Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Business
Deals

Duke, Once a Teller, Named Top-Ranking Woman in U.S. Banking

  • Wells Fargo names ex-Fed governor to chair its board on Jan. 1
  • That makes her the first woman to oversee a giant U.S. lender
Video player cover image

Betsy Duke was named as the first woman to oversee one of the largest U.S. banks on Tuesday as Wells Fargo & Co. selected her to chair its board, beginning on January 1. Bloomberg's Laura Keller examines Betsy Duke's career on 'Bloomberg Markets.' (Source: Bloomberg)

Updated on

Betsy Duke was working in a Virginia Beach dinner theater in the mid-1970s, struggling to make ends meet, when she applied for a job at a dry cleaner. It turned her down. Instead, she became a part-time teller.

On Tuesday, Wells Fargo & Co. named her the first woman to oversee one of the largest banks in the nation. She will become chair of the lender’s board at the start of next year, capping one of the most epic climbs -- by man or woman -- into the financial industry’s top echelons. Her career already included a stint as a Federal Reserve governor, starting on the brink of 2008’s financial meltdown. This time, she will supervise a management team contending with scandal after scandal.