Lauren Hendricks
Managing Director of Marketing and Communications, United Bank
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 begin-
ning 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 cur-
rent 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 im-
portance of protecting and enriching
children’s lives, and this drives her par-
ticipation in community organizations
that serve the youth of West Virginia. She
devotes time and resources to the Chil-
dren’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 deci-
sions, which have served me well, but
you don’t know if you missed out on
something unless you take a chance and
try it.”
Hendricks appreciates an exhibit
at the Huntington Museum of Art.
“Actions speak louder than
words but not nearly as often.”
– Mark Twain
MAGGIE MATSKO
TRACY TOLER
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