Herman Strickland: a passionate community advocate

Herman Strickland, the senior Vice President and credit officer for Pinnacle Financial Partners in Memphis since 2015, passed away in his sleep Sunday, April 5, 2020. He was 60 years of age.

The week of April 1, for his turn on lead prayer for Sunday services, he had sent a 10-minute recorded to prayer to pastor Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr. of Cordova’s New Olivet Worship Center.

View the FaceBook prayer video here.

Kirk Bailey, Pinnacle Financial Partners president, said “Herman was an amazing person and friend. Banking was always more fun with him around because he took a smile everywhere he went and was quick with a joke. He was also one of the most passionate community advocates Memphis had. Our city won’t be the same without him. His spirit of service spread to all those around him, which always made Pinnacle a better place to be. We are reeling from his loss and will miss him. Our prayers are with Rhonda, his beautiful daughters and son-in-law.”

According to Pinnacle Financial Partners’ website:

Herman Strickland is a senior vice president and senior credit officer for Pinnacle in Memphis. Prior to joining Pinnacle in 2015, Strickland spent 34 years at First Tennessee Bank, where he led the company’s Diversity Banking group. Prior roles at First Tennessee included serving as a corporate relationship manager, senior credit officer and manager of commercial banking.

Strickland earned his bachelor’s degree in management from Arkansas State University and holds a master’s degree in finance from the University of Memphis. He is a graduate of the Darden School of Commercial Lending at the University of Virginia and is a former instructor at the Barret School of Banking.

Strickland has been active in the Memphis community throughout his career and currently serves on the boards of the Memphis Urban League, Benjamin Hooks Institute and the Southwest Tennessee Community College and Arkansas State University foundations. He also serves on the boards of Community Lift, Communities Unlimited, Seedco, the Rise Foundation and Leadership Memphis.

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