Ex-broadcaster finds her calling as a banker

In her two years of working as a

broadcast journalist at a local television

station, Nik Khan saw lots of exciting

things and enjoyed reporting about interesting

events.

But after covering a story, she hated

just walking away.

"It was frustrating, because you never

got to get in and solve the problem. You

couldn't help the people involved."

She learned her true calling wasn't

reporting but serving.

Now as a district manager for Wells

Fargo, where she oversees 10 community

banks in Reno, Khan gets plenty of

opportunity to serve through her work

with customers and the bank's team

members.

"I love what I do," she says.

After she left broadcasting, she took a

job as a part-time teller, figuring that a

bank would pay well and she might enjoy

customer service. At first she looked at

the job as a means to an end, but it

became an end in itself as Khan discovered

potential opportunities. She soon

became an agent officer, the precursor to

branch management, then a branch manager

and then district manager in January.

Khan, who grew up in Incline Village

and attended the University of Nevada,

Reno, says the same competitive spirit

that helped her excel in sports in high

school helped her reach new heights in

banking.

"Challenges are very interesting to me,

and I'm driven to them.When I set my

sights on what I want, I find out what I

need to get it."

She also attributes her success

to the mentors she found at

Wells Fargo. "Every manager I

worked under provided the

path." Each time she asked,

"What can I do to take the next

step?" someone was right there

to help her, she says.

As district manager, she still

enjoys lots of direct contact with

customers. She chats with them

when she visits each of the

banks she oversees and sits in

the lobby for a while to see the

operations from their perspectives.

Wells Fargo strives to contact

its customers once every 60

days, and Khan has her own list

of people to call from families

with car loans and checking

accounts at the bank to big

businesses with lines of credit.

She also still hears from customers

in Carson City, where

she was a branch manager, who

keep her up to date on what's

going on, whether it's the arrival

of a new grandchild or the

launch of a new business.

The most important trait of

a good manager, Khan says, is

communication. She says the

best way to advance in a career

is to ask for feedback and really

listen. Khan says she asks her

own boss regularly what she can

do to improve, and asks the

people she supervises what she

can do to be a better manager.

Sometimes it's hard to take criticism,

she says, but the information

helps her improve.

"She's passionate about her

team," says Sean French,Wells

Fargo's community banking

president for northern Nevada.

"She creates a really healthy

environment. People feel comfortable

saying what's on their

minds and throwing ideas out.

They feel supported enough

that they know they can make a

decision. She loves them and

would do anything for them. It's

neat to watch."

Another reason Khan has

risen quickly at Wells Fargo is

her focus on the customer,

French says. "Every decision she

makes, every strategy she creates,

every plan she puts together

is centered around the customer."

Khan says her toughest

career decision was when she

took a job to manage two

branches in Carson City. The

promotion meant commuting

from Reno as well as learning a

whole new customer base, and

Khan questioned whether she

wanted to leave the familiar

Reno territory. But the move

allowed her to diversify her

experience, and she's glad she

did it.

Although she enjoyed her

time in broadcasting, Khan says

she made the right choice to

switch to banking. She loves her

job. On the way home late from

work recently, she was talking to

her mom on the phone. "You're

just leaving work so late?" her

mom asked.

"Yeah, the time just got away

from me," Khan replied. And it

was true, Khan says. She hadn't

stayed late because she was

under a frantic deadline. She

just lost track of time because

she was enjoying herself.