Bid for a California Banking Giant : New Stagecoach Route : CEO Known for Toughness Faces Biggest Challenge of Stellar Career
Paul Hazen could legitimately call his autobiography “True Grit.”
And his toughness should serve him well as he attempts to meld Wells Fargo & Co. with rival First Interstate Bancorp.
Chairman and chief executive of Wells Fargo just since January, Hazen now faces the biggest challenge of his career in trying to pull off his San Francisco company’s $10.9-billion bid for Los Angeles-based First Interstate.
Associates and colleagues say he is the right man for the job. After all, they note, this is someone who endured nine hours of surgery without anesthesia to repair injuries from a head-on crash on the Golden Gate Bridge in 1983. When he didn’t like one doctor’s prognosis--that he would be crippled for life--Hazen fired him and got a second opinion.
Now a jogger, golfer and tennis player, the no-nonsense Hazen routinely exhibits fierce determination, energy and inner strength, colleagues say.
“I’ve never seen anybody come back so strong,” said Lois Rice, executive vice president and manager of Wells Fargo’s Southern California retail banking division.
Hazen, the oldest son of a lumber store owner, was born in Michigan and grew up in Tucson, Ariz. Since his house was the first stop on the school bus route, he had to be ready each morning at 4:30. The early-to-rise habit stuck with him, and he is notorious for beating everyone to the office, arriving by 6 a.m. or so.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Arizona, Hazen earned an MBA from UC Berkeley in 1964. (The university’s Haas School of Business on Wednesday coincidentally named Hazen its alumnus of the year.)
Soon after graduate school, he went to work at Union Bank in Los Angeles under an executive named Carl Reichardt. In 1970, Hazen became vice president of a real estate subsidiary of Wells Fargo, hooking up once again with Reichardt, with whom he began a steady climb.
Hazen, 53, succeeded Reichardt as president of the holding company and the bank in 1984 after Reichardt became chairman and chief executive. He succeeded his mentor in the bank company’s top jobs after Reichardt retired at 63.
Reichardt and Hazen steered the bank clear of its flabby ways, gaining reputations as tough-nosed leaders who didn’t shy away from firing even high-ranking executives if profit flagged. Although Reichardt got most of the credit for Wells Fargo’s purchase of Crocker National Bank in 1986, he lauded Hazen for pulling the deal together.
Their bottom-line orientation attracted the admiration and loyalty of super-investor Warren Buffett, who stood by the team even as some investment analysts were predicting the bank’s demise during the long-running slump in California real estate.
Inevitably, Hazen’s taking over of the top posts at Wells Fargo have prompted suggestions that he was at long last emerging from Reichardt’s shadow.
To that, Hazen said Wednesday: “Carl and I worked together for almost 29 years. I think we had one of the best relationships of any 1-2 team in business. I never felt overshadowed by him.”
Times staff writers Thomas S. Mulligan in Los Angeles and Chris Kraul in San Diego contributed to this report.
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Tough, New Execs . . . Now at Odds
* Name: Paul Hazen
* Age: 53
* Birthplace: Lansing, Mich.
* Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance from University of Arizona, 1963; MBA from UC Berkeley, 1964
* Family: Married, two sons
* Resume: Joined Union Bank as mid-level manager in 1964. Moved to Wells Fargo Bank in 1970 as vice president of its realty advisory group and became its president in 1973. Named one of the bank’s vice chairmen in 1981. Became president and chief operating officer of the bank and its holding company, Wells Fargo & Co., in 1984. In July, 1994, was named to succeed Carl E. Reichardt as chairman and chief executive.
Source: Times, wire reports
Researched by DAVID NEIMAN / Los Angeles Times
