The following was written by FSAC Student, Ryan Strub, a member of the Class of 2014
The Finance and Securities Analysis Center’s trip to San Francisco began with a visit to one of the most influential banks in the country, Wells Fargo. There, Erik Bidenkap and Mike Niedermeyer, a University of Oregon alumnus, were kind enough to host our group for an informative discussion which touched on a variety of banking topics. Mr. Niedermeyer began with a brief overview of the company and detailed the different segments that the firm is comprised of. He also explained how they have grown since their acquisition of Wachovia, which doubled the size of Wells Fargo.
Perhaps even more interesting to a group of debt-stricken students was Mr. Bidenkap’s synopsis of internships and careers at Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo is an active recruiter of business students at the University of Oregon and has programs set up to train and develop employees so they can reach their maximum career potential. The list of prominent UO alumni also includes Mark Myers who leads over 1,000 employees in the bank’s real estate lending services group.
Mr. Niedermeyer then opened the floor up for students to ask any questions they had pertaining to investments and banking. With a diverse composition of industry backgrounds, the questions ranged from information on energy markets to impact investing and real estate finance. We also got an informative update on how Wells Fargo has adapted to a post-recession era, and light was shed on some common misassumptions related to lending in this new environment. A big thank you goes out to both Mike Niedermeyer and Erik Bidenkap, who proved to be excellent hosts for our program and started our journey through the Bay with a positive attitude!
