitive advantage in
reaching key consumer groups.
Latinos represent about 20 percent of Wells Fargo’s market. Com-
panies that
understand the
challenges immigrants face have a
better chance of
establishing a
solid relationship
where trust is
crucial. “You may
come with a lot
of li-quidity but Michelle Scales
have no credit Company: Wells Fargo
history here. This No. of Employees: 153,000
is one of the 2006 Assets: $492 billion
2006 Top 50 Rank: 17
largest issues facing immigrants in this country,”
Scales says. Her division is charged
with implementing business strategies and marketing initiatives on the
financial needs of blacks, Asian
Americans, Latinos and the GLBT
community. Scales considers
herself a business-line manager who brings an operations
background to her position.
She believes her experience is
critical to setting up an infrastructure where the bank can
deliver on its marketing and
advertising campaigns.
Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage opened 50 branches
designed with decor reflecting
the culture of specific commu-
nities in certain areas including
signage in Spanish, Japanese
and Korean in 2005.
“Multicultural marketing was
viewed as niche marketing and today
I think most companies are viewing
it as part of their operating business
model,” Scales says.
Filling a Void for Women Execs: Cynthia Good of PINK
BY BRENDA VELEZ / © 2006 DiversityInc
Cynthia Good has
been a success story as a
TV journalist and
author. Now as CEO and
founding editor of the
magazine PINK, which
bills itself as the only
national publication
exclusively for women in
business, she’s hoping to
lead other women down Cynthia Good
the path of success.
Company: PINK Magazine
In its first year in No. of Employees: 15
publication, PINK 2005 Sales: $7 milion
already is showing signs
of growth. The bimonthly magazine, which now averages 100 pages
per issue, is undergoing its first BPA
Worldwide audit. Good says PINK
now prints 110,000 copies, up from
100,000 last year. PINK has
expanded its distribution and is available
through most major
newsstands as well as
booksellers such as
Barnes & Noble. With
an ad:edit ratio at
40/60, its advertisers
primarily are major
corporations, including
PricewaterhouseCoopers (No. 6 on
The 2006 DiversityInc
Top 50 Companies for
Diversity list), United
Parcel Service, The Home Depot
and Access Healthcare. The company is headquartered in Atlanta.
The magazine was created for
ambitious businesswomen between
ages 27 and 55. Recent features
include “How to Get Fired Like a
Man,” “Mom’s CEO Shoes Hard to
Fill” and “Women Social
Entrepreneurs Improve the World.”
“Women in the 21st century
are redefining the notion of success.
It’s not a man in a skirt any more,”
says Good. “It’s about making a living and making a life. It’s not just
about success, it’s about significance.”
Beginning her career as a
reporter and anchorperson for several television stations across the
United States, Good managed to
carve out a career in broadcast
media for nearly 25 years before
she says she recognized a “huge
glaring void in the marketplace in
terms of the magazines available”
for aspiring businesswomen across
the United States.
