MBN USA

September 27, 2021

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Speed bumps and walls

By Brenda Beveridge

For 25 years, Pinnacle Group’s story has been the epitome of the American dream fulfilled. Founded by Nina Vaca in 1996, it has grown from its beginnings on her living room floor into a workforce solutions powerhouse operating across North America and on four continents.

Today, Pinnacle Group provides a full suite of workforce solutions — including information technology staffing, managed services, payrolling and independent contractor compliance — and talent communities to industry leaders in financial services, technology, communications, utilities and transportation.

Pinnacle Group’s success is attributed to its mission and core values that enabled it to weather the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic:

• Stay true to your purpose.

• Put people first.

• Deliver excellence in everything you do.

• Delay gratification.

• Give back to the community.

During COVID, Pinnacle Group self-defined success by staying connected with its associates worldwide, developing its global infrastructure, implementing new technology, deepening relationships with current customers and creating new relationships with emerging customers.

“Our purpose is to help our customers achieve their most important strategic priorities,” said Vaca, Pinnacle Group’s founder, chairman and CEO. “It is reflected in the culture of our corporate team, in the way we connect talent with customer opportunities, in our advocacy for diversity and inclusion and in the community efforts we support wholeheartedly. It is present in everything we do.”

She said Pinnacle Group’s strategy for responding to the COVID pandemic depended heavily on the combination of powerful virtualization technology, coupled with an accountability-based culture. In addition, her positivity and ability to inspire her team kept the company connected and focused on the future.

Speed bumps and walls

“Transforming ourselves through a crisis is one of our major strengths. We know that when we hit a speed bump, many of our customers may be hitting a wall. So, we get through the crisis by redoubling our focus on serving those relationships and doing everything we can to address their critical needs,” Vaca said. “In addition to the direct benefits of helping them, we end up creating indirect benefits for ourselves by focusing our attention on others rather than worrying about ourselves. That’s only possible because our culture has always been about having a longer-term focus rather than immediate rewards.”

Pinnacle Group is committed to improving diversity in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math, fields, which starts with improving the flow of diverse talent into the pipeline. By partnering with several institutions at the high school and college levels, Pinnacle is helping transform the talent marketplace to reflect the country’s abundant diversity better.

Vaca said the success Pinnacle Group has had over the last several years — along with its drive to stay true to its purpose — has made it selective about the customers it serves.

“We try to work with customers who share our values and are committed to creating a powerful impact that will improve lives in the communities where we live and work,” she said.

Pinnacle Group’s proudest accomplishments during the pandemic, Vaca said, have been its contributions to the community, including providing scholarships and educational opportunities in underserved communities, feeding those in need, and the success of its Pinnacle Gives campaign, which involved most of the company and benefited dozens of nonprofit organizations across the country.

“Pinnacle Group’s first 25 years have been incredibly rewarding,” she said. “But through the power of our incredible team and our customer and community partners, I know that our best years are still ahead of us.”

To learn more about Pinnacle Group, visit pinnacle1.com.