It's the goal of any professional to reach the highest point of the mountaintop.

That must mean that Jim Christman is at the summit of his profession after he was recently named among the Top 20 Real Estate Entrepreneurs in North America.Christman, of Palmerton, was named a recipient of the 2014 Pinnacle Award for Real Estate Entrepreneurship, which recognizes the Top 20 agents across the United States and Canada who have built businesses that dominate their local markets.The Pinnacle Award, which is presented by Keller Williams, celebrates the achievements of real estate professionals affiliated with all brands and brokerages.Christman, an associate broker with Keller Williams, in Palmerton, had the award bestowed among him by Keller Williams CEO Marc Willis at the Mega Camp Awards Luncheon in Austin, Texas, in September."It is a great honor to be recognized alongside such accomplished real estate professionals," Christman said. "This award is a testament to our team's dedication to growing our business by serving clients at the very highest level."Working with independent, third-party vendors, data is gathered from every MLS in the United States and Canada. To ensure geographic diversity, the information is broken down regionally.The data is weighted according to a mathematical formula that rewards agents who appeared at the top of one or more of the major production categories, significantly outperformed other top producers in their market, or showed especially strong year-over-year growth.The 2014 Pinnacle Award winners represent 17 states and provinces, as well as more than a dozen different companies.The recipients reflect the strengths of their markets, specializing in everything from new construction to luxury homes.Mostly, though, the Pinnacle Award honorees have built diversified, full-service real estate businesses with a focus on service."This select group encompasses the best of the best; agents of unrivaled accomplishment, integrity and character from across the United States and Canada," Keller Williams Realty co-founder Gary Keller said. "They are great examples to their colleagues, and true leaders in the real estate community."Gary Keller established the Pinnacle Award in 2012 to recognize the very best real estate entrepreneurs.All real estate agents in the United States and Canada are eligible to win.The award is determined through a scoring process based on actual MLS data.Each winner's total score is representative of both the overall volume and total market share of the agent, as well as the agent's ability to grow his or her business by a larger margin than the regional competition.