Featured Leadership Profile – Kim Ciukowski, Pinnacle Financial Partners

Kim Ciukowski, CPA
Manager, Treasury Management
Pinnacle Financial Partners

Kim Ciukowski was on the original team of six who introduced Pinnacle Financial Partners to East Tennessee in 2007. The firm was new to the area, but Ciukowski was well-known: Her professionalism and genuine connection with commercial clients at SunTrust had been earning their loyalty since 1992. This made Ciukowski a perfect choice for the team tapped to build a best-in-class workplace that also had a vision to be the best financial services firm in Tennessee.

“We set out to provide an experience that was dramatically different from the banks we were all used to,” said Mike DiStefano, Pinnacle’s Knoxville president. “Kim definitely had a big hand in bringing that to fruition. Her reputation in the market as a trusted, capable and caring advisor was solid, and it helped inform people’s perception of Pinnacle. She brought tremendous expertise in treasury management and gave us a competitive edge over larger regional banks, because the level of attentive service that Kim was known for became a hallmark of Pinnacle’s treasury team.”

Ciukowski has now been at Pinnacle for 15 years – half of her career – and last year she joined the firm’s leadership team. Her heart for service is also reflected in her work for the greater Knoxville community. 

Ciukowski currently serves on the board of the Knoxville Chamber and is an active member of the Executive Women’s Association and the Tennessee Society of CPAs. She has served as finance chair on the board of Joy of Music School and chaired the Allocations Committee for United Way of Greater Knoxville. Ciukowski is a past board chair for Florence Crittenton Agency, Catholic Charities of East Tennessee and the Financial Managers Association. In all of these roles, Ciukowski has devoted her time and attention to making her community a better place.