Education
Wells graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.
Wells graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree.
After graduating, he spent 10 years working for a variety of financial services firms in the United States, including Wood Logan, Smith Barney, McGinness & Associates and Dean Witter. Wells joined the Prudential Group in 1995 as president of Jackson National Life Distributors, part of the Group’s United States arm, Jackson National Life. He spent 20 years in a variety of senior positions at Jackson.
He was appointed as Jackson"s Chief Executive Officer in January 2011, at which time he also joined the board of Prudential, Jackson"s United Kingdom-based parent company.
During Wells"s four-year tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Jackson, it became the largest seller of variable annuities in the United States. On 1 June 2015, Wells succeeded Tidjane Thiam (who left to become Chief Executive Officer of Cr Suisse), on a pay package worth up to £7.5 million. On 9 March 2016, he announced Prudential"s first full-year results since taking over as Chief Executive Officer, showing that the group made operating profits of £4billion in 2015, 22 per cent higher than the year before.
He sought to reassure shareholders over business in Asia, and China in particular in 2016. "I think China and Asia in general are misread by the West," he told Consumer News and Business Channel. "The consumers have money, are spending..all of the key metrics around our average client are very resilient.".