Melissa Smith Joins Pinnacle Financial Partners as Senior Credit Officer

Melissa Smith has joined Pinnacle’s team in the National Capital Region as a senior credit officer. She will build and lead a team of credit advisors to partner with financial advisors in reviewing and structuring loans in the market. Smith is based at the firm’s temporary location in Tysons Corner.

“Melissa has spent 23 years serving clients on the credit side and is the perfect person to help us grow a locally-based team of credit partners,” said Carolyne Pelton, Pinnacle’s president in the National Capital Region. “Pinnacle’s unique service culture fosters a sense of partnership between credit and lending that is entirely unique in the financial services industry. Because we all work on the same incentive plan, credit, lending and support teams form true partnerships. Pinnacle credit partners are engaged with our clients, working hand-in-hand with the team to execute on client needs. Melissa’s expertise and reputation for service align with Pinnacle’s values and mission, and we celebrate her arrival at one of the best companies to work for in the nation!” 

Smith worked her entire career to this point at BB&T, now Truist, beginning as a commercial officer in Atlanta and navigating several credit positions, including senior credit manager where she led several credit officers in support of the Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania regions.

“I believe in a servant leadership model in managing my teams and working with clients,” Smith said. “Credit advisors have to balance on the fine line of working in both the best interests of the firm and the client. At many institutions, that’s a challenge and often leads to transactional approach of simple ‘yes and no’ credit decisions. At Pinnacle, though, we build strong relationships with each other based on trust so we can work together on a forward-looking credit strategy and solutions that help our clients. That approach is exactly what our community needs.”

Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration in international business and a minor in Spanish at the University of Georgia and her MBA from Mercer University in Atlanta.

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 2021 deposit data from the FDIC, is listed by Forbes among the top 25 banks in the nation and earned a spot on the 2022 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For® in the U.S., its sixth consecutive appearance. American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For nine years in a row and No. 1 among banks with more than $11 billion in assets in 2021.

Pinnacle entered the National Capital Region in November 2021 by recruiting six local financial services professionals to open an office in Northern Virginia.

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN, in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $39.4 billion in assets as of March 31, 2022. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in 15 primarily urban markets across the Southeast.

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