Pinnacle Financial Partners said March 7 that six weeks after announcing its expansion into North Florida, it has doubled its team with the addition of five financial services veterans.
It now has 10 associates.
“We have hit the ground running to build the locally focused bank that Jacksonville needs, and this team is ready to deliver on that promise,” said Scott Keith, Pinnacle’s North Florida regional president, in a news release.
Its first office is open in a temporary space at 501 Riverside Avenue, Suite 600, in the Brooklyn area of Downtown. That space is opening as a loan production office as regulatory approvals are completed to process deposit transactions.
Permanent space is under construction in the same building for offices as well as a full-service retail office on the ground floor. Those should open in 2024.
Pinnacle’s market is commercial and middle market companies, small businesses and personal financial customers.
Joining the founding team of Scott Keith, Debbie Buckland, Bryan Taylor, Vaughn Winmond and Fatima Bowen are:
• Lauren Huynh, area manager for small business and retail banking. Huynh has nearly 30 years of experience in leadership and lending roles, most recently as district manager of Wells Fargo in Jacksonville. She also had branch management and leadership roles at Truist and BB&T Bank.
• Lisa Hayes, financial adviser for middle market and not-for-profit and government. Hayes has more than 30 years of banking experience in several Florida markets. She started her banking career with NCNB.
• Jennifer Obon, financial adviser assistant. Obon has more than 20 years of experience and served as a commercial client specialist and vice president for Truist before joining Pinnacle.
• Steve Sprecher, credit adviser. Sprecher has 27 years of experience with Truist, where he has served as a relationship manager, city executive and credit officer. Most recently he was a commercial credit team leader in the Jacksonville office overseeing the portfolio management teams of Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.
• Karen DeSale, executive assistant. DeSale brings 40 years of experience from her previous role as a senior administrative assistant at Truist and in administrative roles at Wells Fargo and Regions Bank.
Pinnacle entered North Florida in late 2023 by recruiting local financial services leaders to build a team and open an office in Jacksonville.
The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2000 and had about $48 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2023.
As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, the firm operates in 17 primarily urban markets across the Southeast.