Valerie Martinez’s path from incomplete degree to 40 Under 40 honor shows the power of persistence in both career and community service

Valerie Martinez sits in her office at InBank in Pueblo, file cabinets lining the walls, morning financial documents waiting to claim their usual territory across her desk. Through the window behind her, customers move in and out of the community bank branch. Each represents the kind of local connection that drew Martinez back to her hometown after nearly a decade away.

The scene fits someone who just earned recognition as one of Independent Banker magazine’s 40 Under 40 community bank leaders. The honor recognizes professional achievement and community impact. For Martinez, the award means more than career success. It validates a philosophy that took years to realize.

Martinez’s story begins with an unfinished chapter at CSU Pueblo. She attended from 2004 to 2008. She left just shy of completing her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing and Finance. A promising opportunity to run bank markets in New Mexico beckoned. Like many young professionals, she figured she’d complete those final credits “next year.” Next year became 2017.

“I needed two or three credits,” Martinez recalls. Her voice sounds slightly raspy as she recovers from a cold. The remaining classes included substantial coursework: strategic marketing at the 400-level, calculus, and perhaps one more she can’t quite remember. Not the easy electives students sometimes save for senior year.

When Martinez finally returned to CSU Pueblo’s campus in 2017, she found herself in an unusual position. She brought motherhood and banking veteran status with management experience. Now she sat in classrooms with traditional college students.

Career necessity didn’t drive the decision to finish. Martinez had already proven her ability to advance without a diploma, moving up through leadership roles at Wells Fargo and US Bank. Something deeper pulled her back to those final classes.

“Education is important to me,” she explains. Just as important is making a difference in the community. Martinez serves as treasurer for the Pueblo Community College Foundation. She has secured over $1 million in scholarships in a year. As a champion for underserved communities, she has led a mortgage program for low- to moderate-income buyers for two decades. The program continues to thrive today. For someone advocating that others pursue education, completing her degree became almost a moral imperative.

Martinez faced challenges familiar to many returning students. Her credits had aged, and transferring to a different program might mean more coursework. She decided to return to in-person classes instead of taking them online. Martinez found herself back in lecture halls, balancing homework with a demanding banking career and young children at home.

“I finish what I start,” she says. Those five words capture something essential about her approach to both personal and professional commitments.

That same persistence now defines Martinez’s role as Vice President of Commercial Lending at InBank, where she’s found her “ideal professional home.” After years at larger institutions where deposit money flowed to borrowers in distant cities, she now works for a community bank where “80 cents (of every dollar) we have on deposit goes out on a loan to someone here in Pueblo.”

The difference extends beyond philosophy. Martinez describes helping a Colorado Springs entrepreneur secure capital to fulfill a Target contract for her product. She works extensively with local nonprofits, recognizing that access to capital has a ripple effect that extends far beyond individual businesses, impacting communities in profound ways.

“It’s the reason I love my career,” Martinez says, her voice brightening noticeably when discussing the community impact of her work. 

This connection between personal achievement and community benefit runs through Martinez’s various commitments. She and her husband coach youth football. She serves as team mom for baseball. Her daughter participates in marching band at Pueblo West High School. Each activity represents another aspect of local engagement.

That service mindset extends to her professional work as well. The Community Reinvestment Act requires banks to demonstrate their local impact; however, for Martinez, CRA compliance means more than just a regulatory obligation. It represents the kind of legacy she wants to leave. Her husband works in child welfare for the state of Colorado. This creates a household where public service becomes daily reality. It is not just abstract policy.

Martinez now manages three children’s schedules while maintaining her professional responsibilities and community commitments. Mornings will prove particularly challenging next year, she notes, with kids scattered across elementary, middle, and high school. Someone who can complete a college degree nine years after starting probably has the organizational skills to handle complex logistics.

The 40 Under 40 recognition validates Martinez’s achievements. It also validates a particular model of community banking that’s becoming increasingly rare. InBank was created through a merger of two community banks. One of those banks was founded “on the back of a napkin,” according to Martinez. That entrepreneurial spirit continues to drive its approach to local lending.

For Martinez, the award represents proof that persistence pays dividends beyond personal satisfaction. Her journey from incomplete student to a recognized community leader illustrates how individual determination can amplify community impact. In a post-industrial city still defining its economic future, the city relies on leaders like Martinez. They represent the kind of local investment that builds lasting change.

“I wanted to make a community impact,” she reflects on her career choices. That impact now extends from loan applications to the scholarship recipients benefiting from her foundation work to the young athletes learning teamwork under her coaching. Sometimes finishing what you start creates opportunities to begin something even more meaningful.