SYRACUSE - Pinnacle Capital Management got a new CEO in October and is preparing for more growth along with the rest of the businesses under the Pinnacle Holdings, LLC umbrella.

Steven Pickard took over as CEO of Pinnacle Capital Management, an asset-management firm, on Oct. 15. Pickard, who succeeds Stephen Fauer in the top spot, was with the firm's sister company, broker-dealer Pinnacle Investments, for five years.

He will remain a partner in Pinnacle Investments as well. Pinnacle Capital Management launched in 2006, while Pinnacle Investments began in 1995.

Pickard says Pinnacle Capital Management has been growing and the responsibilities of the CEO position were also increasing. Duties included both corporate work like business development and marketing as well as handling the portfolio-management side of the company.

According to Pinnacle, the company's board determined Pickard would be the right person for the CEO spot based on his performance at Pinnacle Investments, marketing expertise, leadership skills, organization, ability to set and achieve corporate goals, and ability to motivate others. While at Pinnacle Investments, Pickard helped the firm generate new sources of revenue, attract new clients, and increase client assets under management.

Pinnacle Capital Management's original CEO, Fauer, will stay on to focus on portfolio management and client service, while Pickard will concentrate on building the Pinnacle brand, marketing, and the rest of the corporate work. The new arrangement should allow the firm to continue growing, Pickard says.

One of the first tasks Pickard has undertaken is an expansion of Pinnacle Capital Management's sales force. He's already hired one person in that area and is looking for at least one more.

Pickard says he also wants to add portfolio managers. PinnacleCapital Management has five employees. Dan Maffei, who won the race for the 25th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 4, helped launch the business in 2006, but will leave the company Nov. 15.

The firm manages more than $300 mil-lion in assets for individuals, institutions, small businesses, and other corporations.

Other companies under the Pinnacle Holdings umbrella include Confidential Planning Corp., an insurance agency started in 1975 and acquired by Pinnacle in 2007, and Confidential Planning I, a spinoff of Confidential Planning Corp. that provides retirement-plan services to school districts.

All four companies are growing, Pickard adds.

The businesses currently employ 27 people and all are looking to add to their work forces, he says. Pinnacle Investments has 20 employees, Confidential Planning I has four, and Confidential Planning Corp. has three.

Several employees fill positions in more than one company.

The businesses now occupy 6,000 square feet at 507 Plum St. in downtown Syracuse and will soon take over another 4,000 square feet across the hall. The new space will house Pinnacle Capital Management and the two Confidential Planning businesses.

Pickard says the companies have benefited from a trend in recent years back to smaller, boutique financial-services companies one that is likely to continue because of the recent upheaval on Wall Street.

"The large financial institutions are just trying to stay alive right now," he says.

Even before the recent problems at the nation's larger financial companies, however, Pinnacle was growing. Firms like the Pinnacle companies don't have the bureaucracy those bigger corporations do and they don't have dozens of lines of business.

"We can focus on creating wealth and giving our clients the highest level of experience," he says.

Pinnacle also never was involved in any of the risky securities backed by subprime mortgages that caused meltdowns at larger firms, Pickard adds.

Gregg Kidd, Pinnacle Holdings CEO, and Daniel Raite began the Pinnacle companies in 1995 with the launch of broker-dealer Pinnacle Investments, which now has just under $1 billion in assets under management. The two worked together at Smith Barney in Syracuse prior to starting Pinnacle.

The company began in an 800-square-foot office in Cazenovia before moving to a 5,000-square-foot office in DeWitt. The fun moved into its Plum Street offices earlier this year.

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