Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. and Avenue Financial Holdings Inc. jointly announced the signing of a definitive agreement for Avenue to merge into Pinnacle. Ron Samuels, Avenue's chairman and chief executive officer, will be named vice chairman of Pinnacle's board of directors once the acquisition is consummated. He will serve on Pinnacle's Senior Leadership Team and will report to Pinnacle's president and chief executive officer, M. Terry Turner.

Samuels will be responsible for continuing Avenue's development of a national franchise focused on the music industry as well as ensuring that Avenue's history of strong growth continues in the combined firm. Upon consummation of the merger, Kent Cleaver, Avenue's president and chief operating officer, will become a member of Pinnacle's Senior Leadership Team along with Samuels and will be responsible for a team of commercial and private relationship bankers. Andy Moats, Avenue's chief credit officer and bank group director, will work with Samuels to develop a nationwide music vertical for the combined firm and will join Pinnacle's Leadership Team.

In addition to Samuels, three Avenue directors and long-time members of Nashville's business community are expected to be appointed to the combined firm's board of directors after the merger closes: Marty Dickens, former regional executive with AT&T, David Ingram, CEO of Ingram Entertainment, and Joe Galante, former chairman of Sony Music, Nashville.