BofA’s Pittsburgh market executive shares what drew her from regional bank to international firm

Bank of America appointed Yalanda L. Wells to serve as Pittsburgh market executive last August. It was her third promotion since joining BofA in 2017 as a commercial banking specialist, intentionally veering from the management ranks she’d been a part of during 13 years at Dollar Bank. She had capped her tenure at Dollar as treasury management implementation manager. But Wells wanted to expand her options, leading to her joining BofA, the nation’s second-largest bank, which operates internationally. BofA is No. 14 by deposit market share in the 10-county Pittsburgh metro, and in late December, it opened its 14th financial center here. Now, Wells works in partnership with the bank’s Pittsburgh market president, John Ciccolella, and leadership team to help connect businesses, families and individuals to BofA’s resources and to help advance economic mobility within the community.

What led you to a career in banking?

Of course, it was not a direct path. I set out to be an educator at Duquesne (University). I did what I thought was a summer job at a local bank and, almost 25 years later, here I am, still in financial services. One thing I will say is, throughout my career, there’s always been an opportunity to teach and educate and share information. So, in some ways, I did reach that [goal].