Pinnacle Recruits 3 More Financial Services Veterans in Memphis

Rick Neal, Richard Harris and Nicole Pickens have joined Pinnacle Financial Partners in Memphis. The trio will join the eight financial services professionals who launched Pinnacle’s expansion to the market in April.

Pinnacle’s 11-member Memphis team has close to 200 years of combined experience in the financial industry.

“Pinnacle concentrates on delivering distinctive service and effective advice to business owners, which is precisely what Rick, Richard and Nicole have a track record of doing,” said Damon Bell, Pinnacle’s Memphis president. “They are excellent additions to our Memphis team as we continue to hire the best bankers in the market and grow our client base.”

Rick Neal brings 27 years of financial services experience to his role of senior vice president and financial advisor. He will focus on corporate and commercial clients as he helps develop Pinnacle’s C&I business in Memphis.

Neal comes most recently from Trustmark Bank, where he led the company’s commercial real estate group. He began his career at First Tennessee in 1987 in the management training program. During his 25-year career at First Tennessee, roles included serving as a corporate banker in the Metropolitan division and reforming and expanding the company’s commercial real estate group, where he managed more than 40 bankers across the country. Neal also established First Tennessee Housing Corporation, a subsidiary focused on affordable housing investment.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics from Rhodes College. Neal is active in the community through his work with the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, where he serves on the grant committee for the Community Partnership Fund. In 2002, he received the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Certificate of Appreciation for identifying and carrying out local community development. Neal has been named to Memphis Business Journal’s “Top Forty Under Forty” and in 2000 was named Memphis Area Community Reinvestment Organization’s (MACRO) Banker of the Year.

Richard Harris brings 13 years of experience to his role of senior vice president and credit advisor. He comes most recently from Paragon Bank, where he served as a vice president and relationship manager for the company’s commercial banking group. Previously he spent 12 years with First Tennessee, where roles included serving as a relationship manager in the business banking division and as a lead credit analyst.

Harris holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Memphis. He has taken advanced commercial lending courses and is an honor graduate of the Southeastern School of Commercial Lending. Harris is board chairman for Southern Avenue Charter School and is involved with LiveSeed, TEAM UP Memphis, the Southwind Jaguars Athletic Organization and Habitat for Humanity.

Nicole Pickens, who has 15 years of financial services experience, brings a 13-year career with First Tennessee to her role of financial advisor assistant. She joined First Tennessee in 2002 as a financial services representative and previously was a document control specialist for National Bank of Commerce.

Pickens is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in management and organizational development from Bethel University and expects to graduate early this summer.

Harris, Neal and Pickens join Bell and financial advisors Sam King, Stacey Richards and Robert Sutton, senior credit officer Herman Strickland, treasury management advisor Joy Bowen, client advisory support manager Teresa Beans and administrative assistant Carla Williams.

Pinnacle Financial Partners provides a full range of banking, investment, trust, capital markets, 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 began operations in a single downtown Nashville location in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $6.3 billion in assets at March 31, 2015. At March 31, 2015, Pinnacle is the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, with 29 offices in eight Middle Tennessee counties and five offices in Knoxville. The firm expanded to West Tennessee in April 2015 with a loan-production office in Memphis. Additionally, Great Place to Work^® named Pinnacle one of the best workplaces in the United States on its 2014 Best Small & Medium Workplaces list published in FORTUNE magazine. The American Banker also recognized Pinnacle as the second best bank to work for in the country.

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

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