Lee Palm joined First Tennessee Bank, the regional bank of First Horizon National, as executive vice president and managing director of the company’s new Structured Equipment Finance banking group.

Palm, a financial industry veteran, will lead the bank’s equipment finance team which will focus on business aviation and equipment loans in the construction, marine, trucking, rail and manufacturing industries. Palm and most of the equipment finance team will be located at the bank’s offices in Nashville.

“Lee’s extensive industry experience and the relationships he’s developed will benefit First Tennessee as we expand into this new line of business,” said Steve J. Hawkins, executive vice president of wholesale banking for First Tennessee. “We value his expertise and we’re excited about his team of dedicated professionals and their focus on equipment finance.”

Palm was most recently president of commercial finance at Talmer Bank and Trust, where he developed a de novo business plan to establish a commercial lending business targeting corporate aviation, inland marine and rail, trucking and franchise finance. Prior to joining Talmer, Palm served as an executive vice president at Capstar Bank and for GMAC as a division president in commercial finance.

“Having had multiple opportunities to start-up significant and successful platforms for both banks and large commercial finance companies, my role will be to replicate those successes at First Tennessee,” Palm said. “I’m excited about leading a high-performance team of equipment finance professionals to brand our bank in key areas of expertise and be accretive to earnings.”