Wells Fargo’s Jerome Flores: Embracing diversity at work and at home

By Cristina DC Pastor

Jerome Flores started working at Wells Fargo Bank as a young teller. That was 18 years ago or shortly after the merger with Wachovia. It’s his “first real job.”

Today, he is one of the Filipino Americans holding top positions in the country’s fourth largest bank. He is the Senior Diversity & Inclusion Consultant, a title that demonstrates the bank’s commitment to non-discrimination and fair treatment in the workplace.

He explained to The FilAm what his title means and what his responsibilities are.

“We always try to focus on driving measurable results” through employee engagement.

He said, “My (job) is really engagement for all employees not just diverse employees, supporting their needs and creating programming that creates a sense of belonging. When we feel like we belong at a company we’re nine times more likely to stay with the company.”

His position was fairly new, created three years ago when the concept of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) came to clearly define corporate practice that does not exclude individuals on the basis of gender, race, religion, or disability.

“Think of it like a portfolio manager,” he said. “I’m the voice for diverse employees when they need something. What are their concerns? I can be the sounding board. I listen to them. I’m accountable to senior leaders who care about how we are creating inclusion at work… Employees come to me and I ensure they are being heard.”

Engagement also applies to the communities the bank serves, such as the AAPI, Pride and Hispanic Latino sectors, including driving business outcomes.

He cited an example: The bank’s home lending area has products around Hispanics creating wealth through home buying. It’s important for the bank to make the connection on the ground and gain the trust of the community.

“I do this for all three of my diverse employee resource groups, reporting and uplifting their heritage months.  I lead many of these initiatives around what type of programming should look like, what the communication are we going plan during this particular heritage month.  The one I’m really proud of was Asian American Pacific Islander month.”

Gay Asian man

Jerome, 55, was born in San Francisco to parents whose marriage ended when he was a young boy. Although his father was in the U.S. Navy, the family did not move around the country with him so the family was able to set roots in California. He, the eldest child, and his three siblings grew up with their mother, who worked as an accountant at General Electric. He remembers his mother to be warm, sweet, and loving; his father, on the other hand, was reserved and stoic. On retirement, his entrepreneurial mother opened a doughnut franchise. To keep busy, Jerome would proudly tell friends, “I made doughnuts.”

When he came out as gay after his parents had separated, his mom was supportive.

“She did not get angry, but she broke down and cried,” was his recollection. “Mother felt guilty. She thought it was her fault because being the eldest I was in charge of my two brothers and one sister.” It was a funny thought that made him laugh during the interview because they both understood that it had absolutely nothing to do with how he identifies.

Rise to the top

He remembers being a shy person when he was new to the bank. As he matured through the ranks and assumed more responsibilities and gained skills, he became more confident and learned to “create visibility” for the important work around diversity. He organized a program with the theme “Uplifting Asian voices” where Asian executives talked about what it took to climb the career ladder or to move through a large company’s other departments and levels.

“Culturally we tend to be very humble. We work and we hope to get noticed,” said Jerome. “I had to learn. I need to be more vocal especially in a corporation of 200,000 people.  If I’m going to create career mobility for myself, I need to brag about myself and to be heard, not to be shy.

“We had a lot of programming for Asian American employees with speakers talking about the importance of being visible, making your voices heard. It was great storytelling.”

Loyalty is important

“I’m of the generation where loyalty meant a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve heard some say you need to go from job to job every two years. I don’t like to do that. I’m loyal to the company. Through it all I’ve always been who I am: a gay Asian man.  I never felt I can never be who I am here.”

Jerome founded a community of LGBT employees in Washington D.C. within the bank called Pride Connection (PC). He was, at the time, a branch manager supervising a team of 10 to 15 people.

“I was out, and they wanted to establish a group of people who will tell the story of being gay,” he said.

There are now PC chapters in Wells Fargo offices across the country not just in urban areas like New York and San Francisco. The company also supports LGBTQ community organizations. 

He felt good about how PC has expanded as well as the bank’s support for gender identity and expression which he helped frame.

“It’s important for me to also be myself,” he said.