Meet the Chairman’s Circle: Phillip May
Phillip May knew he wanted to be a banker from an early age, so he majored in banking and finance at Mississippi State.
After graduating with honors, he married his wife and began his banking career with SunBank in Orlando. They eventually moved to Memphis in 2002 when he joined Regions.
Phillip led commercial banking teams through a series of mergers at Regions. In 2007 he left Regions and join a small group to start Metropolitan Bank, where he served as West Tennessee market leader. The bank was very successful; Renasant Bank bought Metropolitan just 10 years later.
In 2018 Phillip founded Avodah Mobilization Partners to provide private capital and consulting for organizations seeking a greater missional, social or environmental impact while delivering sustainable economic results. Avodah supported companies in a wide variety of industries, from organic agriculture and athletic training and rehabilitation to real estate development and women’s fashion.
In 2020 Phillip became market president for Pinnacle Financial Partners.
Pinnacle is headquartered in Nashville and has more than $50 billion in assets, offices in eight states and 3,600 assoc
iates. Pinnacle is the third largest bank in Memphis, with $2.4 billion in deposits, eight offices and 250 employees.
Phillip says community involvement is a priority for Pinnacle. Pinnacle supports small businesses as the largest SBA loan originator in West Tennessee. The bank also invests in the economic prosperity of the community by supporting nonprofit organizations with financial contributions and employee volunteers. That’s where Pinnacle’s support of the Chamber – and particularly the Chairman’s Circle – comes in. “The Chamber is important to helping Memphis continue its growth and vitality for our future,” he said.
Phillip himself gives generously of his time. He is vice chair for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis and a board member of River City Capital Corp, Aurora Collegiate Academy and Downline Ministries.
So what does Phillip think about Memphis today? “Memphis is surging now,” he said. “We’ve got so much to offer, and community leaders are working together to help realize our city’s potential. I believe the Chamber is playing a critical role in this surge, while our leaders in city and county government are listening and willing to take calculated risks to grow our local economy. There’s a lot of work to do to get our city where it needs to be, but I believe we have people who are willing to do things differently and shake things up to get better outcomes.”
Phillip has been married to his wife, Robin, for 30 years. They have two children, Anna, who works on the legislative team for a congressman in D.C., and Ben, who is an engineer for an electric vehicle manufacturing company in San Francisco.
He says Robin is his greatest influencer. “We have a lot of fun together, share a common faith that is most important and laugh at the same things, but we are so very different,” he said. “She is strong where I am weak and helps me find my many blind spots. She is always able to remind me of what’s truly important just by the way she lives her life and cares for others. She provides me so much confidence in knowing she’s always somewhere praying for me.”
May enjoys running, working out and playing golf, and the couple likes to travel with friends. They particularly enjoy the ocean and mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and his favorite place to visit is the Monterey Peninsula in California.
His favorite book? Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. “This book talks about much of what has been missing in society in recent years, the simple, thoughtful act of giving people more than what they ask for and how that’s good for business,” he said.
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