Phil Trenary, the president and CEO of Pinnacle Airlines addressed Greater Memphis Chamber members Thursday, February 24, at the Peabody Memphis Hotel for the Chamber’s Breakfast Forum series.The Breakfast Forum series is a monthly event which allows Chamber members to network and hear a Memphis business or community leader speak.

Doug Browne, the General Manager of the Peabody Memphis Hotel, welcomed Chamber members and said about the keynote speaker, Phil Trenary, “When I arrived in this city, I started going to events and I decided if I was at the right event if I saw [him] there. Phil Trenary has been a great friend to this hotel and to this city and I’m glad to hear him speak today.”

Introduced by Chamber president and CEO, John Moore, Phil Trenary is the president and CEO of Pinnacle Airlines Corp., a $1 billion airline which employs 7,700 employees. Pinnacle Airlines recently chose One Commerce Square in downtown Memphis to be their new headquarters.

Moore stated, “When Northwest was trying to decide who to hire in 1997, the question was who will fit all the characteristics we’re looking for? It would have to be someone with an incredible amount of integrity, someone who would fit in to the Memphis culture, and be viewed as a trusted and committed leader in the community as well as someone who was capable of building the airline everyone envisioned Pinnacle would one day be. Pinnacle is where it is today because of Phil’s leadership.”

Addressing a crowd of over 200, Phil Trenary spoke about the assets, organizations and great leaders Memphis has going for it. His first point was about the hub at Memphis International Airport saying, “The economic impact is $28 billion and one in every three jobs is generated by our hub. Memphis is the smallest city in the nation that has an airline hub. What that means to you and those who want to join us in Memphis, is that we have over 100 non-stop destinations everyday out of Memphis.”

Trenary also spoke about why Memphis is such a great place to live and why it attracts outside companies saying, “Memphis is biotech, Memphis is logistics and think about the people and organizations that have made Memphis what it is today. That speaks about our innovation and entrepreneurship as well and that’s what makes our country great. Memphis has more going for it than anyplace else right now.”

MemphisED and Memphis Fast Forward are two organizations that Trenary mentioned which help grow the economic and community development of Memphis. Trenary stated that with the support of MemphisED, the Greater Memphis Chamber has helped create over 11,000 new jobs and $440 million in new payroll and $3 billion in new expenditures.

The Memphis Economic Development (MemphisED) Plan serves as the economic development component of a broader economic growth initiative for Memphis/Shelby County called Memphis Fast Forward. MemphisED is led by the Greater Memphis Chamber. The plan is designed to ensure that both Memphis/Shelby County has a strong and diverse economy, fosters innovation and entrepreneurship, and advance the region’s global leadership in the bioscience, music/film and logistics industries.

Trenary closed with why Pinnacle chose to move their headquarters to downtown Memphis. He stated that when Pinnacle was looking for a space downtown, various business and community leaders stepped up to make it happen.

“We have a great downtown—you can walk to places that feature the arts like the Cannon Center, walk down South Main which has a vibrant community—everything is right here and we’re all competing for the best and brightest and where else would you want them to be but downtown?” said Phil Trenary.

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