Kevin Pham
Kevin Pham
Kevin Pham is an American bitcoin enthusiast and former banker based in the San Francisco Bay Area. [2]He is an outspoken advocate for bitcoin maximalism on Twitter. [0]
Education
Pham attended San Jose State University studied Finance and Economics. [2]An active student, Kevin was Vice President of Operations at The Banking and Investment Association of San Jose State. [2]He graduated in 2011 and self-financed his education. [2]
Career
From 2008-2010, Pham worked at Wells Fargo, first as a teller and then as a banker. [5]Pham's first job out of college was as a Credit Analyst for Venture Capital Group where he learned about how credit worked through being formally trained in Comerica's Credit Training Program. [2]He was promoted to Senior Credit Analyst where he gained experience in traditional cash flow and asset-based lending. [2]Pham left to pursue an opportunity to become a Senior Credit Analyst in Technology & Venture Capital Banking where he was their sole underwriter for the first year. [2]He was promoted to Assistant Vice President a year later. [2]Pham left in April 2015. [2]
Hold Wells Fargo Accountable
Kevin Pham on CNN
In September of 2016, Pham took a picture outside of the Wells Fargo headquarters with a sign the stated "CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT #holdwf accountable" and authored a Facebook post articulating the overaggressive sales culture at the organization.
[5]It was a response to CEO John Stumpf's attempt to pin the blame on 5,300 fired low-level employees for Wells Fargo being fined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for creating sham accounts to meet sales goals.
[2]The post received over 50,000 shares and Pham began to appear in Forbes and on CNN on behalf of the Hold Wells Fargo Accountable Movement. [2]
It was revealed that before Pham took action against Wells Fargo that he took a short position on the company, saying “if Wells Fargo is going to make money by lying, deceiving and exploiting, why shouldn’t I do the same by telling the truth?”[5]Although he ended up losing a small amount on his positions, Pham promised to donate half the money he made on the positions to charity.
As a result, Stumpf resigned from his position as CEO and Pham secured an affiliate partnership with Aspiration.com, a venture-backed socially conscious financial firm in order to provide alternative banking option for victims and supporters looking to move their banking.