JPMorgan Chase has hired away a Wells Fargo executive to serve as its next global head of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), according to a Monday memo seen by Reuters.
David Miree, a 30-year industry veteran who until this month was Wells Fargo’s head of consumer and small-business diverse customer segments, will succeed Brian Lamb in the DEI role at the nation’s largest bank. Miree will join the bank in May, American Banker reported.
Lamb, in turn, will take a role as JPMorgan’s Northeast segment head for middle-market banking and specialized industries (MMBSI), a business that offers advisory services to midsize companies, municipalities and nonprofits, and helps them obtain financing.
Lamb’s predecessor in that position, Thelma Ferguson, will become JPMorgan’s vice chairman of commercial banking, where she will focus on developing talent and deepening client relationships nationally, according to the memo.
In her 12 years in the Northeast role, Ferguson led the buildout of JPMorgan’s MMBSI presence in New England, Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic, ABF Journal reported. She joined the bank in 1998, serving as president of the bank’s Kentucky, southern Indiana and Tennessee markets early in her tenure. As vice chairman, she will remain on the bank’s executive committee for MMBSI and continue to report to John Simmons, head of MMBSI for JPMorgan Chase, according to the memo.
In the DEI role, Miree will "build on the work [Lamb] has led for the past two years," JPMorgan said in Monday’s memo. He will join the management teams of the consumer and community bank, the corporate and investment bank and human resources. Miree will report to President Daniel Pinto but also be accountable to Robin Leopold, JPMorgan’s human-resources chief.
Before his most recent Wells Fargo stint, Miree served in executive vice president roles at Webster Bank and Santander, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Like Ferguson, Lamb will also report to Simmons. Before joining JPMorgan as DEI chief in April 2020, he served in a number of executive roles at Fifth Third Bank, including as head of retail banking, his LinkedIn profile indicated.
