Pinnacle streamlines staff

OREM, Utah—After recently selling a large number of its accounts to Monitronics, Pinnacle Security, a leading summer-sales-model company based here, laid off some of its staff last week.

“We have streamlined or rightsized our work force,” Jared Chappell, president and founder of the company, told Security Systems News in an email interview.

He declined to say how many employees were let go or what positions they held. “Changes took place in areas where there were redundancies from prior agreements, and we believe the rightsizing of the organization will keep Pinnacle in a position of strength moving forward,” Chappell said.

Pinnacle and Devcon Security, which both are owned by San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital, last year announced a shared services agreement between the two companies. But Golden Gate now is looking at the possibility of selling Devcon, a traditional security company based in Hollywood, Fla.

Pinnacle recently announced it had sold Monitronics 93,000 accounts and made an agreement for future account sales. The $131 million transaction represented $4.4 million of gross RMR. Pinnacle said the accounts sold were less than half the company's total account base, and that it was using the proceeds to pay off a substantial amount of its debt.

When asked if the layoffs were related to the potential sale of Devcon and/or Pinnacle's new alliance with Monitronics, Chappell replied, “Our partnership with Monitronics is expected to represent a significant opportunity for Pinnacle, and we are pleased with the direction and positive momentum of the company.”

He said in the Dec. 4 interview that the workplace changes were announced last week “and included generous packages for those affected.”

He added, “We anticipate the changes that have taken place will enable additional growth and will allow additional jobs to be created over time.”

What else does the future hold for Pinnacle, which was founded in 2001? Chappell said the company “has continued to expand in the last several years, gaining market share and securing positive relationships in the industry. Pinnacle plans to continue as a sales and marketing engine for Monitronics.”