Meet Jennifer Pelham, Gulf Coast regional president of Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. (Pinnacle Bank), a $129.1 billion-asset regional bank providing a full range of banking, investment, trust, mortgage and insurance products and services to commercial and consumer clients. The firm recently joined forces with Synovus Financial Corp. earlier this year.

Pelham grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, but has lived in Fairhope for the last 21 years. She is a graduate of Troy University in Troy, Alabama, with a bachelor’s degree in finance. Since graduating in 2001, she has spent her entire career in banking, starting with AmSouth Bank in Birmingham, Alabama, in its management associate program.

“I never thought I would be a banker and famously told my dad it was just the best-paying job offer and a good place to start,” said Pelham.

Throughout her career, Pelham has stayed focused on what she can control each day, let go of the things she cannot and done the extra work to set herself apart. These are the two biggest choices she attributes her success to.

Looking back over the past year, she explained that the highlight for her was “building out the team and brand for Pinnacle Financial Partners in South Alabama.”

“We started with four people, and today we have 37 people who believe in what we are doing here to offer a different way of meeting financial needs in South Alabama,” said Pelham. “It has been a lot of work, but I am so grateful for the clients and teammates who have been a part of this story.”

What qualities does she think she inherited from her parents? Her work ethic from her dad. “He was a successful entrepreneur my whole life and still works daily at 81,” said Pelham.

She credits her mom for her empathy. “She could connect with everyone she met and found a way to see the good in everyone she knew.”

The best piece of advice she was given: “Do the next thing right.”

Outside of her career, Pelham wishes she had more time to invest in young women interested in becoming business leaders.

She describes herself as relentless and never leaves home without her cell phone and a Diet Coke. She enjoys all genres of music, from gospel to country and hip-hop.

The one rule she lives by is: “Be faithful with what’s in front of you, hold success loosely and never sacrifice who you are for what you can achieve.”