Pinnacle Financial Partners Expands to Louisville with Regional President Tom Crockett

Crockett joins the firm to build a team and establish presence in his hometown

Pinnacle Financial Partners has hired veteran banking leader Tom Crockett as regional president to build a presence its newest market, Louisville, KY.

Crockett joins the firm from Old National Bank, where he was responsible for the development of expansion markets, and previously served as the market executive and regional manager of Kentucky banking at Wells Fargo. He will work from a temporary office, with plans for a permanent space in late 2022 or early 2023 and Pinnacle’s first full-service office in Louisville sometime in 2023. 

“This is a rare opportunity to start from the ground up and build the bank we want our city to have,” Crockett said. “We’re putting together a team to serve Louisville, and we’ll also reach into Northern Kentucky, Lexington and even southern Indiana and Ohio. Pinnacle brings a people-first approach to banking along with a model built for local control so we can make decisions close to the client and in the best interests of our community. I’ve spent my entire career in Kentucky, and I’m proud to bring this firm to my hometown.”

Crockett served at Wells Fargo for 12 years and, earlier in his career, was the managing director for corporate banking in Kentucky at PNC and its predecessor bank National City. At Wells, he worked closely with Sam Belk, now a senior lending officer at Pinnacle.

“Few people know Kentucky banking like Tom,” Belk said. “He’s worked with the business community throughout the state for decades and is bringing that experience to bear for Pinnacle and our clients. This is a good move for our firm, and it’s great news for anyone in Louisville who wants a stronger relationship with their bank. It’s not an accident that ‘Partner’ is in our name because we plan to become close, trusted advisors to a lot of people in this community.”

As Tom begins serving clients, he will also dedicate a significant amount of time to building his team. He is responsible for recruiting the very best financial professionals in the area to bring Pinnacle’s brand of distinctive service and effective advice to Louisville. As in the firm’s other markets, Tom and his team will, over time, offer the full line of Pinnacle’s financial products and services locally, including corporate and small business banking, personal banking, wealth management, mortgage, treasury management, trust and more. He will also recruit area credit advisors, operational and administrative support so service can be offered locally.

“Pinnacle is a perfect match for Kentucky because of our unique style of banking,” said Pinnacle Chairman Rob McCabe. “We offer all the sophisticated products and services of a much larger firm with a level of service you normally find only at community banks. Pinnacle was built so every client can have a personal connection at the bank, but our asset size allows us to serve clients at almost any level. It’s a perfect match for this market.”

Earlier in August, Pinnacle announced its first associates and office in Kentucky. Rick Seadler serves as regional president in Bowling Green, starting with a team of four to serve South Central Kentucky.

Pinnacle is regularly named among the top companies to work for in the nation, including a top 30 finish in FORTUNE magazine earlier this year, multiple top 10 finishes among Best Banks to Work For and dozens of local awards and first place finishes. In 2020 and 2021, Pinnacle expanded into four new markets, all of which posted very strong starts thanks to hard working teams of dedicated financial professionals who win over clients.

• Atlanta, GA
  Opened in January 2020, now with 66 associates managing $642.3 million in loans and $321.2 million in deposits
• Huntsville, AL
  Opened in June 2021, now with 20 associates managing $35.3 million in loans and $215.6 million in deposits

• Birmingham, AL
  Opened in June 2021, now with 24 associates managing $246.7 million in loans and $33.8 million in deposits

• Washington, D.C. and the National Capital Region
  Opened in November, 2021, now with 27 associates managing $78.3 million in loans and $6.1 million in deposits

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 began working in Kentucky in 2017, serving clients from Nashville, TN. The firm officially launched its first locally based teams and offices in the state in 2022 by recruiting high-performing teams of bankers to bring Pinnacle into Bowling Green, Louisville and the surrounding areas.

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN, in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $40.1 billion in assets as of June 30, 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.