When George Avila, president and CEO of Action Training Systems, attended the video production program at Portland, Oregon’s Portland Community College in 1979, his ambition was to be a wildlife videographer, traveling the wilds of Alaska, filming nature in action. Instead, his path took him a different way — or rather, several different ways.

His first job after completing the program was in Alaska, but at Evergreen Helicopters in Anchorage, where he filmed pilot training videos for new and experienced pilots. Then he moved on to KATU, the ABC affiliate in Portland, working as a news photographer. His next step took him to a now-defunct Vancouver, Washington, production company that produced firefighting training videos.

It was this final twist in his path that started Avila on the road he continues down today: co-founder, president, and CEO of Poulsbo’s Action Training Systems, a successful video production company that produces training videos and interactive courseware used by firefighters across the nation and in Canada.

“I got laid off,” said Avila. “And I thought ‘I can do this myself.’” And so, in 1988, with the help of a partner, Action Training Systems was born.

Avila used the relationships he had at Fire Protection Publications of Oklahoma State University — the largest publisher of fire fighting training manuals in the country — to get Action Training Systems off the ground.

“I made contact, and it just evolved,” said Avila.

With his partner doing the writing and Avila providing all the video production expertise, Action Training Systems began producing training video tapes to accompany and support Fire Protection Publications’s training manuals on such topics as haz-mat awareness, pumping apparatus, and so on.

“I was practically a one-man production company back then,” Avila remembered.

The company has grown significantly from those days when Avila was a one-man show. Originally based in Seattle, with his partner working from Vancouver, Avila bought out his partner when she decided to retire, and relocated Action Training Systems to Poulsbo where Avila and his family had been living since the mid 1990s.

“We plan on staying in Poulsbo,” said Avila, of both his family and his business.

In the last two years the company has gone from a staff of six to seventeen, including six sales representatives and a full production crew. Its Poulsbo headquarters boasts full computer-based production capabilities, including two non-linear edit suites and in-field production equipment. The company’s inventory currently offers more than 60 titles, almost all available in three formats: video, DVD, and interactive CD-ROM.

“Up until about two years ago, I was the guy who went out to do the field work,” said Avila. Now, “I supervise it. We went from a company that was making $1.5 million a year to making more than $4 million last year.”

Avila and Action Training Systems aren’t just about videos anymore, either. In 1996 the company began developing interactive courseware based on the training videos and delivered via CD-ROM. These interactive titles have been so successful that Action Training Systems needed to develop its own, more robust platform to build them on. As a result, an entirely new company was formed, Illuminar Technologies.

Although it was born from the need to develop new software for Action Training Systems, and is also headed by Avila, Illuminar Technologies is completely independent of Action Training Systems. In addition to developing the robust, proprietary “learning management system” platform for Action Training Systems’s CD-ROMs, Illuminar Technologies recently began exploring partnerships with other businesses that offer training and interactive courseware, such as other publishers, Fortune 1000 companies, and so on.

“This one is really just getting off the ground,” said Avila.

Today Action Training Systems is the only production company of its kind that provides truly interactive courseware. The company is now focusing on developing new programs that correspond with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, rather than relying solely on the Fire Protection Publications manuals.

“NFPA is an important standard because that is the standard that firefighters look to for safety and training,” said Avila.

Action Training Systems is also exploring options to expand their training offerings into other areas.

“We see possibilities in the maritime services and areas in military training content,” said Avila.

But although Action Training Systems may grow, expand, and spawn new companies, one thing remains the same: dedication to their current market.
“I have a really strong commitment to the fire service community,” said Avila. “There’s a mutual respect and trust that’s so important. We will always work with them.”.