Wells Fargo Mentors

Jerry Gitlitz

Jerry was born and raised in New York and after graduating college with a degree in Accounting he started his career working for Chase Manhattan Bank as a Financial Analyst for a Datacenter. During this period, he was surrounded by the mainframe technical team and took an interest in technology. Through evening classes at New York University, early adoption of a PC and self paced training Jerry was able to land a job as a programmer working for IBM.

Jerry’s IBM career was relatively short lived as he caught the bug to become a consultant and over a span of 4 years from 1986 to 1990 improved his technical capabilities as a contractor building database applications and performing Database Management for companies such as Mobil Oil and New Jersey Bell.

In 1990, Jerry accepted a position with Goldman Sachs as a Database Specialist. Over the span of six year he was promoted to Vice President and took on the role of DBA manager.

With a sprouting family, Jerry was determined to spend time with his 3 children but the NY commute combined with the demands of a Wall St. Investment Banking Firm made it next to impossible… A change was in order.

In 1996, Jerry accepted a position as DBA manager of the Traded Products group for Nationsbank and moved the family to Charlotte, NC. The role quickly expanded and from 1997 – 2001 Jerry managed the Global Corporate Investment Banking DBA team. In a conscious effort to broaden his business acumen Jerry transferred over and managed the Wealth Management DBA team from 2001 – 2006.

In 2006, after 18 years in Database Management Jerry moved out of his comfort zone and into the ITIL based Service Management area where he was able to leverage his management skills and technical background to take on a leadership role and manage the Enterprise Monitoring, Software Distribution, Discovery and Provisioning functions.

In 2014 after 17 years at Bank Of America Jerry accepted a role at Wells Fargo and today is the executive leading Enterprise Monitoring.

Jerry and his wife, Amanda, live in Charlotte, NC. They have three young adults’ children that they are very proud of. Outside of work, Jerry keeps himself busy, playing tennis, running, mountain bike riding and enjoys time with family and friends.

PAM SOUTHWELL

When I was in college – I was a marketing /management major. But- I took a computer class – as it was required for my degree. I found that I really enjoyed my computer class – and signed up for additional computer classes. I was doing so well and enjoying my computer classes – that I ended up changing my major to Computer Information Systems.

My first job out of college was with a company (EDS – Electronic Data Systems) that sent me to a 3 month ‘boot’ camp type training in Maryland. It was three months – 7 days a week – intense training in computer languages and other computer business analysis topics. The training that I received during the boot camp – and the training that I received after on my first assignments – was the best way to start my career.

After my training in Maryland, EDS sent me to Michigan for my first assignment. After 6 years in Michigan – we moved a few times for my husband’s job. And, each time we moved – I was able to find work in IT within a few weeks of moving. My training at EDS had made me a very marketable person.

My last move was to Charlotte – for my husband’s job. And, within 2 weeks of moving here – I had found a job with First Union. So – once again – my experience from my first job was a great asset to me finding another job.

My career was always important to me – but, as I started having children and our family was growing – my priorities of course changed. My personal life balance needed to be more focus on a young family. But- I always found a way to balance my career and my family. When I am at work – I am very focused and time management is extremely important. On days when I had things I needed to do with my kids – for example – I would come into the office a little earlier, or skip lunch. So – I just needed to be flexible and find ways to manage my time.

But- it also could go the other way. For example- there would be days when I needed to work longer hours or there were weekends and nights where I needed to work. So – my family also had to be flexible to allow me to work the extra hours.

My three kids have now grown up and are on their own – so, of course my daily priorities have changed. And, I am very thankful that I was able to maintain a great family life and a great career.