TheMReport

TH E M REP O RT | 21 M ary Coffin is head of Customer Excellence for Wells Fargo Home Lending, a role that sees her collaborating with leaders in both Home Lending and all across Wells Fargo to focus on delivering excellent service to the bank's customers. Before taking that post, she led Performing Servicing at Wells Fargo's mortgage division, overseeing its national customer service, statement and payment processing, real estate tax services, escrow and insurance operations, and business architecture design. After graduating with her degree in accounting, Mary signed on for 18 months with a bank of- ficer training program designed to develop new bank leaders, starting as a teller and moving up through consumer loans and then trust operations, with most of that time spent in credit underwriting. She admits that her perspective when she first began her job was that of a consumer—she had a mortgage of her own—who quickly came to appreciate that the entire industry operates on a delicate balance: the significance of homeownership to the average American and the need for investment and financing through the secondary market. It's that balance, she says, that helps consumers and supports the hous- ing industry's growth. Her time in the training program also gave her a better understanding of how all areas of a bank functions—knowledge that she now says proved extremely valuable throughout her career. "There were so many advan- tages gained from networking with teams in other areas of the bank and it helped me build trusting relationships with my commercial clients who respond- ed well to other services from our bank," she said. Her 16 years of leadership at Wells Fargo have instilled in her a constant vision of what lending means: not just collecting money, but ensuring that houses, a prod- uct essential to millions of lives and communities, stay occupied and successful. "I never forget about the very personal attachment we all have to our homes," she said. "Buying a house is a significant, personal, in- vestment decision because a home is the essential place where we establish our lives, families and communities. Just as important, a home purchase is often the first step into financial planning and wealth creation." Mary says that Wells Fargo doesn't look at homeowners along gendered lines, but that women do need to begin retirement planning earlier than they are currently. Saving for retirement is, she says, "as much a priority as paying the mortgage or the utility bill." Her team shares the same passion for preparedness in home lending, making sure customers feel sup- ported and can make an informed choice about one of the biggest decisions of their lives. Understanding the bigger picture is something that seems to define Mary; she thinks a lot about long- term growth of industries and how developing teams is what paves the way to success. Her Customer Excellence team today also takes the long view of things by tracking the quality of service from origination through the lifetime of a loan. Her team also helps to redesign the loan processes when they stumble or lead to poor service, because, she says, success requires "standing in others' shoes and building high-integrity relationships with your customers." Her sentiment is not far removed from the golden rule: "do unto others…" With that in mind, she says her team's goal is to help cus- tomers both achieve and sustain homeownership in good times and to provide guidance when challenges come up. Mary is a fixture in her com- munity, working additionally as a board member for both Grand View College and Youth Homes for Mid-America, a private nonprofit children's and family social service agency. She is also active in the United Way Women's Leadership Connection and the Chrysalis Foundation, two Iowa-based groups that advocate for girls and women. POWER PLAYERS Special Section Mary COFFIN "I never forget about the very personal attachment we EPPLEZIXSSYVLSQIW&Y]MRKELSYWIMWEWMKRMÁGERX TIVWSREPMRZIWXQIRXHIGMWMSR¶ CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE FOR WELLS FARGO HOME LENDING

• Cover