Pinnacle Venue Services will include industry influencers such as (L-R) Doug Higgons, Tom Paquette, and Frank Roach.
Four public assembly facility veterans have come together to address what they believe is a need in the industry: the ability to provide “a la carte” services to publicly-managed facilities, focusing on secondary or tertiary markets and university venues.
The four principles of Pinnacle Venue Services represent more than a century of industry experience and include Doug Higgons, who spent nearly 20 years with Global Spectrum and will serve as managing partner of the company’s Virginia Beach office, and Tom Paquette, who most recently served as VP and GM of AT&T Center for Spurs Sports & Entertainment in San Antonio, Texas, and will serve as managing partner of the San Antonio Office.
The group also includes noted lecturer in the Dept. of Sport and Entertainment Management at University of South Carolina in Columbia, Frank Roach, who spent nearly 30 years in live events and facility management, as well as Michael Jones, president of More Music Group. David Marberger, worldwide chief Financial officer of Godiva Chocolatier, will serve as a board member.
Paquette firmly believes there is a dearth of venues that need help and services but don’t necessarily want or need full management, especially in secondary and tertiary markets, as well as university venues.
“That segment has really been underserved,” said Paquette, adding that he doesn’t anticipate Pinnacle Venue Services being brought on at buildings that currently have private management.
He described the new company’s approach as “a la carte, really striving to be what the venue needs and not taking the attitude that we’ll come in and do everything for them.”
The company will provide services including securing content, revenue enhancement and marketing initiatives, as well as preopening services. The group has experience in reestablishing, operating and administrative efficiencies, as well as financial review and planning, designing emergency procedures and staff training. Their experience goes on to include customer service, evaluation of ticketing, and food and beverage services, and an overall review of facility management.
As Paquette put it, “we have a lot of industry experience and knowledge, so there’s nothing a venue can go through that we haven’t been through multiple times.”
When Higgons left Global Spectrum he was serving as regional VP, overseeing 16 facilities of varying types. Though he still has great respect for Global Spectrum, Higgons was at a point in his career where he wanted to try to strike out on his own, or with friends.
“It took a lot of time to figure out what the niche would be but it became clear to Tom and I that there are many facility owners out there that could use our services,” said Higgons.
There isn’t a set price structure in place, especially with the services being offered on a case-by-case basis.
“We’ll sit and work with potential clients and figure out what their needs are, then figure out how we can develop a pricing structure or in some cases a revenue share to make it worthwhile,” Higgons added.
With Pinnacle Venue Solutions having just launched the Nov.18 at 8 a.m. PST, there are no current clients, but by 11 a.m., Higgons said he’s “been in sales mode all day.”
When Paquette left AT&T Center, he never even considered retiring. As he put it, “I think I still have a little too much to do and am too energized, plus, I love this industry too much.”
He had previously been attached to Mich Sauers' GFS Associates, launched earlier this year to provide consulting advice and services to facilities throughout the world. Paquette maintains a strong relationship with Sauers and envisions working together on future projects.
“Mich has been a mentor of mine and we’ll work together more than we’ll be competing,” Paquette said. “GFS Associates may look to Pinnacle Venue Services for some things and we may look to them for some assistance.”
Higgons has considered Sauers a mentor for his entire time in the industry, since the day he graduated college.
“We will not compete with Mich’s company,” Higgons clarified. “If he has a lead on a potential project and is already in there, that will be his project, and if he needs us to come in for operations assistance, we’ll do that.”
Another mentor is Frank Roach, who was first approached for advice about the idea of creating Pinnacle Venue Services, not necessarily to come on board.
“Tom called and said he had an idea for a new company and would I be willing to look over the business plans and projections as a friend, and the short version is I looked over them, then when I got back to town asked if he was looking for investors,” said Roach. That conversation led to the opportunity for Roach to come on as a consultant, even though he wasn’t necessarily looking for work after making the announcement last June that he will be retiring from lecturing at the end of this year.
“I think there’s a real prospect out there for a significant change in the way things are done in the secondary and tertiary market venue business,” said Roach. “Maybe we’re all crazy, but having come out of the secondary market arena business myself in a city that certainly did not want to give control to a private management company, there were certainly some areas that we could have used some help in.”
Interviewed for this story: Doug Higgons, (757) 323-9380; Tom Paquette, (210) 784-7189; Frank Roach, (803) 777-5214