Get to know some of United’s Hispanic and Latino leaders this Hispanic Heritage Month

United recognizes that the diversity of its team supports the Company’s overall mission to provide excellence in service. Its commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion fosters respect and a shared purpose that aligns with the bank’s core values and community leadership. Since the Bank’s founding in 1839, its leading principles have helped United grow from a single-office bank to a premier regional banking company with a strong presence throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Today, the Company holds approximately $30 billion in assets and serves a consumer and commercial customer base that is diversified across lines of business as well as geography, with more than 225 offices located throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, as well as Washington D.C., where it is the largest community bank headquartered in the D.C. Metropolitan region.

United’s employees are its greatest asset – when team members thrive, so do customers and so does business. That’s why, this Hispanic Heritage Month, United is spotlighting some of its Hispanic and Latino employees, their accomplishments, and the work they are doing to support their communities, bolstering the Bank’s commitment to ensuring that employees from entry-level to management are empowered to reach their full potential and make a difference, contributing to a culture that is entrepreneurial, efficient, relationship-based, and service-oriented.

Eva Panuco has been helping others for almost as long as she could speak. If she sees someone struggling, she lends a helping hand. Growing up with a dream of becoming a veterinarian, if she found an injured animal, she’d beg her mother to let her take them home to nurse them back to health. Today, she continues to help those around her, using her financial expertise and Spanish-language skills to assist United Bank customers with all of their banking needs.

As a universal banker at United’s Charlotte-SouthPark location, the Bank’s newest regional corporate office and branch, Panuco wears many hats. She handles several consumer-facing retail needs such as cross-selling, loan applications, customer service, and other business development work.

The designated translator for her family, Panuco has been working for almost as long as she could read. But she considers her first real job helping her uncle with flooring work, specifically handling customer service and communication duties. Her uncle’s job required detailed descriptions of the work that was completed, and since he couldn’t write in English at that time, she and her cousin did most of the translations and written documentation for him. After high school, she started on the path toward getting her cosmetology license before taking a few years off to start a family. When she was ready to transition back to the workforce, Panuco made a major career switch and joined the world of banking. Her first job was as a retail banker role at Woodforest National Bank in Charlotte. After gaining a bit of experience in the industry, she transitioned to a personal banker role at Wells Fargo, but after three years on the job she began looking for a change. She’d heard that community banks were more personal – where every employee could make a significant difference at their jobs and in their communities – and she knew that’s the kind of work she wanted to do. That’s when she found United.

Panuco is constantly looking for ways to be active in, and better serve, her community. This year, she hopes to join the PTA at her son’s elementary school. She is also active in the Bank’s efforts to create a more multicultural customer experience. By lending her personal insights and translation skills to help improve customer service practices, tools, and Bank resources for its diverse customer base, Panuco believes she’s doing her part to create an equitable financial environment for all customers, no matter their identity.

How would you describe your experience growing up as a Hispanic American?

I grew up in a Spanish-speaking household. Despite not knowing English, my parents moved from Mexico to Atlanta for their chance at “El sueño americano” before I was born. I never understood why they would make me practice writing in both English and Spanish, and when I mastered the Spanish alphabet in 5th grade and saw how proud my mother was, I still couldn’t grasp how much of a big deal this was. It wasn’t until I was older and had to handle most of the translation work for my family – often accompanying them to various appointments – that I understood the significance of my language abilities. Our trips to the bank were my favorite because my father had learned he could bribe me with the lollipops they would hand out in the teller line. The tellers were always amazed that I was so skilled at translating and communicating information back to my father, especially at such a young age.

Eventually, my father also learned English and when I was 16, he told me, “Thank you so much for helping us communicate with others when we couldn’t ourselves.” After those words, I realized how difficult it must have been for my parents and tried to imagine myself in their shoes – starting over in a new country, in search of “the American Dream,” and struggling to move through the world due to a language barrier. In that moment, I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to support those in my community, and I am proud to say that I have stuck with that promise to this day! Not every family has someone to advocate for them and give them a voice when they can’t speak for themselves. I am proud to have been able to be that voice for my parents and to have grown from the little girl in the teller line, alternating between eating a lollipop and translating complex financial concepts in two languages, to the banker on the other side of the counter today.

How has your identity influenced your professional life?

I love telling the story about how I got into banking. At that time, I’d been a stay-at-home mom for a few years and had just started working part-time while looking for a more permanent role. I was at the bank one day, making my usual deposit, when I noticed the woman in front of me speaking Spanish and struggling to communicate to the teller what she needed to do. So, I decided to step in and translate for her, as I had been doing for my parents since I was a kid. When it was my turn to be helped, I learned that the “teller” was actually the branch manager. She mentioned that this was a regular occurrence and that they were currently looking for a bilingual teller, and asked if I was interested in the role. Mind you, I had no experience in the banking industry. When I told her this, she said experience could be gained, but customer service was the most important factor, something she assured me I had a natural talent for. And that’s how I got my foot in the door and fell in love with banking!

I have been with United Bank for a little over a year now and have several success stories I could highlight, but my favorite is our relationship with a Mexican restaurant and grocery store here in Charlotte. The owners heard through word of mouth that there was a Spanish-speaking banker at United’s SouthPark location, so they stopped by to meet me, and the rest is history! That was the start of our banking relationship, and it has been such a rewarding experience. They know that I am just a call away and am always available when they need me. This is just one example of the type of personalized service and focus on relationships that we’re able to make happen here at United.