"Transforming with Vision & Purpose"

Rose S. Valenzuela, Sr. Vice President of Administration & Sr. Special Projects Officer at Unity National Bank, has made significant progress in the last two years, not only in Unity’s Transformation but also in driving the evolution of various Administration functions. Rose is overseeing the design and implementation of Transformation efforts across Unity. She has been operationalizing Unity’s Transformation plans using her in-depth understanding of Administration and strong relationships across the bank to help accelerate the progress. One of her main goals is to ensure that as the bank prepares to celebrate Unity’s 60th Anniversary, its Transformation is genuinely embedded throughout Unity.

As part of the executive team of a community financial institution, Unity is aware that women-owned entrepreneurship is on the rise. Unity understands they are at a higher risk of failure without financial support. “Unity and I are committed to serving women-owned businesses, including those underserved, underbanked by financial institutions and those who face barriers to accessing capital,” says Rose. “We provide financial products and services, as well as financial education to meet the needs of these businesses.

During the Pandemic which threatened to close many of these female businesses, Unity was instrumental in securing over 1000+ PPP loans which many went to woman-owned businesses.” Another way Rose supports female business owners is by deliberately buying from women-owned shops and promoting their businesses on social media.

Rose has a passion for mentoring and coaching. She truly enjoys teaching others and helping them become more marketable. Rose knows and understands that being a team leader is an enormous responsibility, regardless of one’s position. To ensure the emergence of future leaders, she instills a culture in which leadership is appreciated and honored. She provides vision and purpose; she creates inspiring visions of the future and gives her team a purpose. She is exceptional at making the vision achievable and realistic and works closely with the team toward achieving the goals. She uses personal stories and anecdotes to explain her vision and inspire her team members.

Rose leads by example, constantly motivating, working hard, and showing professional integrity. She practices a positive mental attitude and encourages members to work together by stressing the importance of teamwork and achieving group goals. Always optimistic, the steadfast leader constantly praises and appreciates her team while continually communicating and empowering team members to take control and ownership of their projects. She is always available to assist and provide guidance, ensuring the connection is never severed. Rose instills in her team members the knowledge that leadership begins with recognizing the opportunity to provide leadership. “My advice to everyone is to be brave to achieve our goals.

As women, we are often considered “weak and emotional .”Often times I have taken roles before I felt I was ready, yet the roles challenged me and took me outside of my comfort zone. When I first became an executive, I was the only female at the table – intimidating, to say the least,” says Rose.

With this brilliant mindset, Rose has been taking Unity to new heights. Under her aegis, Unity has obtained extensive support from major banks in the country. With their assistance, knowledge, and financial support, Unity is moving into the technology space by offering new services, enhancing its in-house technology, and developing and implementing new technology as they plan. “As a community bank, our reach is limited to the communities we serve. However, as part of our strategic plan, Unity successfully applied and was selected to participate in the Treasury Bank Mentor Protégé Program,” elucidates Rose. This program was established in 2018 by the Department of Treasure, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, to recognize and promote the important role played by minority-owned and women-owned banks, small banks, and financial institutions in the nation’s economy and financial system. The mission of the program is to pair large banks with small and minority and women-owned banks to cultivate a broader pool of FIs that have the ability, skills, and knowledge to provide services on behalf of Treasury and support the preservation of minority deposit institutions (MDIs) through the encouragement of private sector business growth and development.

For the days to come, Rose wants to continue to guide the bank towards the growth and expansion of their Mentor Protégé Program for Unity by obtaining additional contracts/projects. “I also want to increase the Non-Interest revenue currently generated by this program by 50% within the next 24 months,” adds Rose.