As women in banking, it is important that we lift each other up and celebrate each other’s accomplishments. The entire purpose of the Girl Banker blog is to do just that! The Girl Banker of the Week series serves as a way to highlight Girl Bankers everywhere by telling their stories and motivating and encouraging other women in banking. It also is a great way for women in banking to connect! Read below about this week’s Girl Banker of the Week! Liz McIntyre | Vice President of Marketing, Director of Social Media and Public Relations | Renasant Bank In September, I was fortunate enough to be invited to the American Bankers Association Bank Marketing Conference in Baltimore, Maryland to sit on a panel to discuss Grand Savings Bank's digital marketing strategy. While there, I was introduced Liz McIntyre, who was attending the conference along with several of her Renasant Bank team members. Liz and I immediately hit it off, especially over brunch at a local restaurant which just happened to serve endless mimosas. We didn't know each other prior to the conference, but I left feeling like Liz was a life long friend. We had so much in common and shared so many similarities in regards to our advocacy for women in banking and anti-boring bank marketing. I'm honored to share her Girl Banker story on the blog! Girl Banker Story Liz McIntyre attended Millsaps College and graduated with a BA in Communications. After graduating, she worked in Jackson, Mississippi for 5 years as Marketing Manager for Mangia Bene Restaurant Management Group. During her time in Jackson, she was very involved with the community, acting as Marketing Director for Friends of the USA International Ballet Competition, Treasurer for the American Advertising Federation - Jackson Chapter, member of the Millsaps Young Alumni Board, and member of the Jackson Choral Society. In 2016, Liz and her husband, Andrew, moved to Oxford, where her husband accepted a job as the Ceramics Technician and Instructor in the Art Department at the University of Mississippi. Liz worked as the the Marketing Manager at The Inn at Ole Miss where she initiated and completed a full re-branding of the hotel including new logo, new website, and new state-of-the-art hotel and hospitality technology. Her work caught the eye of John Oxford, Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Communication at Renasant Bank, a $12.8 billion bank with over 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. Liz's Girl Banker story is similar to most women in banking in that she didn't exactly choose banking. Banking chose Liz. She began at Renasant Bank as their Social Media Manager in March of 2018 and recently received a promotion to Director of Social Media and Public Relations. One of her favorite parts of her job with Renasant is traveling for marketing meetings and giving social media presentations at local branches. Before working for Renasant Bank, she had no previous banking experience, but is learning more and more about finance marketing on a daily basis. She also works remotely which is becoming more and more common in an industry that used to be confined to the brick and mortar bank branch.

Liz is the consummate professional. She's forward thinking, yet knows banking is a conservative industry so she gets the balancing act marketers have to perfect. We're very fortunate to have her as apart of our Renasant marketing family!" -John Oxford, Renasant Bank

Another aspect of her job she is passionate about is the development of a new women’s empowerment program with Renasant Bank known as Rise with Renasant. This platform will highlight and support women entrepreneurs in Renasant’s communities and Renasant's women employees who wish to expand their professional horizons by providing them professional development opportunities. Additionally, the program will reach out to young women to provide positive role models and mentor relationships to show them how to support and be kind to the girls around them. The ultimate message? Women supporting women. Liz's goal is to launch the program in March 2019. Now, if that doesn't SCREAM the message of the Girl Banker, what does? I hope to report more on this later... Beyond the Bank When in Oxford, she acts as an Ambassador for the Oxford-Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and Publicist for the Oxford Civic Chorus. She also participates in the two annual Oxford Civic Chorus concerts as a soprano. Other fun facts about Liz are that she is a Disney fanatic, as two Doodles, Olive and Riese, and she grew up in a musical family and has been singing most of her life!

MOTIVATION | "I am motivated by the idea of success for the greater good. I took a class in college called "The Meaning of Work." Basically, the premise behind the class was to find purpose in whatever you do professionally. In a previous position, I found that my job was just a job with no benefit to the community around me. It was all about the bottom line and not what was right and good for the community. In another previous job, I thrived in the position because I knew what we were doing meant something more than just paying bills and making money. They secret sauce to the positive work environment and success was 'Do the right thing.' Join me as we celebrate this week’s Girl Banker of the Week, Liz McIntyre!