Theresa LaPlaca
Founder and President at TLP Leadership Advisory Services
Theresa LaPlaca is an accomplished finance executive with 30+ years of experience in the financial services industry, including a Fortune 50 banking institution.
During Theresa’s tenure at Wells Fargo, she served as Executive Vice president and Chief Financial Officer for Wells Fargo’s Wealth and Investment Management division, which included Wells Fargo Advisors, Wealth Management, Asset Management and Institutional Retirement. In this role, she oversaw all finance activities, client information and analytics, and operations across the business. Theresa’s career reflects notable accomplishments helping companies and boards of directors manage risks and create value across the enterprise.
Before retiring from Wells Fargo, Theresa was asked to lead and build a conduct risk management office for Wells Fargo to address the sales practice issues. Theresa was responsible for leading a team to manage and mitigate conduct risks that would arise from employee and business misconduct. During this time Theresa strengthened the Ethics program, internal investigations and code of ethics.
Theresa currently is a board member for Eagle Bancorp, Inc. & EagleBank based in Bethesda, MD. Theresa serves as the Risk Committee Chair and sits on the Audit Committee on the Board of Directors.
In her time as a C-Suite Executive, Theresa saw many professionals overlooked for career advancement because their leaders were hesitant to lose talent in that role. Understanding how discouraging and frustrating that is for those wanting to advance their career, Theresa made it her mission to help young professionals and middle managers navigate the Corporate ladder. As a result, Theresa became a certified executive coach and received her certificate from The Center for Executive Coaching in order to develop her STEAM Program.
More about Theresa
Theresa is a past member of the advisory board of Friends of The Arts at Queens University of Charlotte and a finance committee member for the Nevins Foundation. She was named to the “Most Powerful Women in Banking” list by American Banker magazine as part of “Top Team” two years in a row.
Theresa is also a recognized speaker on the topics of conduct and culture risk for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, Deloitte’s annual regulatory & operational risk conferences and webcasts, IBM/Promontory Financial Group events for C-Suite clients. Theresa, was a participant in risk management classes at the University of Southern California, including guest lecturing on establishing a conduct risk management program, serving as a judge of students’ public company board-level risk reports, and discussing the benefits of networking for professional advancement.