Pinnacle's First Full-service Office in Atlanta is Open for Business

Seven new associates join the team to offer a comprehensive suite of financial services

Pinnacle Financial Partners has opened its first full-service office in Atlanta backed by a team of seven newly-hired associates, each with an average of more than 20 years of financial services experience. The location at 3333 Riverwood Drive in the Cumberland area includes a first-floor retail office that can accept deposits and handle any daily transactions, as well as additional office space occupying the entire top floor. The building will soon include Pinnacle signage on the exterior of the top floor.

“For months now, we’ve been working hard to build a new bank in Atlanta, and now it really feels like we have a home,” said Rob Garcia, Pinnacle’s Atlanta president. “From this office, we’re a stone’s throw from Buckhead, Marietta and Smyrna, giving us a great opportunity to meet our clients where they live and work. It’s the perfect space in the perfect spot. Now we can settle in and become the bank our market needs and deserves.”

Joining the founding team of Garcia, Paige Collier, Susan Godbee and Matthew Ricks is a group of talented and experienced financial professionals who will deliver a diverse array of services for personal finance, small business, commercial and wealth management needs.

• Chris Gruehn is a financial advisor serving commercial clients.
• Chad Parsons is a treasury management advisor serving business clients.
• Susan Hampton is the office leader for the first-floor office, a position often called “branch manager” at other banks, serving personal and small business clients.
• Adam Coneys is a financial specialist serving clients’ daily needs in the first-floor office.
• Tammi Serda is a financial advisor assistant offering support to the entire team.
• Sandy Woltering and Tonya Phillips are credit advisors supporting the team’s commercial and real estate teams.

“At a time when many banks are pumping the brakes on growth and hiring, we’re moving at full speed to build our team,” Garcia said. “And I’ll put this team up against any group of bankers in the market. They’re at Pinnacle because they are the best. That’s our strategy: We only hire people who are happy, successful and have at least 10 years of experience. Why? Because products and price can be copied. A high-trust culture filled with top talent is very difficult to replicate.”

“In the office, we are often a client’s primary point of contact with the bank, so it’s our responsibility to deliver the unmatched service Pinnacle is known for,” Hampton said. “At the same time, I’ll be serving my own clients and helping build the bank’s small business portfolio in the market. We are the tip of the spear for a brand-new banking experience in Atlanta.”

The first-floor office is in a temporary space for now while the permanent office is renovated across the hall. The permanent space is expected to cover 5,800 square feet to include a row for financial specialists to serve daily needs, private offices for financial advisors and safe deposit boxes.  Once finished, it will feature drive-thru service on site. An ATM is available now, located with the drive-thru.

On the fifth floor overlooking the Cumberland area and the new Atlanta Braves stadium, the buildout is ongoing for nearly 26,000 square feet of office space for leadership, financial advisors and support associates.

Team Pinnacle in Atlanta

Chris Gruehn, Financial Advisor
Gruehn, with 23 years of financial services experience, joins Pinnacle’s Atlanta office as a financial advisor. He comes from Renasant Bank in Kennesaw, where he was market executive for the Cobb area with responsibility for overall market strategy and business development efforts for Northwest Atlanta. Previous roles were with Brand Banking Company in Kennesaw, where Gruehn was a team leader and led business development efforts for the Cobb commercial group, and NorthWest Bank and Trust, where he was a senior lender with responsibility for the bank’s overall loan, deposit and fee production. Gruehn began his career in 1997 with SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, where he was in the real estate finance area.

Chad Parsons, Treasury Management Advisor
Parsons brings over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry to his role of treasury management advisor. He came to Pinnacle from Renasant Bank, where he served as director of government banking in its corporate banking group. Parsons recruited talent and developed the team’s market strategy leading to a $1.4 billion portfolio. Previous roles were with Synovus Bank, where he was a regional sales manager over the treasury management area, Wachovia Bank, where he served as a vice president in its government and institutional banking area, and Visa U.S.A., where he was a sales director and managed Bank of America’s commercial card services.

Parsons earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Kennesaw State University. He is also a Certified Treasury Professional.

Susan Hampton, Office Leader
Hampton brings 23 years of financial services experience to her role of office leader for Pinnacle’s Atlanta location at 3333 Riverwood Drive. Before joining Pinnacle, she spent 15 years with Fidelity Bank, where she was a regional manager with responsibility for operations at 18 Fidelity locations in the greater Atlanta metro. Hampton set up the branch operations from the ground up, hiring, developing and training over 125 employees across all of Fidelity’s footprint. Previous roles were with Pinestate Mortgage, where she was a senior loan officer, and Commercial Bank of Georgia/CBG Mortgage Company, where she served as mortgage banking president.

Hampton is active in the community and has taught numerous classes at local high schools on money management, banking and personal finance.

Adam Coneys, Financial Specialist
Coneys brings more than five years of experience to his role of financial specialist for Pinnacle’s Atlanta office. Before joining the firm, he was a personal banker for Ameris Bank in Atlanta. Previously Coneys was a financial specialist for Pinnacle in Charleston, SC.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business management from the Clemson University College of Business.

Tammi Serda, Financial Advisor Assistant
Serda brings 19 years of financial services experience to her role of financial advisor assistant. She spent all of those years at Synovous Bank in various roles, gaining experience in back office and client-facing jobs covering a wide variety of skills. She worked in loan operations, shepherding loans from prep to closing to disbursements; she was a regional supervisor for centralized funding; supported for lenders on the commercial real estate team; and eventually worked with clients in the wealth management division.

Sandy Woltering, Credit Advisor
Woltering, with 33 years of experience, joins Pinnacle as a senior vice president credit advisor. Before joining the firm she was with Synovus Bank in Marietta, where roles included serving as a portfolio manager and a commercial banker. Previously Woltering was a credit analyst and a branch manager for Bank of North Georgia, also in Marietta.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in finance and economics from Kennesaw State University. Woltering is a member, and former board vice chair, for the Cobb County Department of Family and Children Services. She is a graduate of Leadership Cobb and is a two-time Lifetime Achievement Award winner of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s membership campaign. Woltering is a former president of Friends for the East Cobb Park. 

Tonya Phillips, Credit Advisor
Phillips is a senior vice president and credit advisor. She brings over 18 years of financial services experience and comes to the firm from Synovus Bank, where she was a supervisor and field credit analyst for the Atlanta, Athens and Augusta regions. Previous roles were with Citizens Bank in Atlanta, where as a portfolio manager she helped organize and startup a new loan production office, and Bank of North Georgia, where she was a real estate portfolio manager.

Phillips earned her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in finance and real estate from Georgia State 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. Pinnacle earned a spot on FORTUNE’s 2020 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For^® in the U.S., its fourth consecutive appearance. American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For seven years in a row.

Pinnacle expanded to Atlanta in 2019 by hiring a team of local financial services professionals to start an office.

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $29.3 billion in assets as of March 31, 2020. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in 12 primarily urban markets in Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia and Atlanta.

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