SUSAN R. RALSTON

Susan R. Ralston inspires people to do more than they think they are capable of.

With more than 38 years of experience as a bank executive, she also holds an associate coaching certification from the International Coach Federation, which she uses as a work and life coach at the bank, helping employees set healthy boundaries and achieve better work-life balance.

Ralston also is a program adviser for the Virginia Bankers Association’s Women’s Mentorship Program, which prepares women for leadership roles.

“There is truly nothing more gratifying than knowing I made a difference for the better in someone’s life,” she says.

In 1994, at age 30, she was hired as the president of @lantec Financial Federal Credit Union in Virginia Beach, and a decade later, Ralston became the first banking executive in Virginia to convert a federal credit union to a federal mutual bank. In 2016, @lantec merged with Dollar Bank, the nation’s largest mutual bank, and Ralston oversaw Dollar Bank’s Virginia division before joining Old Point in 2019.

Her professional success came amid life challenges. After her son, Jacob, was diagnosed in 2007 at age 2 with Ewing sarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, Ralston founded the Pediatric Proton Foundation. The organization, which ceased operations in 2019, conducted an annual survey providing data regarding patterns of care with pediatric proton therapy, a treatment that ultimately saved Jacob, who plans to start studying marine biology at Coastal Carolina University in the fall.

Read more about the 2023 class of Virginia Business Women in Leadership Award winners.