Daniela Mounger | Building a Better Way to Send Money Home

Daniela Mounger | Building a Better Way to Send Money Home

HL INSIGHTS

Daniela Mounger | Building a Better Way to Send Money Home

For Wells Fargo executive Daniela Mounger, the modernization of ExpressSend® is both a business initiative and something deeply personal.

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

or Daniela Mounger, sending money across borders is not simply part of her job.  It is part of her life.

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Mounger moved to the United States 14 years ago. Her parents and much of her family remain in Mexico, and she understands firsthand what it means to stay connected across borders.

She sends money home for birthdays, Mother’s Day, everyday needs and moments when family needs support.

Today, she also leads the Wells Fargo business responsible for helping customers do the same.

Mounger is senior vice president and head of Global Remittance Services within Wells Fargo Consumer Banking and Lending, where she leads the strategy, transformation and growth of ExpressSend®, the company’s cross-border remittance product, along with its consumer foreign-currency solutions.

Hispanic Lifestyle spoke with Mounger during AVANCE Global in Las Vegas about the evolution of ExpressSend, the changing expectations of customers and why the work carries such personal meaning for her.

Listening to the customer

ExpressSend has been around for more than a decade, but the way customers use it has changed significantly.

For years, customers were often directed to Wells Fargo branches to manage aspects of the international money-transfer process.

Mounger said customers were asking for something easier.

“We listened to them,” she said. “They asked us to innovate. They asked us to have a convenient way to send money from their mobile apps.”

That feedback helped drive the modernization of ExpressSend and its nationwide launch within the Wells Fargo Mobile® app.

The mobile experience allows customers to add and manage recipients, track transfers and receive alerts directly through the app. Wells Fargo says ExpressSend currently supports transfers to 12 countries.

For Mounger, the convenience is important because it reflects the way people live now.

“All of us are attached to our mobile phones,  nuestros celulares,” she said.

The ability to send money from a phone can matter in ordinary moments as much as emergencies.

Someone may be thinking about a parent, an aunt or another family member back home. A birthday may be coming up. A relative may need help.

“You just pull out your phone,” Mounger said.

More than a product

What makes Mounger’s connection to ExpressSend different is that she is not only leading the product.

She uses it.

“I’m Mexican, born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, and my parents are still there. My family is still there,” she told HL Media Network.

She uses the service to send money to her parents and family members for occasions that are both important and routine.

“I use it to send money to my parents when they need it,” she said. “I use it for Mother’s Day, my mom’s birthday, my dad’s birthday and anything that is really needed for day-to-day lives.”

That personal experience gives Mounger a direct understanding of the customers the product is designed to serve.

“For me specifically, this was a very important product because not only do I lead it, I also use it,” she said.

She also understands the emotional side of sending money internationally.

For families separated by borders, the transaction can represent much more than the amount being transferred. It can be a way of caring for parents, helping relatives through difficult moments or remaining connected to the people and places left behind.

Mounger described the service as one way of creating a bridge between customers and their families.

Security and trust

Convenience is only part of the equation.

Mounger also emphasized the importance of trust and security when sending money internationally.

She acknowledged that sending money abroad can sometimes create anxiety, especially when customers are moving money they worked hard to earn.

Wells Fargo says ExpressSend uses encrypted sessions and security features already built into the Wells Fargo Mobile app to help protect customer account information.

Mounger also offered several reminders for consumers.

Know who you are sending money to. Carefully review recipient names, account information and other details before completing a transfer. Never share banking usernames or passwords with another person.

Once money is sent, she noted, correcting an error can be difficult.

Her point was straightforward: technology can make sending money easier, but customers still have an important role in protecting themselves.

A career connected to immigrant communities

Mounger’s path to leading Wells Fargo’s remittance business reflects years of experience in payments and financial services.

She has more than 15 years of experience in payments and product management, including work leading complex business transformations and customer-focused product development.

Before joining Wells Fargo, Mounger worked at Welcome Tech, where she focused on payments and financial services for immigrant communities.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

When asked about the experiences that helped shape her career, Mounger pointed to two things: hard work and networking.

“Those are the most important things,” she said.

She also spoke about perseverance and the importance of continuing to work toward opportunities.

That journey eventually brought her to a role where her professional responsibilities intersect closely with her own experience.

“I have the blessing of ending up here with this product that is so close to my heart,” she said.

For Mounger, that connection comes from understanding people who, like her, built lives in the United States while maintaining close ties to family elsewhere.

“My entire family is in Mexico,” she said. “How do we help them? How do we provide solutions for all of us to help our parents, our families that are out there?”

Innovation with a purpose

Wells Fargo launched ExpressSend Mobile nationwide in 2026, bringing the service directly into its mobile banking platform.

The company says customers can send money to bank accounts or eligible cash pickup locations, track transfers, manage recipients and receive alerts through the app.

For Mounger, however, the technology itself is only one part of the story.

The larger goal is giving customers a secure and convenient way to support people they care about.

For someone who has lived that experience personally, the work carries a different kind of meaning.

She is not simply helping modernize a financial product.

She is helping make it easier for people to send something home.

EDITOR NOTES 

We  spoke with Daniela Mounger during AVANCE Global in Las Vegas, where HL Media Network was conducting a series of conversations with business, financial services and real estate leaders.

Mounger discussed the nationwide mobile launch of Wells Fargo ExpressSend®, the evolution of the service and her personal connection to helping families send money across borders.

Product details referenced in this article were supplemented by information provided by Wells Fargo regarding the 2026 nationwide launch of ExpressSend Mobile.

The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

 

Valeria Esparza-Chavez | Remembering the Sacrifices That Created Opportunity

Valeria Esparza-Chavez | Remembering the Sacrifices That Created Opportunity

HL INSIGHTS

Valeria Esparza-Chavez | Remembering the Sacrifices That Created Opportunity

A Hispanic Heritage Month Story

Photos and article by
Richard Sandoval

or Valeria Esparza-Chavez, Hispanic Heritage Month is personal.

As Vice President and Customer Growth Segments Lead at Wells Fargo, Esparza-Chavez spends much of her professional life focused on expanding economic opportunities for Latino families through homeownership, entrepreneurship, investing and financial education.

But when HL Media Network asked her to share her thoughts about Hispanic Heritage Month, her answer began somewhere much closer to home.

“This month is very personal for me,” Esparza-Chavez said. “As a daughter of immigrants, a first-generation American, first in my family to ever go to college, this is a month about remembering all of the sacrifices that our parents, that our grandparents did for us.”

Watch our conversation with Valeria Esparza-Chavez as she shares what Hispanic Heritage Month means to her. 

Remembering the Sacrifices

For Esparza-Chavez, those sacrifices can be measured in opportunities.

She remembers becoming the first person in her family to work in a corporate environment and the first to have access to benefits that can easily be taken for granted once they become part of everyday life.

“I am filled with gratitude for the opportunities that my parents gave me,” she said.

Today, she sees another generation moving forward.

Esparza-Chavez spoke about watching her own children, nieces and nephews pursue their education and consider opportunities including college and medical school that reflect how much has changed within one family.

It is a perspective that transforms Hispanic Heritage Month from simply looking back at where we came from into considering what comes next.

Creating Opportunity for the Next Generation

That idea also carries into Esparza-Chavez’s professional work.

During our conversation at NAHREP at AVANCE Global in Las Vegas, she spoke about the growing economic influence of the U.S. Latino community and the importance of creating greater access to homeownership, entrepreneurship, financial education and investing.

“We know that Latinos are driving the American economy,” she said.

For Esparza-Chavez, however, the larger economic conversation ultimately comes back to people, families and opportunity.

“As we reflect on our family members, on our parents and grandparents during this Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s think about what we can do for future generations,” she said.

Her message is rooted in gratitude, but it also carries a sense of responsibility.

Previous generations made sacrifices to create opportunities they might never have experienced themselves. The opportunity now is to build upon what they started and consider what we can make possible for those who follow.

Hispanic Wealth Project

Valeria was featured on the platform HispanicWealthProject.org read her story Valeria’s Journey: From El Paso to the C-SuiteFrom First-Gen Dreamer to Seven-Figure Investor: How Valeria Esparza-Chavez Turns Homeownership into Legacy @  https://hispanicwealthproject.org/hispanic-wealth-profiles/valeria-esparza-chavez-homeownership

This conversation was recorded by HL Media Network during NAHREP at AVANCE Global, held September 14–16, 2026, in Las Vegas

EDITOR NOTES 

During NAHREP at AVANCE Global in Las Vegas, HL Media Network had the opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues and meet new voices along the way. As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we asked several of them to share what this time means to them personally. Valeria Esparza-Chavez begins a series of conversations reflecting on family, sacrifice, opportunity and the experiences that continue to shape our community.