Layna Dupuis started in banking as a high schooler. "I was an incoming junior," Dupuis said. "I wanted to work. I needed to work. I come from a hardworking family. As soon as we can work, we work," she said.
Fortunately for Dupuis, who had been passed over by two other prospective employers, her mother had a friend at the community bank in nearby Idabel, Oklahoma, who agreed to hire her. It didn't take long for the 16-year-old to realize she had a talent for what she termed "the service side" of banking. "I had customers who would just wait for me, who loved coming to my window," Dupuis said. "I loved visiting with them … I loved interacting with customers."
Dupuis kept at it, working at banks throughout her college years. She kept getting promoted, too, from teller to customer service representative, then to loan assistant. It was then Dupuis began thinking about a career in financial services, largely because she admired her boss, Cindy Sorrels.
"I was 19 when I worked for her, ground zero in terms of knowledge about lending," Dupuis said of Sorrels. "She just invested so much in me. She gave me confidence. She believed in me and stretched me beyond what I knew how to do. … She put the work in for me."
In January 2008, a few months before graduating Southeastern Oklahoma University with a degree in business administration, Dupuis joined the Durant, Oklahoma-based First United as an operations manager. She still hadn't fully committed to a banking career. "I was 22 in 2008," Dupuis said. "I think when you're 22, you're open to where the world may take you."
Fate left Dupuis alone, and the promotions kept coming: to financial center manager in 2012, then regional retail manager overseeing sales, service and operations at nine branches in 2014, then companywide director of customer care, supervising the call center and online banking, in 2020.
First United named Dupuis retail banking director in June 2022. Her tenure coincided with the sharp rise in interest rates, as well as the liquidity crisis in the spring of 2023, both of which made new business harder to come by. Prior to that, "it hadn't been as hard to bring in an account, to bring in dollars," Dupuis said. Her solution was a companywide contact program aimed at boosting confidence in the now $16.4 billion-asset First United and deepening client relationships.
According to Dupuis, customers' confidence in the bank remained solid, despite the dramatic events of spring 2023, which allowed First United bankers to turn the conversation to "what else can we do for you?" Dupuis said. "We wound up bringing in dollars because we took the time to call. It really moved the needle."
Dupuis launched a new initiative in March, creating a team of 17 retail business bankers — all hired from within — to boost First United's profile in the small-business sector.
First United's retail base has experienced solid growth under Dupuis' leadership. According to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. statistics, the bank's deposits increased 14% from July 2022 to the end of the first quarter of 2024, totaling $12.8 billion on March 31. Industrywide, deposits fell nearly 3% in the same span. Meanwhile, First United's retail accounts jumped in number by 60%, topping 342,000 at March 31.
Dupuis is comfortable now with the idea of a lifelong banking career. Looking back at the summer of 2002, Dupuis is relieved she missed out on the other jobs she sought, one at a fast food restaurant, the other as a school custodian. "I think it was meant to be," Dupuis said.
