Banking Leader Sam Belk Joins Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville

Belk to lead a team of commercial bankers at firm’s headquarters

Sam Belk, former Wells Fargo executive and veteran banking leader, will join Pinnacle Financial Partners later this year to help the firm build additional capacity for the future. He will serve as a senior lending officer and manage a team of middle-market commercial financial advisors from the firm’s headquarters in downtown Nashville. He will start work on Dec. 2, 2019.

“After a long and successful career helping lead two of the largest banks in the country, Sam has found a new home at Pinnacle,” Pinnacle Chairman Rob McCabe said. “The opportunity to bring someone of Sam’s caliber and stature to our team is tremendous. His leadership experience is just what we want to help grow our firm in Middle Tennessee and the upper mid-south.”

Belk comes to Pinnacle with 40 years of banking experience. He spent 26 of those years at Bank of America, where he held various positions, including market executive. He spent another 14 years at Wells Fargo starting or leading the bank’s commercial operations in Nashville, Louisville, Birmingham, New Orleans and Arkansas. He most recently was Wells’ top executive in Nashville and the region, responsible for commercial banking in the Mid-South division.

“I am extremely impressed with the commercial team that Rob, Terry Turner, Ed White and others have put together at Pinnacle,” Belk said. “I’ve spent the last 26 years building teams and growing commercial businesses throughout the region, and the timing is perfect to bring those skills to bear at Pinnacle right now. The culture here is just what we need for this moment in the banking industry, where so many banks are going through so much change. We have a tremendous opportunity to build on Pinnacle’s success by allowing great bankers to build strong and deep relationships with their clients.”

Belk earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves on the board of trustees at Martin Methodist College, the board of the Boys Scouts of Middle Tennessee and is active in Leadership Nashville. He also serves on the finance committee at Land Trust for Tennessee, where he is a past board member and finance chair, and formerly served on the board of the Tennessee State University College of Business and the Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee.

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 2019 deposit data from the FDIC. Pinnacle earned a spot on FORTUNE’s 2019 list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For^® in the U.S., its third consecutive appearance. American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For seven years in a row.

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $26.5 billion in assets as of June 30, 2019. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in 11 primarily urban markets in Tennessee, the Carolinas and Virginia.

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