Pinnacle Hires Four Experienced Financial Professionals to Join the Raleigh Team

Veteran credit team and mortgage advisor add to deep local bench

Pinnacle Financial Partners has added a veteran team of credit advisors to its team in the Triangle. The credit team of Babette Stone, Gretchen McPherson and Ron Phinney bring a combined 71 years of experience to the firm and are based at the firm’s main office in Raleigh on Glenwood Avenue. Joining them is mortgage advisor Heather Retzlaff, who has spent 21 years serving clients’ personal banking needs. 

“Pinnacle is structured in a way that empowers and even rewards strong collaboration between credit and lending teams,” said Mark Carlton, Pinnacle’s regional president in eastern North Carolina. “They’ll do everything they can to make a deal work, and it’s not unusual for them to go on client calls together. That kind of working relationship requires experienced credit advisors—the best in their field—so they can find creative solutions that benefit all sides. Babette, Gretchen and Ron fit that description to a T. Our team is stronger with them on board, and our clients will be better served because they’re here.” 

Stone is a senior credit officer with 33 years of experience in financial services, including 30 working in credit. She comes most recently from North State Bank, where she was director of credit administration. Starting as a teller in Chapel Hill back in 1987, she has since worked as a senior credit manager at First South Bank, Fifth Third, First Charter Bank, RBC Centura and Centura Bank.

Stone earned her bachelor’s degree and her MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a graduate banking degree from Stonier Banking School, which is part of Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a board member for Centrant Community Capital and a member of Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women, Home Builders Association of Wake County and the Risk Management Association’s Triangle and Carolinas-Virginias Chapters. Stone volunteers with Wake County Hospice, the Chase of Champions, NC Senior State Games and Habitat for Humanity.

Phinney is a credit advisor with 29 years of experience in financial services, including 26 in credit. He comes most recently from CresCom Bank, where he was a regional credit officer. He began his career in 1991 as a credit analyst with Old Kent Bank in Michigan. Since moving to North Carolina in 1996, he has worked as a portfolio manager, credit manager and credit officer at RBC, Fifth Third and Wachovia.

Phinney earned his bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University and his MBA at UNC Chapel Hill.

McPherson is a credit advisor with 14 years of financial services experience, including 13 in credit. She comes most recently from North State Bank, where she was a commercial loan portfolio manager. She began her career as a business banker in 2006 and quickly moved into credit at First Citizens Bank. Since then, she has worked in underwriting and credit roles at Bank of the Cascades, Umpqua Bank and again at First Citizens. 

McPherson earned her bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University. 

Retzlaff has worked in banking for 21 years and mortgage lending for 10 of those. She spent her career at BB&T, where she was most recently a mortgage loan originator. She also has worked in varied roles in personal banking like retail loan officer, financial center leader and relationship banker. 

Retzlaff earned her bachelor’s degree at Meredith College and is a graduate of the BB&T banking school. For many years she volunteered for the Boys and Girls Club and United Way and now is a dedicated parent volunteer at her children’s school. 

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 100 Best Companies to Work For® in the U.S., its fourth consecutive appearance.American Bankerrecognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For eight years in a row and No. 1 among banks with more than $10 billion in assets. 

Pinnacle entered the North Carolina market in 2017 when it acquired BNC Bancorp, known locally as Bank of North Carolina. Pinnacle continues BNC’s practice of offering community bank service with the resources and sophistication of a larger firm. 

The firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN in October 2000 and has since grown toapproximately $33.8 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 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.