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Mark Oman has gotten used to wearing a bard hat. As the top executive overseeing the operations of both Wells Fargo Financial and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, he frequently visits the companies' new office buildings as they take shape downtown and in West Des Moines.
This year, Oman has figuratively donned an additional hat as the 2006 chairman of the Greater Des Moines Partnership. In that role, he'll guide the efforts of the regional economic development organization as it moves forward with Project Destiny, a multipronged agenda of quality-of-life initiatives for Greater Des Moines.
In August 2005, Oman was named senior executive vice president of Wells Fargo & Co. As head of the company's Home and Consumer Finance Group, Oman oversees the operations of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and Wells Fargo Financial, both of which are based in Greater Des Moines, as well as Wells Fargo Consumer Credit Group/Corporate Trust Services.
Wells Fargo is in the midst of two major expansions in Greater Des Moines. In West Des Moines, employees now occupy the first building of what will be a $250 million office complex across from Jordan Creek Town Center that will accommodate 3,300 workers. Downtown, Wells Fargo Financial's new office tower mirroring its existing building at 800 Walnut St. is expected to be completed by this fall.
At the same time, the Partnership is moving forward with a number of longterm initiatives under its Project Destiny agenda. The Destiny projects include sweeping goals for improving Greater Des Moines' educational, human services, infrastructural and government resources, with an eye toward improving the region's attractiveness as a place in which to live and work.
Oman's roots are humble. He was born and raised in a middle-class family in Cedar Falls, where his father sold cars. He earned an accounting degree at the University of Northern Iowa and began his career as an accountant with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells in Des Moines.
In 1979 he joined Wells Fargo Financial (then Dial Finance) in Des Moines. Oman held a variety of management positions with Wells Fargo Financial before joining Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in 1985, where he was named president and CEO in 1989. Oman led a major turnaround of the mortgage company, expanding its operations into...