Shattering the glass ceiling

Area woman receives award for her rise in the banking industry

Each year the National Association of Women Business Owners honors one woman from each state who has had the courage to break into the upper echelon of management. In Nevada, Doris Charles received the honor for advancing through the ranks of banking executives.

Charles received the Glass Ceiling Award on March 8. The accolade addresses the struggle of women to ascend to higher-level management positions despite the boundaries established by the proverbial glass ceiling of modern-day industry.

Thanks to her dedication and hard work, the only glass Charles peers through is in the windows of her spacious corner office in the Wells Fargo Bank Building in the Howard Hughes Center. She leads Wells Fargo Bank's local branch operations as community banking president over Southern Nevada.

The executive's days are kept full with the management of 60 branches that oversee a total of $2.8 billion in deposits and more than 1,000 employees. However, Charles' career didn't start out so grand.

She was born on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and raised in London. Charles married a member of the United States military stationed near her home. The couple traveled from one military base to another, living in England, Australia and finally Las Vegas.

Charles' college training was in laboratory science. But the constant military moves made finding lab work difficult. In England, she was encouraged to give banking a try while she waited for a lab technician position. She began work as a part-time teller at an on-base American Express bank.

"I found banking to be extremely easy as a teller, even though we weren't computerized then. We did everything manually," Charles said.

In time, the bank teller found she had a knack for foreign currency, so she moved into a position as a foreign currency teller, managing 47 separate currencies. Soon she was helping with everything from the vault services to loan management.

After four years, Charles and her husband were transferred to Nellis Air Force Base and Charles decided to give up lab science and stick with banking. She obtained a position as a personal banker with First Western Savings & Loan. Bank managers wanted to move Charles into a supervisory position, but she resisted.

"I don't know why, but I didn't want to be a supervisor. I couldn't see myself in that role," she said.

Less than a year later, she relented and took a position jas a customer service supervisor. Soon, she was advanced to branch manger, then district manager and then training director. When the savings and loan merged with First Western Bank, the new CEO asked Charles to be vice president of retail for Nevada. She filled that role for two years and then the bank merged with American Federal. Charles was kept on as Vice President of Retail for Southern Nevada. When Norwest Bank and then Wells Fargo Bank took over, again, Charles remained.

"I went through numerous mergers and, indeed, I've been told I'm the only senior manger that survived all of the mergers all the way back," she said.

Though Charles has taken several college banking courses along the way, she is still only formally trained to be a lab technician.

"Everything I've learned, I've learned on the job," she said.

Charles has worked hard to achieve the management level she holds, but she is quick to spread the credit for her victory.

"I have been awfully lucky and privileged that I've had tremendous mentors along the way," she said.

The competition for this year's Glass Ceiling Award was stiff in Nevada. Charles was up against Silver State Bank vice president Shannon Cook, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce president Kara Kelley, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center spokeswoman Ann Lynch and MGM Mirage human resources senior vice president Cindy Kiser Murphey.

When Charles heard her name announced at the awards ceremony at the JW Marriott resort, it came as a complete surprise.

"I was overwhelmed," she said. "I thought it was awesome. The other four women are all phenomenal in their own rights. I accepted this award on behalf of all the women who have achieved so much."

The local branch of the National Association of Women Business Owners also presented Women of Distinction Awards to women in the following categories: Accounting, Deborah J. Pierce from Ameristar Casinos; Gaming, Maureen Mullarke from International Game Technology; Community Service, Charlotte Hill from KLVX Communications Group; Philanthropy, Carolyn Sparks from International Insurance Services; Convention Services, Susan Schwartz from Convexx; Insurance, Phyllis Cadoff from DPN Inc.; Community Arts Education, Suzanne LeBlanc from the Lied Discovery Children's Museum; Communications, Shari Sutton from Sutton Watkins Advertising & Design; Education, University of Nevada, Las Vegas president Carol C. Harter; Construction, Angela Ziel from Kaercher Near North Bond Practice; Finance, Lisa C. Wright from the Private Advisory Group; Minority Women, Debra R. Baéz of Baéz Design; Women Entrepreneurs, Lisa Hammond from Femail Creations; and Women in Government, Nevada Supreme Court Justice Nancy A. Becker.


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