Natalie Garza and Ryan Hightower have both been promoted to executive vice president at Houston-based Amegy Bank. In their respective roles, they will provide executive leadership and continue their efforts in the commercial lending group. Having joined Amegy Bank after completing the company’s credit training program, both have more than 30 years of combined commercial banking experience.
Garza manages Amegy Bank’s commercial real estate banking division, focusing on construction and term lending solutions across all asset classes, including multifamily, office, industrial and retail. After completing the credit training program in 2008, Garza worked as a relationship manager in the commercial real estate division for more than eight years, then transitioned to the corporate banking team in 2017, focusing on public and upper-middle-market companies and private equity-backed transactions. The following year, she re-joined the commercial real estate (CRE) lending group as lending manager for the Houston CRE team. Now, she manages all CRE banking activities across the bank’s markets.
Garza holds a BBA degree in finance from Louisiana State University and an MBA degree from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas–Austin. She is actively involved with NAIOP (the Commercial Real Estate Development Association), Urban Land Institute, CREW Houston (Commercial Real Estate Women), United Way and St. Michael’s Catholic Church.
Hightower manages Amegy Bank’s commercial lending group, one of Houston’s top-performing commercial teams. In 2005, he joined the bank’s credit training program, growing his career within the commercial lending team. Prior to that, he spent several years working for the U.S. House of Representatives, focusing on energy, the environment and budget and taxes legislation.
Hightower received his BS degree from the University of Houston and an MBA degree from the University of Houston–Clear Lake. In addition, he co-chaired and chaired the bank’s 2021 and 2022 United Way campaigns, leading Amegy Bank to record fundraising years with nearly $2 million raised and more than 500 hours volunteered. For the past four years, Hightower has also served on the board of the University of Houston’s banking program. In addition, he has become a mentor to many early-career bankers.
Established in 1990, Amegy Bank, a division of Zions Bancorporation NA, operates more than 75 full-service locations across Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and Central Texas.
