Monica Stevens is a member of Spencer Stuart’s Financial Services and Boards practices based in the San Francisco office. She focuses on executive search, leadership advisory and succession planning work for C-suites and boards across corporate and commercial banking, payments, real estate, and risk.
A seasoned banker and nonprofit board member with more than 25 years of results-driven experience in general management, customer relationship development, talent acquisition and learning and professional development, Monica is passionate about leveling the playing field in business and education as a committed champion of diversity and inclusion in business and in her community.
Proven leader in global financial services with lived experience
- Before joining Spencer Stuart, Monica spent 25 years at Wells Fargo, where she held multiple sales, credit and leadership roles in commercial real estate, capital markets and global banking. Most recently, Monica was senior vice president and chief credit and risk officer in the Wells Fargo Merchant Services division.
- Monica is passionate about helping firms go beyond themselves. At Wells Fargo, she co-founded the company’s first Black/African American employee resource group, and more recently she served as co-chair of the Wells Fargo Merchant Services group’s Diversity Council. She also cares deeply about talent development; she ran, repositioned, and doubled a firm development program and recruited talent at various levels who have made, and continue to make, significant contributions to the firm.
- A proud veteran, Monica is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She started her career as an officer in the U.S. Navy.
Monica received an MBA with a concentration in real estate finance from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently a trustee on Haas’s Advisory Board, and she was awarded the school’s Raymond A. Miles Service Award in 2017 for her contributions in supporting and enhancing DE&I initiatives. She was also previously a trustee for the Redwood Day School in Oakland, where she led the Diversity Committee.