Pendleton Square Trust Co., a Nashville-based independent trust and family office company, has hired an executive away from First Tennessee Bank to help launch and open an office in Memphis in the coming months.

George Pappas

George Pappas, who has worked in trust administration and leadership roles at First Tennessee Bank, as well as at Argent Trust Co. of Tennessee and Regions Morgan Keegan Trust, has been hired as a managing principal for Pendleton in Memphis. In that role, he’ll work with families and their professional advisers in delivering trust and legacy plan services and solutions.

Pappas, who’s also a licensed attorney with more than two decades of experience in trust administration, will serve as a partner and key resource to the company’s trust administration team.

“Pendleton Square Trust has such a great culture to work in,” Pappas said about his new role. “The people, the philosophy and the technology are incredible. Memphis clients and financial advisers are and will be very pleased and impressed with the services and solutions that Pendleton offers.”

The company is still in the early stages of its Memphis entry, still in the process of securing the necessary regulatory approval and locking down office space.

Pendleton Square is a Tennessee-chartered trust company providing independent, non-investment trustee services to families. In addition to core trustee services, the company also provides estate administration, private family trust company services and select family office services, such as family philanthropy, legacy planning and family education.

The company has offices in Nashville and Chattanooga, as well as representatives in Memphis and Atlanta.

The company’s Atlanta situation is similar to Memphis, where Pendleton Trust has made a hire and is in the process of building up a presence there.

The team at Pendleton has more than 125 years of combined experience in guiding clients as a fiduciary for trusts and estates. One of the key pieces of its model is that Pendleton representatives do not engage in investment management.

That’s because the company believes that to avoid a potential conflict of interest, the role of trustee should be kept separate from money management.

Pendleton CEO Robin Satyshur said the company is excited about the opportunity to expand its presence into the Memphis market, because there’s “been a void of the type of service we offer, in terms of being an independent corporate trustee.”

Satyshur herself has more than 20 years of experience advising high-net-worth families and previously served as treasurer and chief operating officer of The Family Office LLC in Nashville – a financial services firm that oversees investment management, trust administration, asset allocation, foundation management and a variety of other services for the Turner family. That’s the founding family of Dollar General Corp.

“You’re seeing a shift in the industry, where the larger banks have begun to move into the big money center areas,” she said. “A lot of the larger banks performing trust services for families are moving to Charlotte or Atlanta or elsewhere.

“It’s important to us to have a presence in Memphis. And George is really critical to us, to not only opening a physical office but managing the personal trust relationships with families in Memphis. We’re excited about his presence there, not only because of his deep talent and knowledge and experience, but his commitment to relationships.”