How Pinnacle Relies on Hiring to Drive Growth

Terry Turner, the Tennessee company's president/CEO, discusses recruiting revenue generators, along with how compensation and color coding keeps credit issues at bay.

Happy Tuesday!

Did you enjoy having an extra day off? I spent the holiday weekend in upstate New York visiting family - a nice excursion before spending the next two weeks on the road.

My latest piece for the Forbes Finance Council went live, summarizing observations from a recent flurry of announced bank mergers. I feel confident that these narratives will continue to play out as consolidation gains momentum in the coming quarters.

Let’s talk about the hiring strategy at Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tenn.

I’ve followed the $49.3 billion-asset company and CEO Terry Turner for years. Formed in February 2000, Pinnacle spent years focused on its home state before expanding into neighboring states: Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia. A selective acquirer, Pinnacle bought Avenue Financial in 2016 and BNC Bancorp a year later.

Then Pinnacle put the brakes on acquisitions, opting instead to expand by aggressively hiring revenue producers. Pinnacle’s assets have grown by 77% since the end of 2019. So far this year, the company has hired about 100 revenue producers.