Scott Jordan, Pinnacle Financial Partners, on Commercial Banking, Community Service, and the GNFCC 2026 Citizen of the Year Award (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 967)
In this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray welcomes Scott Jordan, Area Executive, North Metro Atlanta, at Pinnacle Financial Partners, for a wide-ranging conversation about banking, community, and what it really means to serve people well.
Scott leads Pinnacle’s commercial banking effort in the North Metro Atlanta area, with a team covering North Fulton, Cobb County, and Gwinnett. He explains what sets Pinnacle apart: a firm-wide policy of hiring only bankers with ten or more years of experience, 100% employee ownership, a shared incentive structure designed to eliminate self-dealing, and a commitment to answering every call within three rings with a live person. He also addresses Pinnacle’s ongoing integration with Synovus, a century-old institution that surprised him with its embrace of AI and innovation.
Scott was recently named the 2026 Citizen of the Year by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, an honor that surprised him because he and his wife volunteer without seeking recognition. In the interview, he traces his philosophy of community service back to his parents and his church, and he makes a clear-eyed case for why genuine, long-term civic involvement is both the right thing to do and, eventually, good for business. He compares it to compound interest: the returns build slowly, but they accumulate in ways that cold calling never can.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is produced by John Ray and North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, and is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Key Takeaways from This Episode
- Pinnacle hires only bankers with ten or more years of experience, operates on a shared company-wide incentive plan, and requires every call to be answered by a live person within three rings. Scott explains how these design choices add up to a fundamentally different client experience.
- Scott’s path into banking was accidental: he came back from studying in Spain wanting to be a chef, got nudged out of a restaurant kitchen, and stumbled into banking through a family friend at SunTrust. Thirty years later, he says that helping people navigate financial problems is what keeps him in love with the work.
- The 2008 recession was his “college of empathy.” Working in Forsyth County, where he grew up, he found himself sitting across from family friends, home builders among them, whose businesses were failing. He says that experience taught him that not every problem has a solution and that empathy is a skill that has to be developed, not just claimed.
- On community involvement, Scott argues for a long-game mindset: start with one civic group, do the work without expecting business in return, and let the compounding effect of reputation and relationships do the heavy lifting over time.
Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:21 John Ray introduces the show and guest Scott Jordan
02:06 Scott Jordan introduces Pinnacle Financial Partners
03:14 Pinnacle’s hiring standards, ownership model, and shared incentive structure
05:39 Answering calls within three rings and the war on bureaucracy
07:04 Entrepreneurial culture and the Synovus merger’s unexpected innovations
09:21 How Scott ended up in banking: Spain, a restaurant kitchen, and a family friend
11:54 What made Scott fall in love with commercial banking
14:10 Mentors, the 2008 recession, and learning empathy on the job
19:36 The misconception of bankers’ hours and the real demands of the profession
20:24 Why bankers are often deeply civic, and why the cynical read misses the point
23:07 Scott on volunteering quietly and what the Citizen of the Year award meant to him
26:40 Advice for younger professionals: start somewhere and play the long game
28:58 Community involvement as compound interest in relationships
30:40 Scott reflects on his parents witnessing the Citizen of the Year recognition
33:22 How to reach Scott Jordan
Scott Jordan, Area Executive, North Metro Atlanta, Pinnacle Financial Partners
Scott Jordan is the Area Executive for Pinnacle Financial Partners in the North Metro Atlanta area, leading a team that serves businesses ranging from small companies to large middle-market clients across North Fulton, Cobb County, and Gwinnett.
A Mercer University graduate with degrees in mathematics and Spanish, Scott spent roughly thirty years in commercial banking before joining Pinnacle, including a long tenure at SunTrust/BB&T, where he was consistently recognized as one of the top commercial and industrial bankers in Atlanta.
Scott is a Leadership Atlanta and Leadership North Fulton alumnus and has been active in the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, and numerous civic organizations throughout his career.
Pinnacle Financial Partners
Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (“Pinnacle”) is a $123 billion asset regional bank that provides a full range of banking, investment, trust, mortgage and insurance products and services for commercial and consumer clients who want a comprehensive relationship with their financial institution. The firm joined forces with Synovus on January 1, 2026, bringing together more than 160 years of combined banking service. Pinnacle is the largest bank headquartered in Tennessee and the largest bank holding company headquartered in Georgia. The firm is No. 1 in deposit market share in the Nashville MSA and No. 4 in the Atlanta MSA with offices in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland (based on June 30, 2025 FDIC market share data).
Pinnacle is an employer of choice for financial services professionals. The firm is No. 12 in FORTUNE magazine’s 2026 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For® in the U.S., its tenth consecutive appearance. Pinnacle was also recognized by American Banker as No. 4 among America’s Best Banks to Work For in 2025, its 13th consecutive year on the list, and No. 1 among banks with more than $10 billion in assets.
About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray
Approaching 1,000 episodes and having featured over 1,400 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!
The show invites a diverse range of business, non-profit, and community leaders to share their significant contributions to their respective markets, communities, and professions. There is no discrimination based on company size, and there is never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates businesses by sharing positive stories that traditional media ignore. Some media lean left. Some media lean right. We lean business.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. John and the team at North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®, produce the show, which is recorded inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
The studio is located at 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
You can find the entire archive of shows by following this link. The show is accessible on all major podcast apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.
John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants, bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the author of the five-star-rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.
