Wells Fargo headquarters in San Francisco. (Photo: AP)

Danny Ludeman, head of Wells Fargo Advisors (WFC), will retire on Jan. 1 after 34 years with the group, the company said Friday. He will be replaced by Mary Mack, who now leads the WFA Financial Services Group.

Ludeman was tapped to be executive vice president of Wells Fargo Advisors after it merged with Wachovia in 2008. He led Wachovia Securities for nearly 10 years and held key leadership posts at Wheat First Securities before First Union/Wachovia acquired that firm.

“Under Danny’s leadership, we have created a premier brokerage and advisory firm whose success is based on offering clients advice and planning through multiple channels, in brokerage offices, retail bank stores or online,” said David M. Carroll, head of Wells Fargo’s Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement business, in a press release. “His many contributions to Wells Fargo, his commitment to our communities across the country, and his strong dedication to the client will be missed.”

Wells Fargo Advisors has some 15,000 advisors with more than $1 trillion in client assets. It is based in St. Louis, which was the home of Wachovia, while the parent company is headquartered in San Francisco.

“Danny Ludeman has had a long and distinguished career and clearly has been a leader of financial advisors,” said Chip Roame, head of Tiburon Strategic Advisors, in an interview with ThinkAdvisor. “That type executive is probably a dying breed inside these larger firms, as the industry is more likely to see corporate executives rotating through to lead brokerage.”

Mack joined predecessor firm First Union in 1984 and has held a variety of leadership positions for groups including Wealth Brokerage Services, Investment Services Group, and Wachovia Client Partnership. She was managing director of Healthcare Corporate Banking and a General Bank regional president. She now serves on the Private Client Services Committee for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or SIFMA.

“Mary Mack is a longtime bank brokerage leader, and was with Wachovia Securities” and other predecessor firms of Wells Fargo Advisors,” Roame added.

“She’s probably a great pick,” said the consultant, who will host the fall Tiburon CEO Summit starting Monday in San Francisco.