Pinnacle Financial partners Adds 10 Financial Services Veterans to the National Capital Region Team

Pinnacle Financial Partners is growing in the National Capital Region with the addition of financial advisors Michelle Haley, Scott Arwood, Rachel Fleck, Meena Batra and Fazi Hann; financial advisor assistants Meenakshi Kabduwal, Doje Beyene and Rosa Callejas; and client service advisors Jossie Arroyo and Tia Pham. All are based at the firm’s Tysons Corner office in McLean, which will soon debut Pinnacle’s first retail banking location in the region.

“By creating an environment where our associates can really thrive, we’re able to attract the best and most knowledgeable professionals in the market,” said Ken Ayers, area manager for Pinnacle. “This group brings a vast amount of efficiency, consistency and depth of knowledge that will help us continue to build our firm, our team and deliver distinctive service to our clients.”

Haley comes to Pinnacle with 15 years of experience, most recently  at Primis Bank where she served as the senior vice president of commercial banking. Her prior roles include commercial banker, business acquisition manager and business development officer at Wells Fargo Bank, in addition to roles at Star Cypress Partners, LLC, First Citizens Bank and First Virginia Community Bank.

Arwood joins Pinnacle with 10 years of experience, most recently at M&T Bank where he served as the GovCon focused middle market relationship manager, in addition to working as a business banking relationship manager. Prior roles include business development officer at Wells Fargo Bank, with additional roles at Balboa Capital Corporation, Hangzhou Dianzi University and Wonkwang University. Arwood earned his bachelor’s degree from University of Central Oklahoma and his master’s from Concordia University.

Fleck has more than 15 years of experience years of banking experience and joins Pinnacle from Truist Bank where she was a commercial banker and vice president. She served in a variety of roles with Truist and also worked at Capital One Bank and Axiom Bank. Fleck earned her bachelor’s in business administration and management from Saint Leo University. She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.

Batra joins Pinnacle with more than a decade of financial services experience. She joins the firm from JP Morgan Chase where she was a licensed private client banker, small business specialist and manager. Prior to that she served at JASHANMAL National Co., Inc. as a purchasing manager, deputy retail manager and manager. Batra earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Phoenix. She also holds a master’s degree in elementary education from Grand Canyon University. Batra is fluent in Hindi and Sindhi.

Hann brings 20 years of experience to her role as financial advisor. She joins the firm from First Citizens Bank where she served as vice president of financial sales and senior branch sales manager. Hann also served at First National Bank as a branch manager and vice president of business development, as well as a branch sales manager at First BB&T Bank. Hann earned her bachelor’s in information technology management from Presentation College in Trinidad.

Kabduwal has 17 years of experience and joins Pinnacle from Wells Fargo Bank where she served in various roles, most recently as a relationship associate. She also served as a service manager, teller manager and teller with Wells Fargo. Kabduwal earned her bachelor’s in commerce from Delhi University in India and her diploma in IT from the National Institute of Technology in Delhi, India. She is fluent in Hindi and Urdu.

Beyene has more than 25 years of experience and joins the firm having previously served at Truist Bank in aerospace, defense and government contracting. She also served at BB&T Bank in various roles including commercial client specialist. Prior to that, she served as branch operation assistant and assistant branch manager at First Virginia Bank. Beyene earned a degree in business management from Addis Ababa College of Commerce in Ethiopia and her associate degree in computer networking from Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria.  She is fluent in Amharic.

Callejas has 15 years of experience and joins Pinnacle from Truist Bank, where she served in many roles including commercial client specialist, teller supervisor, branch banker and teller. She also worked as a teller at Synergy One Federal Credit Union and Belvoir Federal Credit Union. She earned her bachelor’s in psychology from George Mason University and is fluent in Spanish.

Arroyo has more than 25 years of experience and joins Pinnacle from Primis Bank (formerly SonaBank), where she served as director of business development sales and operations. She also served as director of retail at SonaBank and an area manager for Provident Bank. Arroyo earned her bachelor’s University of Puerto Rico and is fluent in Spanish.

Pham has 19 years of banking experience and joins Pinnacle from Primis Bank where she was a business development manager. In prior roles, she worked as branch manager and a customer service representative. Pham also worked as an accountant at Eastern’s automotive and relationship banker at Provident Bank. She is fluent in Vietnamese.

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 2022 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 10 years in a row and No. 1 among banks with more than $11 billion in assets in 2022.

Pinnacle entered the National Capital Region in November 2021 by recruiting six local financial services professionals to open an office in Northern Virginia. The firm was recognized as the No. 6 Best Place to Work in Virginia by Virginia Business magazine in 2020.

Pinnacle began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN, in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $42.0 billion in assets as of December 31, 2022. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, the firm 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.