For immediate release: Sept. 2, 2008
James M. Wells III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of SunTrust Banks Inc. in Atlanta, was elected to complete the three-year term of L. Phillip Humann, former chairman and chief executive officer of SunTrust, and to a separate three year-term, beginning Jan. 1, 2009, on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Wells' terms began Sept. 1, 2008, and run through Dec. 31, 2011.
Prior to being named to his current position at Sun Trust, Wells was named the bank's president and chief executive officer in January 2007. He became vice chairman in 2000. His banking career began in Richmond, Va., as a management trainee with United Virginia Bankshares. United Virginia became Crestar Bank, where Wells served as president. Crestar became part of SunTrust in 1998.
Wells received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also attended the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University.
Each of the nation's 12 Federal Reserve Banks has a nine-member board of directors. Three Class A directors represent national and state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Three Class B directors are elected by these banks but represent commerce, industry, agriculture, labor and consumers. Three Class C directors represent the same broad array of public interests but are appointed by the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. Wells is a Class A director.
The board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta oversees the management of the bank's operations and recommends changes in the discount rate. Board members also contribute to the formulation of U.S. monetary policy through the economic information they provide the bank's president.