Turner Nashe, Founder, Organizer, Board Member, Sonata Bank

In an interview with Invest:, Turner Nashe, founder, board member and organizer at Sonata Bank, discussed Nashville’s rapid growth, access to capital, and the role of education in preparing the workforce. “For Nashville to be a true dream city, that dream has to be attainable for everyone.”

What are your thoughts on Nashville’s current growth and its impact on the community?
We are a southern hospitality town. We’ve built a tremendous city of hospitality work, and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when the airport could see 40 million visitors a year by 2029. But if Davidson County has 729,000 residents and there’s a 40X multiple of visitors to residents, that could skew the city toward being a place built around non-residents. Tourists come here, having more disposable income than the people who may live here and work here.

That’s why I think we will see a greater shift to STRs rather than affordable housing. Right now, “$1m an acre” unit economics dictate that it is much more attractive to build apartments for millennials, hotels, or honky-tonks than it is to build housing for police officers, firefighters, or teachers. Thinking ahead, I see much more opportunity for Nashvillians to build hospitality and tourism based companies knowing that we’re expecting more visitors.

What do you see as the driving forces behind entrepreneurs getting involved in banking?
Entrepreneurs often get involved in banking because of lived experience and the necessity to understand how money moves, in order to grow their businesses. In my case, I started a business when I was young and landed an eight-figure government contract. I went looking for a bank to help with purchase order financing, but even with a guaranteed payer it was difficult. I didn’t know any bankers, and while I understood they had to manage risk, I didn’t think they always saw the opportunity.

That stuck with me. Many entrepreneurs have great ideas and opportunities but no relationships to open the right doors. Banking decisions can hinge as much on who you know as on what you bring to the table.

Sonata Bank was created by investors who had previously founded and sold another bank, which later became United Community Bank. This time, the focus was on quick-service restaurants, a sector where they collectively own hundreds of businesses and employ thousands of people. For me, it was an opportunity to see banking from the ownership side, not just as a customer, and to understand how decisions are made.

I joined because it was a group of entrepreneurs working to make life easier for their employees by giving them better access to banking and other services. There’s also the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to lend outside their primary markets. That matters, because education and access are critical in building banking relationships. Someone once showed me how the system worked, and I want others to have that same chance.

How do you see the economy shaping opportunities for entrepreneurs in Nashville and across Tennessee?

This is an amazing time to be in Nashville. The deal flow is incredible. New companies, private equity firms, M&A transactions, and family offices are all here. Innovation is especially strong. Chattanooga, for example, has a quantum AI push with Oak Ridge and private institutions, creating public-private partnerships. Programs like Project FinTech and Project Music & Entertainment at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center are building on-ramps to success with highly capable mentors guiding young companies toward scaling.

At the same time, there’s still “old money” from families whose wealth stretches back to the Civil War era. I once overheard a woman at a bank who had just inherited $2.5 million from land her family had held for a century. That shows the long arc of generational wealth here.

Nashville is ripe for a growth explosion, much like Atlanta 20 years ago. But growth must be managed. My concern and hope is that Nashville, in addition to its top of the market talent, would also continue to consult with best-in-class city planners, developers, bankers, attorneys etc., from other successful and proven cities, to guide expansion.

What needs to happen to prepare the local workforce for this growth?
Honestly, I wish we had started 10 years ago. Big projects are underway, including the East Bank development, the new stadium and major construction that will reshape the city. These projects tie directly into issues like affordable housing.

We have 85,000 kids in Metro Nashville Public Schools. A student in 8th grade today will graduate high school by the time the stadium is done, and the Super Bowl arrives. If we know these events are coming, we should continue to plan with these major events in mind,  and align the curriculum to prepare them for the city’s future. Kids growing up in Nashville should be able to become CEOs here, whether that’s of a plumbing company, an electrical company, or a financial firm.

It comes down to willingness as much as capability. As Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says, “Many people are capable, but fewer are willing to sacrifice.” We need to build a system that makes both possible.

Education is the foundation. Without trained workers, industries will look elsewhere. We saw this with the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. The same challenge will apply to AI infrastructure or advanced manufacturing. We need to invest in education now to continue filling those jobs to  secure our future.

In terms of Nashville’s housing market, what are the biggest barriers to improving affordability?
We’ve seen it come down to the fact that Nashville is really two cities — one of developers and one of the working class. Developers generally don’t build philanthropically. They build to achieve a return of capital and a return on capital. That’s just the science of it.

The city can partner with groups like the Community Foundation and Pathways to help, but when land costs $1 million an acre or $10 million an acre downtown, how can a developer make money on affordable housing? It has to be pushed by the city and state, possibly subsidized by the government? I don’t like mixing government with the private sector, but sometimes it’s necessary.

There’s also a cultural component. I once visited an MDHA facility for a meeting. Driving past some new townhomes, which were so nice that I didn’t realize that they were public housing, I saw and smelled someone standing on the porch, smoking weed at 9 a.m. That made me wonder — what education is provided to residents moving into these upgraded units? Without training or opportunities to aspire to ownership, nothing changes.

My suggestion is to flip the model. Explore requiring education or vocational training as part of gaining access to new housing. Move resources like Nashville State Community College or TCAT directly into these neighborhoods via satellites. That way, people can access education without transportation or daycare barriers. Residents can start building skills that match the opportunities which are being created in the region.

Looking ahead five to 10 years, what opportunities do you see for leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation in Nashville?
The continued flow of capital is huge. Healthcare brings about $70 billion to 90 billion a year, country music and tourism generates $7 billion to $10 billion, and manufacturing innovation adds another $7 billion to $10 billion. That is a significant amount of money moving through the city.

I focus on the positives, but I cannot ignore the negatives. Sometimes it may sound like I am griping, but I see it as a spell-check conversation. For people working paycheck to paycheck, a full Titans game outing at the new stadium might cost $300 to $500 for a family of four.

The real opportunities are in education, access to capital, access to business opportunities, opportunities to networking. I appreciate that major firms, pension funds, and Wall Street money are coming here. Nashville feels safe for them because it has diversified across tourism, healthcare, music, and manufacturing. Investors can put money into each sector and expect steady returns.

If the city opens that marketplace further to entrepreneurs and philanthropy, there is no limit to Nashville’s growth.