Pinnacle Bank Florida announced the hiring of industry veteran Michael Skat as Managing Director of its Specialty Lending Group.  Skat who has over thirty years of experience in lending, consulting and investment banking was most recently President at Aegis Business Credit in Tampa, Florida. 

He has worked in the asset-based lending industry with a variety of companies including; Fidelity Funding Financial Group, Guaranty Business Credit, Fremont Financial, Foothill Capital and Business Alliance Capital Corp.  He began his career at SunTrust Bank in Orlando graduating from the Management Training program and immediately joined the asset-based lending team.  Said Skat, “I am extremely excited about the opportunity to build and manage Specialty Lending at Pinnacle Bank. 

The Bank has gone above and beyond in selecting both its management team and Board of Directors. Their deep backgrounds in both banking and alternative finance inspired me to make a move from a company (Aegis) that I really enjoyed being part of for the past four years.” 

To compliment traditional C&I lending, the build out of the specialty lending platform will initially include; asset-based lending, accounts receivable lines of credit, MRR lending and venture debt.  Pinnacle Bank’s CEO Lee Hanna commented, “We are very excited Mike has chosen to join our team.  We are fully committed to building a strong Specialty Lending line of business at Pinnacle Bank and Mike’s experience and vision for this group, aligns perfectly with our goals.”  Skat completed his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned a BA in Economics and holds an MBA from the Crummer Business School at Rollins College.