Lee Palm has joined First Tennessee Bank, the regional bank of First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN), as executive vice president and managing director of the company’s new Structured Equipment Finance banking group.
Palm, a financial industry veteran, will lead the bank’s Equipment Finance team that will focus on business aviation and equipment loans in the construction, marine, trucking, rail and manufacturing industries. Palm and most of Equipment Finance will be located at the bank’s Music Row offices in Nashville.
“Lee’s extensive industry experience and the relationships he’s developed will benefit First Tennessee as we expand into this new line of business,” said Steve J. Hawkins, executive vice president of wholesale banking for First Tennessee. “We value his expertise and we’re excited about his team of dedicated professionals and their focus on equipment finance.”
Palm was most recently president of commercial finance at Talmer Bank and Trust, where he developed a de novo business plan to establish a commercial lending business targeting corporate aviation, inland marine and rail, trucking, and franchise finance. Prior to joining Talmer, Palm served as an executive vice president at Capstar Bank and for GMAC as a division president in commercial finance.
“Having had multiple opportunities to start-up significant and successful platforms for both banks and large commercial finance companies, my role will be to replicate those successes at First Tennessee,” Palm said. “I’m excited about leading a high-performance team of equipment finance professionals to brand our bank in key areas of expertise and be accretive to earnings.”
About First Tennessee
First Tennessee Bank is the largest bank headquartered in Tennessee, with the number one deposit market share in Chattanooga, Memphis and the Tri-Cities, a top-five deposit market share in Knoxville and Nashville, and the number one market share in the counties in which we have locations. The FTB Advisors wealth management group has 313 financial advisors and $27 billion in assets under administration. First Tennessee was founded during the Civil War in 1864 and has the 14th oldest national bank charter in the country and one of the highest customer retention rates of any bank in the country. First Tennessee, FTN Financial and FTB Advisors are part of First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE: FHN), which has 4,300 employees. First Horizon has been recognized as one of the nation’s best employers by Working Mother and American Banker magazines. More information is available at www.FirstTennessee.com.