Pinnacle Announces Key Hires for Community Support and Investment in Jacksonville

Pinnacle Financial Partners is committed to economic equity in North Florida through financial education, community investment and affordable and accessible lending. To help lead this work locally, the firm has welcomed three new financial veterans, Brenda Bellard-Harris, Nikki Terry-Evans, and Christina Massara  to its Jacksonville Riverside office.

Pinnacle’s community support efforts are centered on affordable housing and small business support in historically underserved area. Through nonprofit partnerships, large scale investments and supporting individuals, the firm’s associates work to put more people on a path to financial freedom and uplift entire communities.

"Part of Pinnacle’s mission is to make a significant positive impact on the communities we serve,” said Scott Keith, regional president. “Banking should never be just about transactions. We are advisors who help people improve and grow their finances, so they are better off than before they met us. Everyone deserves that kind of partnership, no matter their background or resources. Nikki, Brenda and Christina bring decades of experience and hearts to serve that will help us begin to make an impact in Jacksonville. Bringing them onto the team reinforces our dedication to fostering positive change in North Florida.”

Bellard-Harris will serve as a financial advisor at Pinnacle. She joins the firm with 40 years of experience in the financial industry, most recently serving as a regional branch manager for Wells Fargo. In addition, she has held positions with Truist, First Interstate Bank and Bank of America. She holds degrees from Kentucky State University and the University of Phoenix. She also has an MBA from Glendale University.

Terry-Evans joins the firm as a community mortgage advisor with 20 years of financial services experience. She comes from Truist, where she served as the North Florida Market community mortgage specialist. Prior to that, she worked as a vice president of homeownership promotions for NeighborWorks of America Local Charter, a Fannie Mae Mortgage Help Center. She is a graduate of Florida State College and is currently pursuing an advanced degree at the University of Miami.

Massara comes to Pinnacle as a financial advisor with 11 years of financial services experience. She most recently served as branch manager for Wells Fargo. Prior to that, she held several positions with Truist and several financial agencies. She received her associate degree from Florida State College and bachelor’s degree from Tishreen University.

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 and fastest growing bank in the Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA, according to 2023 deposit data from the FDIC. Pinnacle is No. 11 on the 2024 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For® in the U.S., its eighth consecutive appearance and was recognized by American Banker as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For 11 years in a row and No. 1 among banks with more than $10 billion in assets in 2023.

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, TN in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $49.4 billion in assets as of June 30, 2024. As the second-largest bank holding company in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in several 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.