Pinnacle Doubles Jacksonville Team and Opens First Office on Riverside Avenue

Just six weeks after announcing its expansion into North Florida, Pinnacle Financial Partners has doubled its local team with the addition of five financial services veterans. Now with 10 associates to serve clients, Pinnacle’s first office is open in downtown Jacksonville at 501 Riverside Avenue, Suite 600. 

The new office is a temporary space while construction on a permanent office and a full-service retail office are underway in the same building. Both are expected to open later in 2024, with the retail office going on the ground floor of 501 Riverside. The temporary space is opening as a loan production office until regulatory approvals are finalized for it to process deposit transactions.

Joining the founding team of Scott Keith, Debbie Buckland, Bryan Taylor, Vaughn Winmond and Fatima Bowen are a group of talented and experienced financial professionals who will deliver a diverse array of services for commercial and middle market companies, small businesses and personal financial needs.

• Lauren Huynh, area manager for small business and retail banking
• Lisa Hayes, financial advisor for middle market and not-for-profit and government
• Jennifer Obon, financial advisor assistant
• Steve Sprecher, credit advisor
• Karen DeSale, executive assistant

“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. “We aim to support the people and businesses of this region with a banking experience they can’t get anywhere else, and that starts with filling our office with seasoned professionals. Every person on our team already has an outstanding reputation in banking. Putting them in Pinnacle’s culture of service and advice is a powerful combination.”

Huynh comes to Pinnacle with nearly 30 years of experience in leadership and lending roles, most recently as district manager of Wells Fargo in Jacksonville. Prior to that, she held various branch management and leadership roles at Truist and BB&T Bank.

In her previous role at Truist, Hayes served as relationship manager and senior vice president, most recently in the not-for-profit and government banking space. She has distinguished herself as a peer leader and top performer with more than 30 years of banking experience across several markets in Florida covering and building relationships with middle market companies. She has a proven track record of developing deep client relationships and meeting their needs with creative financial solutions. Hayes started her banking career with NCNB.

Obon joins Pinnacle with over 20 years of experience, bringing a deep understanding of client service. She served as commercial client specialist and vice president for Truist before joining the Pinnacle team.

Sprecher comes to Pinnacle after 27 years of experience with Truist, where he has served as a relationship manager, city executive and credit officer. Most recently Steve has served as a commercial credit team leader in the Jacksonville office overseeing the portfolio management teams of Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.

In her previous role as a senior administrative assistant at Truist, DeSale provided integral administrative support and management and now brings 40 years’ worth of knowledge in day-to-day banking operations to Pinnacle’s Jacksonville team. She has also served in various administrative roles at Wells Fargo and Regions Bank.

“Pinnacle is looking for the very best banking professionals in the market, and these five are no exception,” Keith said. “We are confident each of these associates will play a key role in helping make Pinnacle the go-to bank for personal and meaningful client service in the North Florida region.”

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, and is listed by Forbes as No. 27 among America’s Best Banks, higher than any other bank headquartered in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina or Georgia. Pinnacle also earned a spot on the 2023 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For^® in the U.S., its seventh 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, Tenn., in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $48.0 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.

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