Shellie Creson

Shellie Creson is Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of Pinnacle Financial Partners, having joined the firm in conjunction with the recent merger of Pinnacle and Synovus Financial Corp, which was completed in early 2026. This merger formed the preeminent, Southeast growth champion bank, with $115 billion in assets.

In this role, Shellie oversees the firm’s enterprise risk management and all corporate risk functions. She leads corporate risk management strategy, continuing to transform, strengthen, and sustain the company’s risk culture. She is the executive sponsor and responsible for the firm’s Large Bank Advancement program, insuring compliance with regulatory capital and liquidity standards of a Category IV bank which are new to the firm. She provides overall leadership, vision, and direction for enterprise risk management, including credit, compliance, market and liquidity, third-party risk, operational, credit review and model risk management.

Shellie is the executive sponsor and dean of Pinnacle’s Connect Leadership Program, the ultimate leadership development tool for next generation c-suite development. A believer that a strong, diverse workforce makes the firm even stronger, she also serves as executives sponsor for Pinnacle’s enterprise resource group, PRISM.

Shellie joined Synovus in 2022. She was previously Executive Vice President and Chief Audit Executive at Fifth Third Bank, which she joined in 2017. Prior to joining Fifth Third, Creson was with Regions Financial for 10 years where she served in leadership positions in strategic and corporate planning, audit, and finance.