Managing Director of Marketing and Communications, United Bank
By Maggie Matsko
Some would say Lauren Hendricks, the managing director of marketing and communications at United Bank, was destined to work for West Virginia’s bank. It was her mother, an employee at United for more than 30 years, who first suggested Hendricks find a job as a bank teller after high school. Hendricks was hired by United while studying at West Virginia University, marking the beginning of her own long-standing career with the financial institution.
As college graduation loomed closer, Hendricks was unsure of what the future would hold for her—until she met Rick Adams, president of United Bankshares. “After college, I served as his executive assistant for five years, and he spent a lot of time as my mentor, teaching me about United and the banking industry. It was this knowledge and experience that enabled me to move into my current position.”
Today, Hendricks enjoys having the opportunity to tell United Bank’s story and lead the marketing team. “United has a rich history and great employees and customers and does wonderful things in the communities it serves, all of which give my team more than enough material to create meaningful marketing projects,” she says. “I am privileged to work with a group of talented, hardworking and caring people.”
While Hendricks has achieved many victories on her career path, she believes her greatest success has been raising her children. “I have the privilege of watching my children grow and nurturing them as they get older, and that makes every day feel like my greatest success.”
As a mother, Hendricks sees the importance of protecting and enriching children’s lives, and this drives her participation in community organizations that serve the youth of West Virginia. She devotes time and resources to the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, where she volunteers at an afterschool program in Wood County available to in-need children; participates and raises funds for the annual Sleep Out event that benefits homeless youth and those transitioning out of foster care; coordinates a baby supply program for the society’s foster care program; and volunteers at family nights and with the summer program. She is also a proud supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of Parkersburg, where she helps plan events and sits on the executive planning committee for the organization’s Kids Golf Classic, an annual fundraiser that accounts for 40 percent of the club’s operating expenses each year.
Hendricks makes it a priority to serve the Parent Teacher Association at her son’s school, and she enjoys organizing community service initiatives like food drives and park clean-ups for his Boy Scout troop. She is also a member of the Mid-Ohio Valley Bankers, a group of local bank employees from various financial institutions who volunteer and raise funds for local nonprofits like the American Red Cross, Humane Society of Parkersburg and Downtown PKB, and a member of United Bank’s Community Reinvestment Action Committee. Directly impacted by the arts as a child, she is proud to serve as a junior board member for the Parkersburg Art Center.
When she’s not tackling a full-time career, raising her family or serving her community, Hendricks can be found working to better herself and inspiring others to do the same. She hopes to one day publish her insights on being a young leader in West Virginia in an effort to help guide the next generation of state leaders. If there was one thing she could tell a younger version of herself—and other youth in West Virginia—it would be to not shy away from risk.
“I would tell my younger self to take more chances,” she says. “I feel like I have always made safe, practical decisions, which have served me well, but you don’t know if you missed out on something unless you take a chance and try it.”
