Even though he graduated from Iowa State before the College of Business existed, John Ganoe will visit campus Thursday as the College of Business Executive in Residence.

John Ganoe served on the dean’s advisory council, and a faculty fellowship resides in his name. He is executive vice president of corporate development for Wells Fargo.

Ganoe will work with the MBA course faculty and undergraduate curriculum committee to make sure student requirements are in line with industry needs. He is also meeting with student organizations and talking about the Wells Fargo-Norwest merger in an open forum, said Kim Schroeder, business program coordinator.

“It was one of the largest acquisitions in banking at the time,” Schroeder said.

“They were breaking new ground for the industry.”

Ganoe said the merger was different than other mergers, which usually result in cutting jobs. Cutting jobs stifles the motivation of remaining employees, he said.

“We told the world the transition would last, instead of a few months, [it lasted] three years,” Ganoe said. “We are retaining people and maintaining strength.”

The merger has strengthened Wells Fargo nationally and locally, said Kevin Geis, Wells Fargo community bank president for the Ames and Story City market.

“At a local level, for me, it’s been a fun career change through the merger,” Geis said.

Geis was the president of a local bank when it was purchased by Wells Fargo four years ago. He said the bank has a stronger support system and gives more freely to the community under the Wells Fargo name.

When Norwest and Wells Fargo merged in 1998, the two held a value of $200 billion, Ganoe said. Today the Wells Fargo Company is worth $380 billion.

“We’re much more diverse today,” Ganoe said. “We are not just a community and consumer lender anymore.”

Wells Fargo is involved in more than 80 businesses as a part of the financial services industry, Ganoe said.

Ganoe worked for Norwest, the larger bank at the time of the merger. Despite its relative size, the Wells Fargo name was chosen to remain.

“It was easy,” Ganoe said. “Wells Fargo has the highest brand recognition in the industry.”

Ganoe said the two banks merging was “destiny.” Wells Fargo was one of the six original shareholders of Norwest Bank.

“[His generosity] has helped me contribute to research here at Iowa State,” said Arnold Cowan, associate professor of finance.

Cowan said he looks forward to learning about problems and opportunities in the banking industry.

“Any question you ask, you learn the answer to a different question, too,” Cowan said. “I know I’ll learn something I didn’t know before.”