Pinnacle Financial Partners and Synovus Financial announced the anticipated membership of the board of directors of the combined company resulting from their proposed combination, to be named Pinnacle Financial Partners. The combined company board will include eight directors from Pinnacle and seven from Synovus, with six independent directors from each company. Pinnacle’s current president and CEO Terry Turner will serve as non-executive chair, and Synovus director Tim E. Bentsen will serve as lead director.
“Both Pinnacle and Synovus have such strong boards, making any combination of directors a winning team,” Turner said. “The deep experience and leadership this group bring to our boardroom in finance and accounting, financial institutions, operations, risk management, commercial real estate and much more will help support Kevin Blair as CEO and keep the firm on its steep growth trajectory. This is a different kind of leadership role for me, but with Rob McCabe and our legacy board of Pinnacle directors joining me, we remain committed to ensuring the success of the company we founded while Kevin leads it into its next phase.”
Blair added, “Our board unites bold, strategic leaders who are guided by a shared vision. They honor and preserve the rich histories and proven legacies of both banks, with Terry and Rob continuing to advise with Pinnacle’s founder-driven mindset. Our teams are building on those legacies to create a differentiated, high-growth regional bank, and we’re confident moving forward with this group of leaders behind us.”
The board of directors at the combined company are anticipated to be:
- M. Terry Turner, Chair (Pinnacle)
- Kevin S. Blair, President and CEO (Synovus)
- Tim E. Bentsen, Lead Director (Synovus)*
- Robert A. McCabe, Jr., Vice Chair (Pinnacle)
- Abney S. Boxley, III (Pinnacle)*
- Gregory L. Burns (Pinnacle)*
- Pedro Cherry (Synovus)*
- Thomas C. Farnsworth III, (Pinnacle)*
- David B. Ingram (Pinnacle)*
- John H. Irby (Synovus)*
- Decosta E. Jenkins (Pinnacle)*
- Gregory Montana (Synovus)*
- Barry L. Storey (Synovus)*
- G. Kennedy Thompson (Pinnacle)*
- Teresa White (Synovus)*
*Independent director
Integration planning continues with teams from Pinnacle and Synovus working toward closing and building a blueprint for bringing the firms together. Shareholders at both firms voted to approve the merger on Nov. 6, and federal and state bank regulatory approvals were received Nov. 25 and 26, respectively. The merger is expected to close on Jan. 1, 2026, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining customary closing conditions.
Meet Pinnacle’s Board of Directors
- Terry Turner, Chair
Executive Committee
Terry Turner has served as director, president and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Financial Partners since its founding in 2000. He began his career at Arthur Andersen & Company as a consultant in Atlanta, GA, and joined one of his clients, Park National Bank in Knoxville, TN, in 1979. When that bank was acquired by First American National Bank in Nashville, TN, Turner served in various executive positions, including President of the General Bank and President of the Investment Services Group.
Tim E. Bentsen, Lead Director
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee (chair), Executive Committee, Audit Committee, Compensation and Human Capital Committee
Tim E. Bentsen is a former audit partner and practice leader of KPMG, where he served as an audit partner for numerous banks and other financial services companies and held a variety of leadership roles. He also served on national leadership teams for the financial services and audit practice, as well as on the firm’s national Operations Committee. Previously, Mr. Bentsen served as a member of the board of directors, chair of the audit committee and member of the finance committee of CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc., a public timberland real estate investment company.
Kevin S. Blair
President and Chief Executive Officer, Executive Committee (chair)
Kevin S. Blair is the chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of Synovus, where he has also served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Prior to that time, Mr. Blair served as corporate treasurer of SunTrust Bank, as well as various leadership roles in credit risk management, corporate strategy, finance and line management. He began his banking career at Signet Bank in Richmond, Virginia in 1995.
Robert A. McCabe, Jr., Vice Chair
Executive Committee
Following four years of service in the U.S. Army, Rob McCabe began his banking career in 1976 at Park National Bank as an officer trainee. He then joined First American as an executive vice president of the retail bank. In 1991, First American appointed McCabe as a vice chairman of First American Corporation. In March 1999, he was appointed to manage all banking and non-banking operations, a position he held until First American’s merger with AmSouth in October 1999. In 2000, he co-founded and became the chairman of Pinnacle Financial Partners. McCabe has served on six public company boards in his career.
Abney S. Boxley, III
Audit Committee, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
Since 2021, Ab Boxley has served as chairman of Boxley Ready Mix and Boxley Family, LLC, as well as a consultant to Summit Materials, Inc., a SEC-registered public construction materials company. He was formerly president and CEO of his family’s business, Boxley Materials Company in Virginia, where he joined a laborer in 1975 and became president and CEO in 1988. In addition to Pinnacle, Boxley serves on the boards of Carilion Clinic and RGC Resources, Inc. He was a founding director of Valley Financial Corporation and Valley Bank and served as chairman of both.
Gregory L. Burns
Risk Committee (chair), Executive Committee, Compensation and Human Capital Committee
Gregory Burns is president of Gregory Burns Consulting Group, LLC and was the founder, president and CEO of NeighborMD Management, LLC, a developer and operator of urgent care centers. He also served as chairman and CEO of O’Charley’s, Inc., then a SEC-registered public restaurant company, where he also served as CFO. Burns serves on the advisory board of the University of Kentucky Gatton School of Business.
Pedro Cherry
Audit Committee
Pedro Cherry is the chairman and CEO of Mississippi Power, overseeing all aspects of operations for the electric utility and subsidiary of Southern Company, a public company and one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity. Prior to taking that position, he served as the president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Gas Light and Chattanooga Gas. Cherry also served in various other leadership positions within the Southern Company family of companies, including chief financial officer – international division, with Southern Energy, Inc. He began his career as an engineering and business analyst for Carolina Power and Light Corp.
Thomas C. Farnsworth III
Compensation and Human Capital Committee, Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
Thomas Farnsworth has spent his entire career at Farnsworth Investment Company, a real estate development firm where he is the president and owner. He was a director at Magna Bank in Memphis, TN, until its merger with Pinnacle Financial Partners in 2015.
David B. Ingram
Audit Committee
David Ingram is the founder and chairman of DBI Next, LLC. Prior to that, he served in a variety of positions at Ingram Entertainment, Inc., including as its chairman and CEO, at a time when it was the nation’s largest distributor of DVDs and video games. Ingram founded DBI Beverage, Inc., growing it to become California’s second-largest beer distributor before selling it in 2019. He is a former board member at Buy.com, Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Inc. and Ingram Micro, among others.
John H. Irby
Compensation and Human Capital Committee, Risk Committee
John H. Irby is a commercial real estate investor and attorney with Atlanta-based Wilson Brock & Irby, LLC, specializing in commercial estate transactions, corporate transactions, commercial litigation and general business matters. He is also the managing partner of Tall Pines Properties, LLC, and Equity Resource Partners, LLC, entities engaged in the acquisition, management and redevelopment of commercial real property and timberland in the Southeast. Irby currently serves as a director on a number of boards, including the Georgia Lottery Corporation where he serves as chair, the Georgia Historical Society Endowment Trust and W.C. Bradley Company.
Decosta E. Jenkins
Audit Committee (chair), Executive Committee, Risk Committee
Decosta Jenkins is the former president and CEO of Nashville Electric Service (NES), one of the largest public utilities in the United States. He joined NES in 1991, serving as a senior vice president and CFO before being appointed CEO in 2004. Prior to that, Jenkins spent 11 years at Deloitte working in the audit department for private and public companies. He serves on the boards of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, H.G. Hill Realty Company and i3 Verticals, a SEC-registered public company. Jenkins is also a member of the board of trustees at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Gregory Montana
Audit Committee, Risk Committee
Gregory Montana is the former chief risk officer of Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., or FIS. He is a certified Chief Information Security Officer and former board member of the Internet Security Alliance and the Financial Service Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) Sheltered Harbor Organization. Montana holds a cyber risk oversight certificate from the National Association of Corporate Directors. Prior to his time at FIS, he managed risk in various leadership positions at companies such as Bank of America, PayPal, Lloyds Banking, Deloitte Consulting and JPMorgan Chase Bank.
Barry L. Storey
Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
Barry L. Storey is the principal of BLS Holdings Group, LLC, a company based in Augusta, GA, that manages a portfolio of retail real estate properties and various alternative assets. Prior to January 2015, he was the founding partner of Hull Storey Gibson Companies, LLC, a retail acquisition and development real estate company founded in 1992. Prior to 1992, Storey worked as a project manager in the Mall Development Division for CBL & Associates Properties, Inc. Currently, he serves as a director on several boards, including Aruna Bio, a privately-owned biomedical company, and the University of Georgia Athletic Association. He is also a trustee for the Georgia Research Alliance.
- Kennedy Thompson
Compensation and Human Capital Committee, Risk Committee
Kennedy Thompson served for 10 years as a principal of Aquiline Capital Partners, LLC, a New York-based financial services private equity firm. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of Wachovia Corporation. He has served in numerous industry leadership positions, including chairman of The Clearing House, chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable, chairman of the Financial Services Forum and president of the International Monetary Conference.
Teresa White
Compensation and Human Capital Committee (chair), Executive Committee, Risk Committee
Teresa White is president emeritus of Aflac U.S. and previously served as president of Aflac U.S., as well as in various other leadership positions at the company. She serves on the board of Landstar and serves on its nominating and corporate governance committee, audit committee, compensation committee, safety and risk committee and strategic planning committee. She is active in her community, having served on the boards of various nonprofit and professional organizations, including the Georgia Chamber Board of Governors, NeighborWorks Columbus and America’s Health Insurance Plans.
