Wells Fargo's top regional banking officer to give Robert Stafford Lecture Sept. 21

AMES, Iowa -- Wells Fargo's new head of regional banking operations in Iowa and Western Illinois and an alumnus of Iowa State University is the fall 2006 speaker for the Robert Stafford Lecture Series on Banking in the university's College of Business.

Scott Johnson, who succeeded H. Lynn Horak as the head of the Iowa and Illinois banking operation in September, will give a presentation titled "Building the Right Foundation for the Financial Services Industry -- Right Here in Iowa!" at 12:40 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 21, in the Room 0119 of the Gerdin Business Building. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Johnson began his career with Wells Fargo Bank Iowa in 1979 and was promoted to vice-president of Mid-Market Banking in 1986. Four years later, he became senior vice-president and manager of the Commercial Banking Division. He was named president of Wells Fargo Bank at 7th and Walnut in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1993 and now serves as regional president for Wells Fargo in Iowa and Illinois. He became the chief executive officer for the Iowa and Illinois banking operations this fall.

He earned his bachelor's degree in industrial administration from Iowa State in 1979, and his master's of business administration degree in 1990 from Drake University.

Johnson is the third Stafford lecturer at Iowa State. More information on the program is available at http://www.bus.iastate.edu/outreach/stafford.

The Robert Stafford Lecture Series on Banking was established by the College of Business in 2004 and is funded by Ames National Corporation in honor of its 100 years of service to the Ames community. The gift honors Robert Stafford, who was longtime president and chairman of First National Bank, Ames, and Ames National Corporation.

Wells Fargo, Iowa's largest bank, has 77 stores and 1,100 team members serving 45 Iowa communities. Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company with $500 billion in assets, providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance to more than 23 million customers from more than 6,200 stores and the internet (wellsfargo.com) across North America and elsewhere internationally. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. is the highest credit-rated bank in the U.S., receiving an "Aaa" by Moody's Investors Service -- its top credit rating -- and "AA+" by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.