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New Business Expansion and Development
June was a great month for growing businesses in the Flathead.
Todd Kolstad, founder and CEO of Montana Technical Solutions, announced that his company will be opening their second Montana division in the Flathead Valley this summer. Mr. Kolstad told a gathering of the Flathead Technology Roundtable that Flathead County had the right philosophy of collaboration and forward thinking to entice him to the area.
Montana Technical Solutions Press Release
WaveSource, Inc., a cutting-edge technology company in the contact lens field, was awarded $87,633 from the Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology. Additionally WaveSource has been successful in securing $600,000 in private equity funding enabling them to move forward with their innovative eye exam technology and the production of custom multifocal contact lenses in Kalispell.
Aqua Algae-Culture Technologies received a $10,000 Big Sky Trust Fund Grant for their work on an Organic Carbon Engine (OCE) at their site at F.H.Stoltze Land and Lumber in Columbia Falls.
Aqua Algae-Culture Technologies Press Release
Valley Wide Marketing Initiative Kick-off May 24th
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Collaboration and team work have resulted in a county-wide initiative for economic development. The creation of cohesive strategy to promote the valley as a place to do business will kick-off May 24th. The effort will address both local businesses searching for resources to expand as well as the recruitment of out-of-state businesses and entrepreneurs using a variety of tactics ranging from traditional marketing to social media.
Flathead County Economic Development Authority, Montana West Economic Development, the Cities of Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish and all local Chambers of Commerce along with Glacier Park International Airport combined funding to match a $20,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce’s Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund.
Eric Canada, principle at BlaneCanada a firm specializing in economic development marketing, will work with representatives from the communities to sculpt a comprehensive five-year marketing plan with a two-year implementation program with goals, strategies, tactics, timeline and budget to promote the area to specified industries as a quality-of-life location with a pro-business attitude.
The report identified strengths that the Flathead Valley could build upon. These included natural amenities and a high quality-of-life, exceptional access to broadband and a favorable business tax climate that ranks Montana 6th in the nation (www.taxfoundation.org).
Preceding the engagement of Mr. Canada, Montana West Economic Development commissioned Dr. Brad Eldredge, PhD, Flathead Valley Community College, to analyze current data and determine where jobs in the future will more than likely come from in the Flathead.
Dr. Eldredge’s report concluded with focusing on suggested industry sectors including knowledge based industries, tourism, machine and metals manufacturing, and “lone eagles”. The lone eagle sector is comprised of the growing number of the workers that live in one community, but are employed by a company in another region or city; or those that own a business that is location agnostic.
By leveraging amenities, quality-of-life and existing industries, the report suggested that Flathead County focus on attracting knowledge intensive industries. These industries are the highest paying and fastest growing industries producing goods and services where knowledge is a key input into the production process. The report quoted Richard Florida’s book “The Creative Class” which illustrates the link between amenities and the attraction of knowledge workers also known as “lone eagles,” “the creative class,” or “lifestyle CEOs”. Research shows that a community’s amenities are a key driver in their location decisions. Important amenities include:
• A critical mass of other relatively young knowledge workers
• Easy access to a wide range of outdoor activities
• A wide range of entertainment and nightlife options, including alcohol free options
• A clean, healthy environment and a commitment to preserving the environment for recreational enjoyment
• A lifestyle that is youth friendly and supportive of diversity
(See Florida, 2000).
In addition to targeting these industries the marketing plan is expected to create a road map to assist Flathead County in identifying and communicating to business owners and entrepreneurs who visit the valley or desire a rich lifestyle that the Flathead Valley and its communities are a great place to do business and welcome them.
View the entire report at www.DoBusinessInMontana.com.
Montana West Economic Development is a non-profit private/public partnership dedicated to Quality Job Growth, a Broader Tax Base, Economic Diversity and Regional Collaboration to benefit the broader Flathead community through attraction, retention and growth of businesses.
314 Main Street
Kalispell, MT 59901
406-257-7711
FAX 406-257-7772
www.DoBusinessInMontana.com
Flathead Valley well connected with fiber; ahead of national broadband goals
Kalispell, MT . . . CenturyLink (CenturyTel, Inc. NYSE: CTL) and the Montana West Economic Development Corporation (MWED) are working together to inform Flathead Valley residents about the advanced fiber network in place throughout the area that allows residents and businesses to take advantage of high-speed Internet or broadband services.
“With the recent announcement from Google about building and testing high-speed broadband networks in trial locations, we’ve gotten several questions about whether we are considering applying for a grant to be one of the trial areas,” said Kellie Danielson, president of Montana West and CEO of the Flathead County Economic Development Authority. “What many of our residents may not be aware of is that we already take advantage of advanced services through CenturyLink’s robust fiber network.”
Over the years, CenturyLink has invested more than $170 million to build a high-capacity fiber network throughout the Flathead Valley. The company has also recently secured additional fiber creating another redundant path out of the Valley, making the Flathead Valley one of the most secure communities in the region for advanced business and residential communications needs. With this recent addition, the Kalispell area now has more than 600 miles of fiber throughout the Valley.
“Recently, the FCC released the National Broadband Plan, with the long-term goal of having 1 Gigabit service to anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and military installations in each community over the next decade. We have exceeded that goal, and have had speeds of 1 Gigabit per second or more in the Flathead Valley for almost 5 years,” said Jeremy Ferkin, CenturyLink vice president and general manager of the company’s Rocky Mountain market. “Additionally, CenturyLink today offers Metro Ethernet services with speeds up to 40 Gigabits per second in selected areas, the highest speeds available. This allows us to attract bandwidth intense businesses who are location agnostic, like teleworkers, programmers, data storage facilities, and others that prefer to work from this part of Montana.
“Our residential customers can take advantage of the more than 4,000 homes/lots with fiber to the home (FTTH). Additionally, more than 94% of the homes in the Flathead Valley have high-speed Internet available to them, and almost 70% of those homes can currently purchase speeds up to 10 Mbps, making the Flathead Valley one of the most connected, highest speed available communities in the nation,” Ferkin said.
“Flathead Valley has been an attractive location for founders of businesses where quality of life and safety is important. CenturyLink’s investment has placed the Flathead on the map for growing and expanding business,” Danielson said.
“CenturyLink is a proven and experienced broadband services provider. We are committed to a long-term relationships with our communities and to deploying and expanding broadband capability in our markets,” Ferkin said. “We have an advanced network, experienced employees and a rich tradition of deploying, maintaining and supporting our network.”
About CenturyLink
CenturyLink is a leading provider of high-quality voice, broadband and video services over its advanced communications networks to consumers and businesses in 33 states. CenturyLink, headquartered in Monroe, La., is an S&P 500 Company and expects to be listed in the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations. For more information on CenturyLink, visit www.centurylink.com.
About Montana West
Montana West Economic Development Corporation is a public-private organization advancing economic development in the Flathead Valley. Located at 314 Main Street in Kalispell, Montana West provides resources to expanding business including loan products and finance solutions. Learn more about Montana West at www.dobusinessinmontana.com.
Leadership in Both the Public and Private Sectors Critical to Economic Growth
October 15th, Kalispell, MT
Leadership is the first and foremost requirement for successful economic development according to Jay Garner of Garner Economics, an economic development firm in Atlanta, GA. Mr. Garner addressed a group of over a hundred business and community leaders at the annual Montana West Economic Development Dinner.
Defining economic development as wealth building, Mr. Garner explained that communities that are successful at attracting new businesses, encouraging existing business and nurturing start-ups are those that come to the table totally prepared with careful research, available resources and an executable plan. The process of identifying appropriate industries and businesses to recruit is not one that is easy or inexpensive, but it is possible and recommended for areas that are serious about sustainable business development.
Successful communities have identifiable traits in common. Both private businesses and the local governments must have a vested interest in economic development and the citizens must have a common vision of the future. Communities must be nimble and have resources at the ready for when opportunities present themselves. Most importantly leadership must be strong, united and accomplished at consensus building.
Montana West Economic Development’s board also approved the new 2010 executive board members. Karen Witt, U.S. Bank; Rita Braun, Braun & Company; Clint Walker, His & Hers Publishing, Pierre Kaptanian, 1st National Bank of Montana; Jeremy Peresta, Parkside Federal Credit Union; and Jason Spring, North Valley Hospital were nominated by the membership and approved by the board for two-year positions.
Tim Kluesner, Kalispell City Councilman, won the original piece of artwork donated by Marshall Noice.
For additional information about Jay Garner’s visit, view these articles.
“Leadership Makes Communities”, Daily Inter Lake, October 16th
FedEx Facility Breaks Ground
Thanks to the persistance, hard work and collaboration
of many people the construction of the new FedEx
Ground facility was started October 14th.
DCP Kalispell, a development firm headed by Ron
Buchanan of Roswell, Ga., builds facilities across
the nation and leases them to FedEx. Kramer
Construction of Kalispell is a partner on this project.
The new facility will be an 18,000 square foot,
state-of-the-art building providing both ground service
and electronic tracking of packages from the facility.
Bob Smith, Smith Excavating Lakeside; Ron Buchanan, DCP Kalispell and Terry Kramer, Kramer Enterprises smile as the first dirt is moved at Old School Station for the new FedEx Facility.
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