Wells Fargo & Co. is replacing its point person for remaking the bank’s image after less than two years on the job.

Barri Rafferty, who oversaw communications and brand management, will leave May 1, according to a memo sent to staff last week by Bill Daley, vice chairman for public affairs. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed her departure.

Ms....

Wells Fargo & Co. is replacing its point person for remaking the bank’s image after less than two years on the job.

Barri Rafferty, who oversaw communications and brand management, will leave May 1, according to a memo sent to staff last week by Bill Daley, vice chairman for public affairs. A spokeswoman for the bank confirmed her departure.

Ms. Rafferty was part of a new leadership team that took shape under Chief Executive Charles Scharf. He joined in the fall of 2019 after Wells Fargo’s fake-accounts scandal put it in hot water with regulators. Wells Fargo is still trying to rehab its image and appease regulators more than five years after the initial scandal burst into public view. 

Barri Rafferty, pictured in November, will depart the bank on May 1.

Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Ms. Rafferty previously ran a public relations firm and hadn’t worked in banks. She put in place an organizational structure for her group more akin to a PR agency by grouping staffers by areas of expertise. She sought to be proactive in generating positive publicity. Partway through her tenure, her purview expanded to include marketing.

The reorganization and shifting priorities also rubbed some staffers the wrong way, according to people familiar with the matter. 

“Barri brought an innovative approach to communications and brand at Wells Fargo, and we are grateful for her efforts,” a spokeswoman for the bank said in a statement.

“We have an exceptional group of senior leaders within Communications & Brand Management, who will continue to lead through the transition,” Mr. Daley said in last week’s memo, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The memo said Ms. Rafferty’s replacement should have financial services sector experience.

Another executive in the public affairs group, Nate Hurst, head of social impact and sustainability, left the bank in December, according to a separate memo from the time. Like Ms. Rafferty, Mr. Hurst joined in 2020.

Write to Ben Eisen at ben.eisen@wsj.com