The Networker

Former Williston economic development director puts worldwide connections to work

BY KRIS BEVILL

Only a few minutes into an interview with Tom Rolfstad, the interviewer has become the interviewee: “So where are you from originally? What’s your family’s last name? Oh, sure, I know ...”

After spending 35 years in economic development - the last 25 of them as executive director of Williston (N.D.) Economic Development (WED) - making connections has become second nature for Rolfstad.

A self-described networker with contacts stretching around the world, the North Dakota native is an architect by training, but he says his interest in civics and community led him to apply his eye for design to the conceptual world of economic development instead, a career which technically ended last fall with his retirement from WED. While the highs and lows were many throughout his career, he says it is the many valuable relationships made through decades of development work that he is most proud of. And while he may have retired from public work, Rolfstad is far from retired, choosing instead to capitalize on his extensive network as a development consultant and venture capitalist.

In January, Rolfstad launched the Rolfstad Group with a goal of connecting developers and investors with projects in North Dakota, serving as a concierge of sorts for outside interests looking to invest in the state and in need of local connections in order to be successful.

“Today there’s money - New York kind of money - that wants to be out here investing in the Bakken,” he says. “But it’s not as though that money only wants to be in the Bakken. I think it’s an opportunity for all of North Dakota and maybe the entire Midwest to kind of grow up and be part of the bigger economy that’s out there that attracts investment from all over the world.”

North Dakotans have historically done business primarily with family or people they have a personal connection with, making it difficult for “outsiders” to get in on the action. Rolfstad seeks to be the local connection who helps facilitate deals, but he stresses that his motivation for launching the Rolfstad Group isn’t his own potential for profit but rather a desire to continue growing the state’s economy. “We have a tremendous tax climate and the Bakken is a catalyst for tremendous growth, so how can we capitalize on that to move North Dakota beyond being an agricultural state to become a leader in the world economy?” he says.

Technology could play a vital role in advancing both the state’s oil industry and its agriculture industry. Rolfstad sees similarities in the types of technologies that could advance both industries, and he’s taken an interest in helping to foster some of the most promising possibilities. In January, he signed on as a venture partner with Fargobased Linn Grove Ventures, a venture capital fund focused primarily on opportunities that apply technology to improve the agriculture and health care industries. Dan Hodgson, managing director of the firm, says Rolfstad’s three decades of experience with agriculture and oil in western North Dakota, and the contacts that go with it, provide unique expertise to the firm. “He’s seen, and has a network to see, many things,” Hodgson says. “So in a market where technology is now being applied to increase efficiency, in agriculture and well as in oil, it makes sense for both investors and people with expertise across North Dakota to team up to find best opportunities.”

Meanwhile, the results of Rolfstad’s quarter-century of economic development continue to be realized in Williston. Shawn Wenko, who served as assistant executive director of WED for seven years before taking over Rolfstad’s role in November, credits Rolfstad for helping to establish a market for pulse crops in western North Dakota, for example, and myriad other projects that he says will continue to be realized for years to come. “Tom was here at a time when you almost couldn’t get anything going in the area of economic development for Williston, or western North Dakota for that matter,” he says. “He’s seen both ends of the spectrum - when it was ice cold to when it’s red hot. He’s a tremendous advocate of the agriculture sector, he’s a tremendous advocate of the oil and gas sector. Some of the stuff he worked on, we’re still seeing the fruits of that labor.”

The pendulum may be swinging a bit from the red hot side of action in the Bakken currently, but Rolfstad quickly points out the benefits of a slowdown - reduced housing and construction costs, an extended economic benefit, and a chance for developers to breath after five years of running ragged. “At the same time, the industry is a laissaz-faire type of economy and you really can’t tell it how to behave, so you have to ride the waves as they come in,” he says. “While maybe the waves are waning right now, I think they’ll be waxing before long.” PB

Kris Bevill Editor, Prairie Business 701-306-8561, kbevill@prairiebizmag.com