Pinnacle Receives the Governor’s Trade Excellence Award

Pinnacle Solutions Inc. was awarded the 2023 Governor’s Trade Excellence Award during a ceremony at the State Capitol Building with Governor Kay Ivey. Established in 2005, this award recognizes excellence in exporting demonstrated by Alabama businesses and celebrates their international success. Out of more than 3,000 eligible companies, Pinnacle was one of seven award recipients.

After winning its first international program in 2013, Pinnacle’s senior leadership made the decision to leverage its overseas work and begin strategically growing its presence outside of the United States. Pinnacle’s approach to accomplishing this mission included three distinct and discrete efforts.

The first was to become familiar with international customers and partners through attendance at a wide variety of trade shows, which included events such as the Dubai Air Show, the Paris Air Show, the World Defense Show, the Global Defense Helicopter Conference, IDEX, etc. During these shows, several of which were supported by Alabama State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Grants through the Alabama Department of Commerce, Pinnacle made countless contacts with customers and partners with whom it is now working and had the opportunity to formally sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Advanced Electronics Company (A Saudi Arabian SAMI company) for pursuit of work in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Pinnacle’s second effort included the pursuit of contracts with international customers that leveraged its aviation training and operations experience, as well as its internally developed virtual training products. Those efforts have resulted in the award of multiple international contracts, including aviation training and maintenance contracts in Taiwan, Greece, Kenya, Uganda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Slovakia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and, in 2023, the Czech Republic. Key to the work Pinnacle is doing in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Slovakia, and the UAE is the delivery of the Virtual Maintenance Trainers, which are used to increase international partners’ maintenance proficiency, overcoming language barriers through the use of “gamified” maintenance training.

Lastly, Pinnacle’s leadership remains committed to its international growth, as evidenced by the investment Pinnacle is making in senior, well-placed, international advisors. Through these geo-focused advisors, Pinnacle is able to obtain introductions and meetings with strategic customers so that they may learn more about the challenges faced by their militaries and civilian entities, and then help determine if Pinnacle can provide any solutions that make financial and operational sense. Pinnacle has made countless trips to international locations and continues to make valuable connections throughout the world.

Members of Pinnacle’s team were able to attend the ceremony in Montgomery, Alabama, where Duke Tucker, VP of Business Development, accepted the award on behalf of the company.