Synovus Bank launched a new agriculture and timber team, with an initial focus on the production, agribusiness and timber segments of the industry south of the Fall Line in Georgia, and additional coverage in northwest Florida and southeast Alabama.

Residing in Synovus’ community banking division, the team includes agriculture industry and banking veterans Clint Hood, Kimberly Powell, Anita Hatfield and Jo Creel, all of whom joined the bank last week, and Andy Thompson, who is an agribusiness banker for Synovus.

“Agriculture is one of the largest industries in Synovus’ footprint and a major source of economic growth and development in many communities we serve,” Wayne Akins, chief community banking officer at Synovus, said. “By combining the resources of a large regional financial institution with industry expertise, local knowledge and the close-to-market execution of a community bank, we are confident this new agribusiness team will be an important source of value creation for Synovus and a growing number of agriculture and forestry customers in our footprint. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Clint, Kimberly, Anita and Jo to Synovus.”

A 32-year banking veteran, Hood has credit and risk expertise in the agribusiness and timber industries and serves on the boards of the Georgia Agribusiness Council, Georgia FFA Foundation and the University of Georgia Ag Alumni Association. He was previously with Wells Fargo, which he joined in 2013.

Powell has nearly 25 years of banking experience, including C&I, CRE and agribusiness lending. She was previously with Wells Fargo, where she managed a portfolio of timber processors, agriculture processors and row crop farmers.

Hatfield is a 20-year banking veteran with experience in credit analysis and underwriting. She was previously with Wells Fargo, where she was the primary analyst/underwriter for agriculture loans underwritten in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida.

Creel has more than 20 years of banking experience, including as an agriculture team relationship manager with Wells Fargo, where she was previously employed.

Synovus has had an agriculture banking practice for more than 30 years, including row crops and related processing activities. The new team extends the bank’s coverage of timber and other segments.