nwasianweekly.com
May 31, 2008

Patrick Yalung

Patrick Yalung rises in Wells Fargo ranks

By Ryan Pangilinan

Northwest Asian Weekly

The Asian image is seldom synonymous with the multi-billion dollar banking industry. The people are there in various positions, but aren’t always in leading roles. They are tellers; they are interns; they are the custodians.

Patrick Yalung is an API face within the banking trade and happens to oversee over 1,600 employees. He is, in fact, a leader.

Yalung, a Filipino American, is currently the regional president for Wells Fargo in the Washington region. Wells Fargo is one of the largest financial institutions in the United States and, according to “Business Week,” the number 23 best company to launch a career with, which is particularly notable for Yalung, who only got into the banking business after graduating.

“I got my undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona in Tucson,” began Yalung. “My (degree) was in occupational safety and health, with a concentration in industrial hygiene. It was a bachelor’s of science.”

After graduating, Yalung worked for an industrial chemical company and found that the sales end of the company piqued his interests a bit more. The following year, Yalung reassessed his career choice.

“There’s a graduate school of banking — it’s Pacific Coast Banking School — and it’s actually based out of the University of Washington here in Seattle,” said Yalung. “I do have my certification from Pacific Coast Banking School.”

Yalung joined Wells Fargo in 1983 as a banker trainee and began a longstanding career with the institution wearing many hats, including assistant to the Southwest region president and CEO, district manager for the Metro Phoenix area, regional manager for Northern Arizona and regional president in greater Arizona.

In November 2005, Yalung moved to the Northwest for his current position.

“One of the things that we do, that I’m particularly proud of, is that we believe strongly in development action plans,” said Yalung. “Those are plans that we put in place for all of our employees, all of our team members, and although we ask them to drive that plan, all of their managers are involved with that.

“We’re working on specific objectives and/or skills that will help them progress to the next level, or the next job, or a lateral move or a different line of business that they may be interested in, and it allows them to … (make) that a reality within the company.”

Yalung emphasizes the importance of an education, an ideal that appears on his extracurricular resume as an executive committee member of Alliance for Education, as well as a member of the Pacific Coast Banking School administrative board.

“Getting an education is critical for young Asian Americans to get out and succeed,” said Yalung. “Not only in business, not in financial services, but as well in any other aspect of life. That’s pretty critical.

“In order for us to be successful within our communities, we certainly have to reflect the diversity in those communities. One of the ways we do that is recruiting, and hiring, and developing career bankers who are bilingual and bicultural,” Yalung continued.

Additionally, Yalung and Wells Fargo also support growing independent businesses owned by people of color.

“We believe that there are many, many opportunities, both from a business perspective, where we can play a role in helping that business succeed financially,” said Yalung, “and from our perspective, if that opportunity exists within a company that happens to be managed or run by a person of color, that’s great.

“We also do have a lending initiative that allows us to actively seek and provide lending to Asian business owners. And we do the same thing with Latino business owners, African American business owners and women business owners. It’s a conscientious thing, but I don’t want to make it sound like it’s something unusual. It’s an important part of how we do business in our communities.”

With 25 years of experience under his belt, Yalung is the kind of leader who is making APIs more visible within a huge industry, with an emphasis on community — he mentioned an earthquake remittance for people who want to send money to China — and a strong emphasis on education and the molding of young minds.

“There are some great opportunities for young Asian Americans to investigate those roles within the bank,” said Yalung. “Coupled with the fact we’ve got a great tuition reimbursement program within Wells Fargo that also reinforces the importance of education and the value that (the company) places in that.”

Ryan Pangilinan can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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