Carolyne Pelton
Nashville-based Pinnacle Financial Partners is expanding its footprint to the Washington, D.C., area. The financial firm has hired six former Truist professionals from the area to spearhead its expansion to the D.C. market in 2022.
Currently, Pinnacle has 115 locations spread across Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Former Truist executive Carolyne Pelton has been recruited to lead the team as Pinnacle’s president for the National Capital Region. During her tenure at Truist, Pelton served as the director of aerospace, defense and government contracting. Prior to that, she spent 13 years at BB&T in D.C. as a regional corporate banker and portfolio manager.
“The D.C. area is a unique market that’s already thriving but still has an incredible amount of potential,” Pelton said in a release. “Given the concentration of government contractors, private equity, technology, real estate development and nonprofit associations, this area is one of the most vibrant in the nation.”
Lauren Shields, Masha Loughlin, Jessica Green and Matthew Nader — all former Truist employees — have been hired on by Pinnacle as financial advisers. Prior to their new roles at Pinnacle, Shields, Loughlin and Green all worked in Truist’s aerospace, defense and government contracting arm, while Nader served as Truist’s commercial real estate team lead for the Maryland region.
Veteran Truist banking professional Bruce Sharp will serve as Pinnacle’s D.C. region senior credit officer. Sharp brings nearly 30 years of experience to the team. Over the course of his career, he has served in various credit, sales and leadership roles.
The new team will temporarily operate out of an office in Tyson’s Corner — an area located just outside of the city — before moving into a permanent location in 2022.
According to the release, Pelton has been based in the region for most of her career and will leverage that experience to hire other bankers in the market. However, the financial firm did not disclose how many new roles it would be hiring for in 2022.
“Now with statewide reach in Virginia, we have a huge runway to build something special,” Pelton said. “We’re all grateful for the chance to be part of it, and we’re looking for more of the best and brightest D.C. bankers to join us.”
Pinnacle was founded in Nashville in 2000 and currently has approximately $36.5 billion in assets, according to the bank. The expansion to D.C. is projected to result in $250-300 million in incremental total loan growth in 2022, according to the release.