Mark Oman has gotten used to wearing a hard 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 multi-pronged 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 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 long-term 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.

He joined Wells Fargo in Des Moines in 1979 and 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 all 50 states. In 1997 he was promoted to group executive vice president of Wells Fargo, a position he held until being promoted to his present position last summer.

He and his wife, Jill, have a 15-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son.

The Business Record recently sat down with Oman to hear his thoughts on leadership, his company’s growth in Greater Des Moines and how he sees his role with the Partnership.

BR: Looking out the window and seeing the progress of the expansion projects here in downtown and in West Des Moines must be a satisfying experience for you.

Oman: It’s exciting to see growth in businesses. It’s not just Wells Fargo. When you look around the community, whether it’s Allied or Principal or you name it, there’s just a lot of growth going on and it’s exciting to see. Personally, from a Wells Fargo standpoint, it’s exciting to see the businesses grow. As you know, we’re a nationwide company and we have a lot of businesses and employees throughout the United States. But it’s exciting to see the growth right here in Des Moines, and the Des Moines-based business is growing and they’re doing a real nice job of it.

BR: You’ve managed to stay in Iowa most of your career. Not a lot of people in your position would get to do that.

Oman: Well, I’ve had the opportunity to move before. But Wells Fargo is really very good from that standpoint of working with people to make sure you have the right balance between work life and home life. Actually, I used to commute to Minneapolis for some period of time, but we kept a home in Des Moines. We didn’t know how successful we were going to be in the mortgage company at the time; it was a real turnaround situation. But then I moved back to Des Moines in the late ’90s and I started commuting to Minneapolis one or two days a week. (Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO) Dick Kovacevich always said, “Live where it makes sense to live,” so we’ve chosen to stay here in Des Moines. We think it’s a great place to live and to raise a family.

BR: What would you say the critical points were for Wells Fargo’s future in Des Moines in the past 10 years? What were the defining moments?

Oman: I think some of the defining moments go back longer than 10 years. When Wells Fargo Financial (then Dial Finance) was acquired (by Norwest) in 1982, the decision was made: This company will stay here; it’s based here; let’s grow it here. Here we are 20-some years later, and the company is far larger and far more successful than it was in 1982, and that was a good decision.

The mortgage company, which was actually founded in Waterloo (as Iowa Securities Co.), moved its headquarters to Minneapolis in 1969. There were some serious issues in the mid- ’80s and a new management team was brought in. We made the decision at that time to move the headquarters of the mortgage company to Des Moines to piggyback on the infrastructure that was here with Wells Fargo Financial. So at the time the mortgage company moved here, we started with about 30 or 40 people in about 1985 or 1986. That was a real defining moment for the growth of Wells Fargo here. The rest has really just been organic growth. Certainly, the merger with Wells Fargo in 1998 didn’t have much of an impact; all of the businesses were here and there wasn’t any reason to change anything.

BR: What would you say were some of the key leadership attributes that brought you to where you are today?

Oman: That’s a tough question. I think our success is really founded in our vision, and that’s something that was crafted in 1986 and it has been unchanged over that almost-20-year period at this point. I think if anything, it’s been trying to interpret that vision and trying to connect that vision from a strategy standpoint with customers and how we really build out the organization. When you have the right people in the right place and they’re a good team, you step back and you coach and you cheerlead and you applaud because good people really like the opportunity to make a difference. The key to leadership, I think, is that alignment and getting everyone moving in the same direction.

BR: Any thoughts on what lies ahead for you? Are you on the ladder to being the No. 1 person at this company?

Oman: Frankly, I enjoy what I do; I enjoy my role and I enjoy my opportunity to work within Wells Fargo. It’s very much a team culture. Unlike many companies in America, it’s not about individuals or the leader, it’s really about the team. I’m happy, frankly, doing what I’m doing. We’ve experienced a lot of growth in my area. At the same time, faith, family and community are important to me.

BR: What are some ways you try to keep a work-life balance?

Oman: I try to limit the travel as much as I can, try to be at home as much as I can and miss as few of the children’s events as possible. We take our family vacations; I try not to work monster hours. I work hard at work, but I also want to role model that you have to have that balance in your life, I think, in order to be successful long term. I just think that balance is incredibly important.

BR: Did it take you very long in your career to learn that?

Oman: Yeah. Earlier in my career when I was the new leader of the mortgage company, I was out of town a lot. Our children were young and that put an incredible burden on Jill. It took me a while to figure out the importance of this balance.

BR: What’s been your involvement with the Partnership? Have you been involved with it for very long?

Oman: Not really; I’ve only been involved for about the last three years or so. I was approached by Steve Zumbach, Barry Griswell and Bill Knapp to be involved, given Wells Fargo’s presence in the community. And Wells Fargo has been involved for a number of years at a number of different levels. I hadn’t been involved up to that point in time for a number of reasons; I’ve been very involved with a variety of industry trade organizations, and as I handed those off to some of the other business leaders, I thought it was time to get a little more involved in the community.

BR: What do you hope to accomplish during your time as chair of the Partnership?

Oman: Creating a regional resource to further our Project Destiny vision for Greater Des Moines is at the top of our work plan for 2006. Communicating our vision recommendations, working with our metro area leaders and discussing the benefits of building upon our existing quality of life to the community as a whole will be a major part of our work this year.

BR: With all the projects that are ongoing in Greater Des Moines, do you think we’re going to see fewer initiatives or bold new ideas in the next few years from the Partnership?

Oman: I think the key here is that the Partnership usually doesn’t come up with the ideas. Usually the idea comes from someplace (else), whether it’s the Science Center or the Principal Riverwalk, you tend to have a public-private coalition to make that happen. Generally, the Partnership isn’t the leader in that. But as these things build and attain that kind of critical mass, the Partnership will weigh in if the membership votes and decides to weigh in. But really, the Partnership isn’t a driver on these kinds of things.

BR: How do you see your role as the Partnership’s chair?

Oman: The Partnership is a wonderful organization: I was just at an affiliates’ meeting and it’s wonderful to see 21 affiliates (representing the surrounding communities) around the table. It’s really just one regional effort, all working together, and it’s the whole team concept that I really like. My job is really to help knit that together and facilitate it. But the ideas come from the membership and the affiliates; the job of the leadership is to hone that and bring everyone together to work on those few key initiatives that can really move everyone forward. That’s why Project Destiny is so important. There’s been a lot of progress made on that, and we want to keep that train running down the tracks.