Pinnacle Significantly Ahead of Schedule in Meeting C&I, Private Banker Hiring Projections

Just 18 months into a five-year plan, Pinnacle Financial Partners (Nasdaq/NGS: PNFP) is more than halfway to its goal of hiring 65 C&I and private banking financial advisors in the Carolinas and Virginia.

In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, Pinnacle hired 25 revenue producers across its footprint, 11 of whom are C&I and private banking professionals. Of those, nine are in North and South Carolina, for a total of 35 such advisors hired in the Carolina and Virginia markets since July 2017.

“Our model for organic growth continues to prove itself as top banking talent across the Southeast look to Pinnacle as a place where they want to work and where they can better serve their clients,” said M. Terry Turner, Pinnacle’s president and CEO. “Our leaders have far surpassed the lofty expectations we set for them. They’re building teams that can win new business and plot the aggressive trajectories we want in all our markets.”

Revenue producing associates hired in the fourth quarter have an average of 22 years of experience and include a former market president at Wells Fargo, several who have spent their careers at large regional and national franchises and two new members of Pinnacle’s leadership team.

“As we’ve said all along, our most important engine for growth is this organic strategy of attracting and retaining the best people, and it’s working exactly as designed,” Turner said. “In the Carolinas and Virginia, in particular, you can see proof in the numbers. In the third quarter of last year, with 26 new C&I advisors on board, those markets saw greater than 33 percent growth in C&I and owner-occupied CRE lending. That’s rock solid proof that our strategies work and we’re setting the right kinds of targets for our people.”

The 18 newly hired revenue producers in the Carolinas are:

Charlotte, NC

• Lain Reavis, a former market president for Wells Fargo with 24 years of experience who led the commercial team in three counties on the North Carolina-South Carolina border near Charlotte
• Andy Myers, a commercial financial advisor who spent 22 years at Wells Fargo/Wachovia, most recently as a business banking manager
• Brian Redd, a commercial financial advisor with 20 years of experience who comes from First Bank and spent more than a decade at Bank of America
• Magda Petter, a commercial financial advisor with 15 years of experience who comes from Wells Fargo
• Deanna Belk, an office leader with 30 years of experience who comes from First National Bank but spent nearly all of her career at Wells Fargo
• Shannon Riley, a mortgage advisor with 17 years of experience who comes from Brand Mortgage Group

Greenville/Spartanburg, SC

• Robert Moore, an area manager and commercial financial advisor for Spartanburg, SC, who joins Pinnacle’s leadership team with 27 years of experience from Carolina Alliance Bank and Wells Fargo
• Jaime Terry, a commercial financial advisor with 10 years of experience who comes from TD Bank
• Carrie Edwards, a commercial financial advisor with 13 years of experience who comes from United Way of Greenville County and United Community Bank
• Jamie Pimentel, a mortgage advisor with 22 years of experience who comes from Flagstar Bank

Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC

• Caroline Riggsbee, an area manager and commercial financial advisor for Chapel Hill who joins Pinnacle’s leadership team with 30 years of experience from PNC and RBC Bank
• Ever Owens, a trust advisor with 13 years of experience earned at Fidelity Bank, BB&T and Wells Fargo
• Wendy Sharpe, a small business financial advisor with 25 years of experience from BB&T

Asheville, NC

• David Kozak, a commercial financial advisor with 33 years of experience who was the chief credit officer at Asheville Savings Bank and led SunTrust’s commercial banking team in the region before that

Greensboro-High Point, NC

• Ruby McCollum, a mortgage advisor with 31 years of experience who comes from Wells Fargo
• James Snypes, a mortgage advisor with 24 years of experience who comes from American Advisors Group
• Cyenthia Hudson, a treasury management advisor with 25 years of experience who comes from First Citizens Bank

Charleston, SC

• Brandy Atkinson, a mortgage advisor with 20 years of experience who comes from CBC National Bank

In Tennessee, Pinnacle leaders recruited nine significant revenue producers during the fourth quarter. Highlights of these hires include:

• Jim Ramage, a commercial financial advisor in Nashville with 24 years of experience who comes from Renasant Bank
• Amy O’Bannon, a commercial financial advisor in Memphis with 25 years of experience who comes from Regions
• James King, a small business financial advisor in Nashville with 18 years of experience who comes from SunTrust
• Terry Morris, a wealth advisor and financial consultant in Memphis with 20 years of experience who comes from Raymond James
• Sandra Russell, a wealth advisor and financial consultant in Chattanooga with 27 years of experience who comes from Raymond James
• Robert Brimer, a trust advisor in Knoxville with 16 years of experience who comes from First Tennessee

Pinnacle Financial Partners provides a full range of banking, investment, trust, mortgage and insurance products and services designed for businesses and their owners and individuals interested in a comprehensive relationship with their financial institution. The firm is the No. 1 bank in the Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA, according to 2018 deposit data from the FDIC. Pinnacle earned a place on FORTUNE’s 2017 and 2018 lists of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the U.S., and American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For six years in a row.

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $24.6 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2018. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in 11 primarily urban markets in Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia.

Additional information concerning Pinnacle, which is included in the NASDAQ Financial-100 Index, can be accessed at www.pnfp.com.

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