Wells Fargo elects new board member

Wells Fargo announced today that it has elected to its board Federico Peña, who served as both transportation secretary and energy secretary under President Bill Clinton and is a former mayor of Denver.

Peña, who will start the role Nov. 1, is currently a senior advisor at Vestar Capital Partners in Denver.

“I’m pleased to announce that Federico Peña, who has an impressive record of business, civic and public policy achievements, is joining our board,” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf said in a statement. “Throughout his career, Mr. Peña has led large-scale national projects and championed innovative change for the benefit of public and private enterprises.”

At Vestar, where he has been since 1999, Peña deals with companies in the media and communications sector, focusing on the Latino community. He previously served as a managing director.

Before working in the Clinton administration, Peña founded an asset management firm, served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1979 until 1983 and practiced law for 10 years.

He also is on the board of Sonic Corp., the drive-in eatery business.

With his addition, the Wells board has 16 members. On Nov. 1, Peña will get a stock award of market value of about $70,000.

Along with the other direcotrs, Peña will get an annual cash retainer of $75,000, a $2,000 per meeting fee and expense reimbursement for board meetings.