How One Bank Transformed Its Board & Shareholder Base in 6 Years

The McConnell family has had a controlling interest in Pinnacle Financial Corp., based in Elberton, Georgia, since the 1940s. But over the past few years, Jackson McConnell Jr., the bank’s CEO and chairman, has worked to dilute his ownership from roughly 60% to around a third. “It's still effective control, but it's not an absolute control,” he says. McConnell, a third-generation banker, has seen a lot of family-owned banks struggle with generational change in ownership as well as management and board succession issues, and he’s seen some of it firsthand when Pinnacle acquires another bank. It’s a frequent problem in...