North Business Council program chair Lena Hull said she considers herself a St. Augustine native — and with good reason, as she attended Gamble Rogers Middle School, St. Augustine High School and graduated with a degree in English from Flagler College. While in college, she worked a few days a week at a bank, but still planned to teach English when she earned her degree. Soon, she realized that wasn’t a great fit for her and she remembered fondly her time in the financial industry. She said she had always heard good things about VyStar, so she made a career change and has now been with the company for 13 years. She started as lead teller and over the years worked as a member relationship specialist, as a trainer in the training department and also spent some time in the marketing department. This year, she is celebrating her second year at the County Road 210 branch, where she is the member relationship supervisor. She is married to Josh Hull, a vice president at VyStar’s Nocatee branch. The two met at work and have been married for 11 years.

Q: What exactly do you do as a member relationship supervisor at VyStar?
A: My main responsibility is coaching and developing our team of six member specialists at the County Road 210 branch. The member specialists do everything from helping our members open new accounts to handling loan requests, to setting up trust accounts and powers of attorney. 

Q: What do you do in your spare time?
A: My husband and I like to travel and spend time with family. We are also very active in our church. And recently I did get the opportunity to go back to my roots and teach — I’m an adjunct professor at the University of North Florida, where I earned my master’s degree in English in 2017. I teach one section of a business writing class per semester, which allows me to share my real world business experience.

Q: How long have you been involved with the North Business Council?
A: I’ve been involved with the council for about a year and a half. My goal for getting involved was to network and meet more people and business owners. I also hopefully would like to let people know about the services VyStar offers to business owners on the commercial side of the credit union.
Q: What are your responsibilities as program chair of the council?
A: As program chair, my main responsibility is to ensure quality programming for our meetings by lining up engaging speakers who can talk about relevant and interesting topics for business owners.

Q: What would you tell business owners about the North Business Council?
A: I would encourage any local business owner to get involved with the North Business Council. There is such a sense of community and camaraderie at the meetings. You can make meaningful connections and relationships.

Photo courtesy Lena Hull

Lena Hull