Carl E. Reichardt

Carl E. Reichardt (1934- ) is a retired business executive. He was president of Wells Fargo & Company from 1978 to 1984 and then chairman of the board of directors until the end of 1994.

Reichardt received his BA degree in economics from the University of Southern California in 1956. In his banking career he joined Wells Fargo in 1970, rising to the post of president in 1978. He was also named chief operating officer in 1981.

In January 1983 he succeeded Richard P. Cooley as chairman and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo. Reichardt relinquished the office of president to Paul Hazen in 1984. Together they guided the bank through the mergers with Crocker National Corporation in 1986 and Barclays Bank of California in 1988 and the recession of the early 1990s. At the end of December 1994, Reichardt retired from the board of directors of Wells Fargo.

He was a director of Ford Motor Company from 1986 to 2006, serving as vice chairman from 2001 to 2003. Reichardt also served on the boards of Pacific Gas & Electric, ConAgra, HCA, McKesson, HSBC Holdings PLC, and the Newhall Management Corporation. In addition, he served as a director of University of San Francisco and of the University of Southern California.

In the politcal realm, he was a member of Bush-Cheney 2000.