Mark Vitner to retire from Wells Fargo after 30 years
The following article appeared in the June 10, 2022, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, a digital publication and newsletter with local business news. Sign up today:
Vitner, the Charlotte area’s best-known economist, plans to start his own business … and do more fly-fishing, he says
Mark Vitner, seen here on financial network CNBC in 2020, is a frequent speaker on the economy in the Carolinas.
Economist Mark Vitner, the frequently quoted expert on the Charlotte region’s economy, says he’s retiring from Wells Fargo in September.
Vitner, 59, joined the bank 30 years ago when it was First Union. But he told The Ledger in an interview yesterday that he’s leaving Wells because he’d like to start his own economic consultancy – as well as do a little more fly-fishing.
“I’m turning 60 this year. Maybe 60 is the new 40 and I’m having a midlife crisis,” he joked. “I feel like if I don’t start my own business now, then I’m probably not going to do it.”
In his role as senior economist at Wells now, he spends much of his time meeting with bank clients, who want his insights on how economic changes might affect their businesses. He’s also frequently quoted in the media and speaks at Rotary clubs and professional gatherings, often wearing his trademark suspenders over a dress shirt.
Asked for a memorable anecdote in his 30 years at Wells, he shared a story from his early years, when his office on First Union’s trading floor in Charlotte was cobbled together with file cabinets as walls. He started publishing weekly economic commentaries, distributing printed versions to traders, including some with “big egos.”
One of the better-known traders “came up to me and said, ‘What’s this crap?’” Vitner recalled. “Here I am, probably all of 30 years old, and I’m starting this new publication. About a week later, something in the commentary was featured in the New York Times. After that, he comes by, and I guess he felt bad. He knocks on my file cabinet and says, ‘Hey, be sure to include me on that distribution of your publication.’”
Vitner was also widely quoted in Charlotte media after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, during which he was in New York City at a breakfast meeting near the World Trade Center — with the landing gear of one of the planes hitting the top of his hotel.
“It was unsettling, unnerving for sure,” he recalled. “I never felt like my life was at risk until I realized what happened.”
He said he envisions starting a small economic analysis business with a handful of clients. He said he plans to stay in Charlotte and continue speaking on panels and to civic groups and policymakers, as he has for many years.
“I’m still going to be around,” he said. “I’m retiring from the bank, but I’m not retiring from being an economist. That would just be too much of a withdrawal.”
Need to sign up for this e-newsletter? We offer a free version, as well as paid memberships for full access to all 4 of our local newsletters:
➡️ Learn more about The Charlotte Ledger
The Charlotte Ledger is a locally owned media company that delivers smart and essential news through e-newsletters and on a website. We strive for fairness and accuracy and will correct all known errors. The content reflects the independent editorial judgment of The Charlotte Ledger. Any advertising, paid marketing, or sponsored content will be clearly labeled.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and to tell a friend.
Social media: On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Sponsorship information: email brie@cltledger.com.
Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire, CXN Advisory; Contributing photographer/videographer: Kevin Young, The 5 and 2 Project