Gay O. Abbott Named Commercial Line of Business Manager at SunTrust

ATLANTA, April 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SunTrust Banks, Inc. today announced that Gay O. Abbott has been named head of the company's Commercial Banking line of business. Ms. Abbott succeeds Carl F. Mentzer who had been previously named the company's Chief Credit Officer. She will report to William H. Rogers, Jr. who has executive oversight responsibilities for SunTrust's Wealth and Investment Management, Commercial Banking, and Mortgage lines of business. Ms. Abbott, 43, has also been named to SunTrust's Management Committee, the company's senior internal forum for business coordination.

A 22-year SunTrust veteran, Ms. Abbott most recently served as executive vice president and Retail Banking line of business manager for SunTrust's Central Group. In that role, she partnered with regional management to oversee branch and business banking activities in Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. She joined SunTrust in 1983 as a commercial banking training associate and has held a series of increasingly responsible positions in commercial banking, credit and retail banking. A native of Tampa, Florida, she earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Emory University in Atlanta.

SunTrust's Commercial Banking line of business serves companies, government, and nonprofit entities with annual sales or budgets from $5 million to $250 million. Specialty businesses include Auto Dealer Finance, Institutional and Government Banking, and Commercial Real Estate. In addition to Commercial Banking, SunTrust's other key lines of business are: Retail Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, Wealth and Investment Management, and Mortgage.

SunTrust Banks, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of the nation's largest commercial banking organizations. As of December 31, 2004, SunTrust had total assets of $158.9 billion and total deposits of $103.4 billion. The company operates an extensive distribution network primarily in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and also serves customers in selected markets nationally. Its primary businesses include deposit, credit, trust and investment services. Through various subsidiaries the company provides credit cards, mortgage banking, insurance, brokerage and capital markets services. SunTrust's Internet address is http://www.suntrust.com/ .