HomeTrust Bank, Senior Vice President and Senior Commercial Relationship Manager Lynn Cook Turns Hard Work into Success
Photo credit: Brooke Parker Photography
by Meg Hale Brunton
Ask Lynn Cook and she’ll tell you she would have never seen herself in banking over twenty years ago. Little did she know that this would be the career she would know and love. “I’m a workhorse,” she says. “I went into the work world and just worked hard. I was very fortunate to cross paths with some really strong mentors; some men, some female. Those individuals made a profound difference in my life and helped me build a foundation that allowed me to grow. Now I’ve found a true place of belonging at HomeTrust where I love helping businesses and the community flourish.”
Lynn was raised in Greer, South Carolina. She landed a sales role working for a company in Greenville that had a minority share of clients in Asheville, North Carolina. She was tagged for the Asheville market, as it was underperforming and not as convenient logistically for most of the sales team. Eager to get to work, she gladly accepted the territory. In that role, one of her best referral sources were retail and commercial bankers that worked for community and regional-sized banks.
Through that partnership, she was introduced to a Market Leader at one of the Regional Banks, and an opportunity was available as a Commercial Loan Assistant. She was excited to take this new path and looked at it as an exciting opportunity to learn more about the banking and lending industry. She worked for two very well-respected bankers in Western North Carolina and says their coaching and trust is what allowed her to take on more work and responsibilities. “My goal was to think one step ahead of the lenders,” Lynn explains, adding that she worked one on one with their clients, acted as the gatekeeper for vetting requests, and learned to talk through deals and structures in that position.
Within two years as a Commercial Banking Assistant, she was promoted to a Business Banker. As a Business Banker, Lynn was able to work with smaller companies and their owners, which grew into a role as a Commercial Banker, working with larger companies and their leadership teams. “There is so much respect to be had for business owners- the risk they take, the intense stresses they endure and the rewards they earn are what make these relationships so very meaningful,” says Lynn. Watching both of her parents, who were business owners, as she grew up, she truly understood the things that keep business owners up at night and the value of honesty and integrity.
Lynn spent the first fifteen years of her career working with two banks that were ranked top ten in asset size in the nation at the time. Those banks provided opportunity, training and friendships that have far exceeded her time as an employee. However, it was time for change. In 2017, Lynn decided to entertain an opportunity to join HomeTrust Bank. This opportunity came from one of the very mentors that she worked with twenty years ago. She recalls being reluctant to make the jump. Timing was difficult, as her father had just been diagnosed with cancer and she wanted to be able to focus on him and her family. She recalls the current CEO telling her that family is first and that this will pass. “We’ll work with you through this time if this is where you want to be,” she remembers him telling her. That conversation, coupled with her dad’s encouragement to take the risk and run with this new adventure, helped Lynn move forward.
“HomeTrust, being a very well-respected bank in the Asheville market, seemed like a great way to take the things I had learned over the past fifteen years and sharpen them to being a better banker, as a whole,” Lynn explains. While well known in Asheville, the bank was rapidly growing into other markets and states. Though growth can mean growing pains, leadership shifts, credit philosophy changes and policy/procedure revisions, she was quickly in the groove and learned to embrace the ‘think like an owner’ attitude of her new company. Through years of building her expertise, Lynn has been able to mix personal experiences and business experiences to be a better banker and friend. “I love where I am, I love what I do and I am home.”
In her role as SVP/Senior Relationship Manager, Lynn focuses on deepening her relationships with businesses in her community, assessing risks, and coming up with solutions to meet their needs. She prides herself on her high level of customer service. “You have to be available to solve problems; you have to listen and follow through with your commitments. There’s no exception,” Lynn says, adding that hard work, willingness to learn and the humbleness that comes through riding the waves through life is what attributes to her success. “I think you have arrived in life when you can laugh about the highs and the lows. We all have them.”
In her time away from work, Lynn enjoys spending time hiking, occasional golfing and anything with water (pools, beaches, lakes or puddles). She also loves spending time with friends and family: her husband Michael, her son Ross, her bonus daughter Riley, and her new granddaughter Sadie Claire.