InBusiness Quarterly

SUMMER 2015

20 40

UNDER

Meet the top young business professionals who excel in entrepreneurship, leadership, creative vision, innovation and dedication to community

2 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Top 20 business professionals under 40 years of age selected by Missoulian from community nominations Missoulian

‌ he honorees in the Missoulian’s third T annual tribute to 20 Young Business Professionals Under 40 are a diverse and impressive group of civic and business leaders.

They were selected from more than 100 equally impressive nominations.

This year’s 20 honorees are the tops for many reasons. They’ve conserved thousands of acres of wildlife habitat.

They’ve put food on the table of our community’s neediest families, and cared for our elders. They’ve counseled troubled children, encouraged us all to eat healthier, and led the way in a

burgeoning movement to deconstruct and reuse older buildings.

All are working to hold onto what’s best about, and to improve upon, our little corner of the world.

All before the age of 40.

The 20 Under 40 winners were chosen

by Missoulian reporters and editors.

They are not ranked, but were chosen based on information provided in a nomination form and after weighing career accomplishments, spirit of entrepreneurship, business vision and their impact within the community.

We hope you enjoy reading the resulting stories, and meeting some of your exceptional neighbors.

Publisher Mark Heintzelman Editor Sherry Devlin Reporters Perry Backus, Kim Briggeman, Rob Chaney, Vince Devlin, David Erickson, Kathryn Haake, Dillon Kato, Martin Kidston, Keila Szpaller and Cory Walsh Photographers Tom Bauer, Loren Benoit, Rob Chaney, Vince Devlin, David Erickson, Michael Gallacher, Michelle McConnaha and Kurt Wilson Advertising Mindy Glenna, 523-5211 Mailing address P.O. Box 8029, Missoula, MT 59807-8029 Phone (406) 523-5240

20 UNDER 40 ‌ MANDA AND A STEVE ROSBARSKY

INGRID LOVITT-ABRAMSON

Co-owners, Missoula Taekwondo Center Page 3

Director of operations and development, Roxy Theater and International Wildlife Film Festival Page 14

HEATHER KNUTSON Polson mayor, General manager, Country Pasta Page 4 CHRISTINE BRISSETTE

Western Montana InBusiness is a publication of the Missoulian

President and CEO of Consumer Direct Care Networks Page 15

Nursery manager, Vander Meer’s Wildland Conservation Nursery and watershed manager for Watershed Consulting Page 5

JASON NUCKOLLS

MELANIE BROCK

Elementary school counselor, President of the Montana School Counselors Association Page 17

Owner, Brock Consulting Page 6 ANDREA BETHEL Probation and parole officer, U.S. Marshal Page 7 JENNIFER DOHERTY Director of lands, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Page 8 AARON BROCK Executive director, Missoula Food Bank Page 9 CARL CHRISTOFFERSON Lawn, landscape and mini-storage owner Page 10 ALEX BAER AND SARAH TARKA-BAER Co-owners of Missoula Healthy Vending and Missoula Healthy Delivery Page 11 NICK MONACO

Summer 2015, Vol. 3, No. 2

BEN BLEDSOE

Independent Auto Dealer, Owner Florence Auto Mall Page 12

Deconstruction manager, Home ReSource Page 16 CATIE COOK DENNEHY

RYAN MARTIN Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations, University of Montana Page 18 COLA ROWLEY Missoula County commissioner Page 19 CHRISTA WEATHERS Executive director, Open Aid Alliance Page 20 HILLARY WANDLER University of Montana law professor Page 21 PAT AND COLIN BOYLE Certified Public Accountants, Boyle, Deveny and Meyer Page 22 JOSHUA LISBON MPG Ranch education and community outreach manager Page 23

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 3

Business: 20 under 40

Couple sees partnership as key to growth

37, 39 AMANDA AND STEVE ROSBARSKY Co-owners, Missoula Taekwondo Center Hometown: Missoula Family: Two children: Lydia, 12, and Edison, 8; two cats, Sherman and Sarafina Hobbies: Playing with the children, skiing, hiking and fishing Best business advice: You have to love it, because it’s such a personal investment.

Three keys to success: Be honest in your marketing: Let clients see what you do and decide if they want it before seeking commitments.

You need a partner who balances your strengths and weaknesses.

Partners don’t vie for position: A candle can’t shine light on itself.

ROB CHANEY rchaney@missoulian.com‌

T

here’s no manual for taking a martial arts studio from 35 students to 300.

But as students and opportunities kept coming, Amanda and Steve Rosbarsky kept finding ways to roll with the momentum of their Missoula Taekwondo Center.

For a while, it meant adding hours to the day to accommodate class sizes.

Then it meant finding large-enough spaces to hold those classes. Over the years, it meant watching former students blossom into future employees.

The dojang, or training center, at 2305 S. Grant St. runs classes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. five days a week, with practice space available on Saturdays.

That doesn’t count the tournaments, public demonstrations, school visits and special training opportunities that crowd the calendar.

Steve started learning taekwondo in

the 1980s in Missoula, and grew into an international-level competitor and coach for world championship teams.

Amanda entered the discipline in 2001, and by 2014 was winning medals at international tournaments.

They opened the center in 2002, depending on each other’s respective talents to make the business run. Steve brought decades of experience learning from and competing with some of the world’s top taekwondo masters.

Amanda added the logistical and administrative skills a business needs to advance.

“I’m a very organized individual – I’m always thinking about scheduling and keeping the lights on,” Amanda said. In addition to coaching students, she has led the center’s efforts to get taekwondo recognized as a varsity letter sport in local high schools and organized a campaign “Worth the Fight” to educate women in self-defense.

Most of the employees at Missoula Taekwondo Center came up through the ranks of martial arts training.

“Because of the way we teach, the ones who stay to black belt are quality people or become quality people,” Steve said. “We’re raising employees.

We’ve never had to hire outside of our student body.”

The Rosbarskys said they’ve done without the contracts or commitments many other martial arts and exercise studios depend on to keep customers engaged. Instead, they rely on students nurturing their own sense of belonging and dedication to learning the skills.

Part of the center’s growth was driven by opportunities in business space. In 2008, a chance came to expand from the center’s Quanset hut training room into the building next door. That greatly enlarged the room for practice as well as offices, storage and retail equipment sales. It also expanded their rent payment by five times.

“Our goal has always been to do as much as we can by ourselves,” Steve said of the construction work necessary to mate the two buildings. “We’re not afraid to work, and we’re grateful for the challenges.

“If we didn’t have challenges or hard times, we would have let this all slip away. It would have been too easy.”

ROB CHANEY, Missoulian

“Because of the way we teach, the ones who stay to black belt are quality people or become quality people.”

– Steve Rosbarsky

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4 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Focus on solutions, not problems

39 HEATHER KNUTSON Polson mayor

General manager, Country Pasta Hometown: Polson Age: 39 Family: Partner Brad Walter, 14-month-old son Rokton.

Pet: Zeus, a cocker spaniel-St. Bernard cross.

Hobbies: “I had some prior to being mayor and a mom,” Knutson says with a laugh, listing water and snow skiing, snowboarding, hiking and running.

VINCE DEVLIN, Missoulian‌

“My dad told me, ‘You can do it,’ and it led to this big blowout fight.”

Best advice: “Focus on solutions, not problems. We are always faced with problems and challenges, and while it may be tempting to get stuck in the issue at hand, it is much more valuable and productive to focus on possible solutions. This I learned from my dad. He always had a – Heather Knutson way of making things work and I firmly believe the reason he did was because he The meeting went quite well. The “My dad told me, ‘You can do it,’ would not dwell on the problems he faced relationship with Sam’s Club still exists, and it led to this big blowout fight,” in business, but instead was constantly as do ones with Costco, Walmart, SafeHeather says. looking for the solutions and moving way, Super 1, Rosauers and other grocery She preferred to work behind the forward.” chains and independents. scenes, helping to prepare for the meetThree keys to success: Twenty-five-year-old Country Pasta ings, and let Country Pasta marketing today makes and sells 2 1/2 million Be passionate about what you do. and account manager Dan Johnson take pounds of pasta annually – all of it the point. That, despite her business Be honest and fair. degree, with a marketing emphasis, from from 100 percent durum semolina, not Be humble.

Montana State University, and time spent a blend; with fresh eggs, not frozen or powdered; and rolled and cut the oldworking at a Billings advertising agency fashioned way. prior to moving home to Polson.

VINCE DEVLIN Even though Knutson’s mother, Linda, In 2009 – three years after Dean vdevlin@missoulian.com‌ sold the business to Fred and Amy KelKnutson died – Johnson passed away logg in 2008, the new owners quickly unexpectedly as well. Three weeks after OLSON – Heather Knutson evendecided to keep Heather on. tually lost the biggest argument she that, Heather found herself alone in She’s the general manager of a busiArkansas, for a scheduled sales meeting ever had with her father. ness she started working at in 1990, with Sam’s Club.

She insisted she wasn’t ready to take “I sat in the waiting room, and I could “probably illegally,” she admits with a the lead in sales calls to some of the smile, because of her age. just imagine Dan and Dad laughing nation’s largest retailers as her parents

somewhere,” she says. “I could hear sought to expand the market for their Whatever confidence Knutson them saying, ‘You know what, you’re once-little Polson business, Counlacked on her first solo sales call in 2009 going to do this whether you like it or try Pasta. has certainly been found. In 2013, the Dean Knutson said that was nonsense. not.’ ”

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political novice won a three-way race for Polson mayor with 51 percent of the vote.

“It wasn’t ever a goal to run for mayor,” Knutson says, “but someone dropped a bug in my ear. Ultimately, I felt it was a way to give back to a community that’s been so great to me. I had no agenda other than to help my hometown become a better place.”

It hasn’t been easy, even though Polson has a city manager who oversees the day-to-day operations of municipal government.

Knutson and incoming city commission members inherited a situation that previous city leaders had largely ignored for years, if not decades – a looming Jan. 1, 2018 deadline for meeting Environmental Protection Agency regulations regarding Polson’s wastewater and sewage treatment.

The solution – a yet-to-be-built mechanical treatment plant to replace an aging lagoon system that discharges effluent into the Flathead River – will cost millions of dollars.

“The fact that we need to do it is critical,” Knutson says, “but the whole process has been intense.”

Knutson took the lead in explaining unpopular and hefty rate increases needed to help pay for the new plant to residents, and says “the commissioners did a great job” in selecting a $14.5 million sequence batch reactor plant that will meet the EPA requirements and can be upgraded in the future.

“We may not know if we made the right decision for years,” Knutson says, “but I have no doubt we made the best decision with the information we had at the time.”

Before he dove into the food business, Dean Knutson started other successful businesses in Polson – a paint and glass store, an Earth Stove manufacturing plant, a fabricating shop – and his daughter says she grew up “with all the business lingo, all the challenges.”

“I feel fortunate I had that exposure to his unique ability to make things happen,” Heather says. “He found a way to get things done, and he did it by not focusing on the problems, but finding solutions.”

That outlook has served his daughter well in the business world, and seems to be working in her second job too, as the mayor of her hometown.

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 5

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

From seed to soil, forests, wetlands restored

29 CHRISTINE BRISSETTE

Nursery manager, Vander Meer’s Wildland Conservation Nursery and watershed manager for Watershed Consulting Hometown: Vineyard Haven, Mass.

Family: Boyfriend in Missoula; parents and brother on the East Coast Hobbies: Gardening, cooking backpacking Best business advice: “Get some hands-on experience. There are a lot of people who want to do this work, and I know the people who we’re most interested in hiring are people who have actually worked outside before who are willing to get dirty and work hard.”

Three keys to success: “Anyone who works with me would say that I’m a very hard worker and a dedicated worker and that I take the work that I do really seriously. I think about it on the weekends and off hours, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I really care about the work that I do and I stay up worrying if it’s not working, and I feel a real sense of success and fulfillment when things do work out eventually.”

“Working for a business that has allowed me the flexibility to kind of create the path that I want to take.”

“Living in Missoula is pretty key. Being able to live in a community that is supportive of the kind of work that we do, but that also is just inspiring to do this kind of work, to do restoration work.”

DAVID ERICKSON david.erickson@missoulian.com‌

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s the nursery manager for Vander Meer’s Wildland Conservation Nursery and the watershed manager for Watershed Consulting in Missoula, Christine Brissette juggles multiple responsibilities and often switches from typing budgets on her office computer to getting her hands dirty with native plant seedlings deep in the woods.

Brissette, 29, grows nearly 8,000 native plants from seed every year, and they’re all destined for different stream and forest restoration projects around the state.

At the company greenhouse in the Rattlesnake, she watches over 50 different species of seedlings, from aspen to rabbit brush to buffalo berry to Douglas fir. That’s only part of her job, though.

“I do a little bit of everything, from growing the plants in the nursery, to managing the crews that do the planting, to doing the design and interface with clients, to doing design proposals and budgets,” she said. “So rather than having a job description handed to me, being able to develop that job description and have it be a fluid process that changes has been key. Having employers that support that is huge.”

The company has a big contract with the MPG Ranch near Florence to replenish native plant species.

“We’ve probably done 30,000 plants down there,” she said. “Two-thirds of the plants that we planted were grown from seed that we collected on-site at MPG Ranch, brought to our greenhouse and then out-planted there, so it’s that full cycle, which is kind of neat.”

Brissette’s boss, Mark Vander Meer, hired her six years ago.

“I quickly recognized her talents and included environmental assessments and project implementation to her job

DAVID ERICKSON, Missoulian‌

“I do a little bit of everything, from growing the plants in the nursery, to managing the crews that do the planting, to doing the design and interface with clients, to doing design proposals and budgets.”

– Christine Brissette description,” he said. “Much of our work involves solving difficult problems with creative solutions. Christine consistently applies her talents by developing new techniques and approaches to the ecologic restoration effort. Because of her creative vision and dedication to this work, projects under her command always have superior results.”

Brissette leads the company’s contract soils assessment work with the U.S. Forest Service, handling contract issues, logistics, crew leadership and reporting. She also teaches college-age students about native flora, seed collections, propagation strategies and natural history.

She worked on projects at the Anaconda Superfund Site, and now Brissette is the technical lead on the company’s sales of floating treatment wetlands.

“Since we initiated this enterprise, Christine has become a serious student of freshwater ecology, water-quality improvement sciences and hydrology,” Vander Meer said. “She developed a traveling presentation that imparts the science behind floating treatment wetlands to audiences not familiar with the

discipline. She enjoys teaching the rest of our staff about her recent discoveries, and we appreciate her insatiable curiosity.”

Brissette grew up in New England and earned a degree in ecological community development and design from the University of Vermont.

She works every summer conducting surveys of alpine lake campsites and weeds for the Great Burn Study Group, and this fall she will be attending graduate school at the UM College of Forestry and Conservation to focus on stream restoration, monitoring, water conservation and in-stream flows.

With climate change rapidly altering how much water is in streams and rivers, Brissette feels this area of study will be important in the coming years.

“Montana is pristine and beautiful in many ways, but it has also has been pretty heavily abused in a lot of ways, so to see both sides of that in one place and live in a place that has recreational access to all of these incredible areas, that made me successful too,” she explained.

6 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

‘Driven, thoughtful, results-oriented’ civic, business leader

35 Three keys to success:

“I knew as soon as I was done with school I wanted to take my skills to Montana.”

Respond, don’t react.

– Melanie Brock

MELANIE BROCK

Owner, Brock Consulting Hometown: Scranton, Penn.

Family: Husband Aaron; two daughters, Annabelle, 5, Clara, 3 Pets: Cat, Tuna Hobbies: Dancing, Oula, being outdoors, spending time with family.

Best business advice: Don’t write what you can say. Especially in a digital age of emails and text messages, a phone call and chat over a cup of coffee will yield you better results and deeper relationships.

Identify role models and ask for their help.

Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.

executive director of the Missoula Food Bank and who is also on this year’s “20 Under 40” list, in a magazine writDILLON KATO ing class while they were in school at dillon.kato@missoulian.com‌ Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania.

After getting her undergraduate fter a career of working for others, Melanie Brock gave into her entre- degree, the two moved to Missoula, where she received a master’s degree in preneurial streak and started her political science from the University of own company.

Last year, after a series of jobs working Montana. Her first experience with the state was a trip with Aaron shortly after for Montana politicians and Missoula he had graduated. business organizations, Brock launched “I can remember my first time passing her own fund development and public through Missoula, my jaw dropped,” affairs firm, Brock Consulting.

Brock said. “I knew as soon as I was done Brock, who grew up in Scranton, with school I wanted to take my skills Penn., said her experience in politics to Montana.” began when she was young, growAfter working for Project Vote Smart in ing up as the daughter of a politician Philipsburg, she went to work for thenand salesman.

“Early on, I was knocking on doors and senator Max Baucus, working her way up from a field representative to his state working at the polls,” Brock said. finance director.

Melanie met her husband Aaron, now

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MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

After a brief job with the Montana Meth Project, Brock became the state finance director for Governor Steve Bullock, and is still a senior finance adviser.

She also ran two of Missoula Mayor John Engen’s election campaigns.

In 2013, she became the interim director of the Missoula Downtown Association, which she said changed her mindset about what she wanted to work on in the future.

“I decided I didn’t want to just work in politics, I wanted to apply my skills to business and community development,” she said.

She said the people she has met, from state politicians to Missoula business people, have shaped her professional life in profound ways.

“My advice is find the person you want to be and ask them to teach you everything they know,” Brock said.

She went from working with the MDA to the Missoula Economic Partnership, but knew that she was ready to go out on her own.

“I had that entrepreneurial spirit to start my own business,” she said.

Brock recently joined the Missoula Redevelopment Agency board, and is also a member of the board of the Missoula Urban Transportation District.

Instead of an office, Brock said she does most of her work at coffee shops around town, most often at Caffe Dolce.

“I always have my laptop, so I can pop in wherever I can get a seat and a cup of tea,” she said.

Brock’s husband Aaron said his wife is “the genuine article.”

“There’s a perception that she’s driven, thoughtful and results-oriented. That’s just how she looks at life. I’m in awe of it,” he said.

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 7

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

U.S. marshal works to rehabilitate convicts

31

supervision program. She meets with the clients’ contacts, like their bosses, their friends, family and neighbors, multiple times a month to make sure the offender is on track and not slipping up, while monitoring their 24-hour schedule.

“We have spot checks on their schedules, to make sure they are where they ought to be because they generally tend to go a little off compared to normal people,” she explained. “If they go, they go kind ANDREA BETHEL of big. If they are going to re-offend or Probation and parole officer, do something illegal, usually it’s a pretty U.S. Marshal serious case.”

When she graduated from the UniverHometown: Stevensville sity of Montana in 2006, she had every Family: Mom, Marty Birkeneder, and intention of attending law school and stepdad, Joe Birkeneder; dad, Russ becoming a judge like her mother, former Bethel Stevensville town Judge Marty Birkeneder.

Brothers: Dwain Bethel, Michael But she needed a break from school.

Birkeneder When she saw an advertisement for a position in the probation and parole office Sister: Allie Silbernage that she felt unqualified for, she applied Pets: Mack anyway and was offered the job that she’s Hobbies: Anything outside on the water happily kept for the past nine years.

For Bethel, it’s her dream job.

Best advice: “Be kind, for everyone you “You get to see people in the lowest of meet is fighting a battle you know nothing lows make the most extraordinary changes about.” in their life,” she said. “And then you find Three keys to success: the people that really aren’t committed to making those changes and there’s a Stay true to your morals and ethics. certain amount of pride that comes from Keep life in perspective. removing them from the community and Create and work toward meaningful preventing future victims.” goals.

Despite the high stress that comes with keeping tabs on high-risk offenders, the 31-year-old’s desk is impeccably clean, KATHRYN HAAKE which matches her no-nonsense personkate.haake@missoulian.com‌ ality.

“Most people don’t know what we do or ndrea Bethel pulls out a small stack why we exist,” she said. of letters from her top desk drawer And that’s partly because, her work and reads one written by a former varies from helping drug addicts like the client. He says his son’s heart transplant aforementioned client stay clean, to keepwent well and thanks her for “saving ing offenders accountable after they are his life.” out of jail.

It’s not the type of letter a probation Currently, she works a staggering 70 and parole officer expects from their former clients, but Bethel said she worked hours a week and when she is the on-call officer, she sleeps with her phone on her with this man to get him a nine-month in-patient treatment for his 20-year meth pillow so she will wake up if a police officer or deputy sheriff calls with a question addiction. He’s been out of jail and clean about one of the parolees. ever since.

“There’s no such thing as a normal day During the past nine years, she has in my world,” she explained. “Every single been pleasantly surprised at how much day is different, and I think that’s why I she’s enjoyed working in the criminal like it.”

Bethel works with former convicts who justice system. have the highest risk to re-offend and are monitored through her office’s intensive See BETHEL, Page 13

MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

“There’s no such thing as a normal day in my world. Every single day is different, and I think that’s why I like it.”

- Andrea Bethel

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8 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Working to preserve elk, habitat

35 JENNIFER DOHERTY

Director of lands, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Hometown: Manitowoc, Wisconsin Family: Husband Mitch; kids Donovan, 3, and Gillian, 1 Pets: One dog, Scruggs Hobbies: Skiing, river rafting, pheasant and antelope hunting, canning, sewing Best business advice: “The conservation community in western Montana is vibrant and there are so many opportunities to get involved, so I would just say get involved in any capacity that you can and believe in what you are doing and work hard at it. There’s so many people in this community and throughout the history of conservation in Montana that are here to help you, so seek advice.”

Three keys to success: “Never undervalue the art of listening.”

“I truly believe in what we do here and what I’m a part of, and frankly, working your ass off if you believe in it.”

“I’ve learned so much from past and present conservation leaders here at the RMEF and through our partners and I think some of it is, just always realize you have so much more to learn. There’s so much to learn out there from people.”

DAVID ERICKSON, Missoulian‌

“My family and I utilize public lands every chance we get. I think it’s easily taken for granted and times are changing rapidly. The time to do something about it is now.”

“We use a variety of tools to protect wildlife habitat on private land, as well as protecting and enhancing and improving public lands, both for recreation DAVID ERICKSON and obviously for elk habitat and other david.erickson@missoulian.com‌ wildlife,” she explained. “We work in every state that has wild, free-ranging elk, s director of lands at the Rocky so I have about nine or 10 staff and some Mountain Elk Foundation, contractors spread throughout the coun35-year-old Jennifer Doherty has try who put together these deals and do had a hand in conserving approximately 77,500 acres of prime elk habitat in Mon- all the hard work of finding the deals and transactions. I have a great team here.” tana and another 46,000 acres across Most recently, she worked with a colthe country. league in Oregon to protect 13,000 acres Since joining the RMEF 11 years ago, she’s steadily climbed the ranks and now of wildlife habitat and aquatic resources in the John Day region, one of the largest oversees the national Permanent Land land projects in RMEF history.

Protection Program.

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– Jennifer Doherty The RMEF holds about 200 conservation easements right now, mostly in the West.

“We do purchase land, and we have a huge goal and push and history in improving public access for the general public and hunters alike, getting people out to recreate on public lands,” she explained.

Doherty grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, where she learned to appreciate public lands.

“People really value the outdoors and have a great conservation ethic,” she recalled. “That was always the path I wanted to take if I was able to. It was near and dear to my heart.”

Her first job in Montana was as a

river ranger on the Upper Missouri River Breaks.

“It was an awesome job and it made me become immersed in landowners in Montana and sportsmen and women and just Montana’s landscape, so I just fell in love with it,” she said.

When she’s not working with private landowners to preserve their property in a conservation easement, Doherty is gardening or getting outside with her family. She shot her first antelope on public lands last year, something that was really important to her.

See DOHERTY, Page 13

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 9

Business: 20 under 40

‘Optimistic guy’ leads food bank’s construction effort

38

wife, Melanie.

When she finished two years behind him in 2002, Brock tried to get her to come west to go to graduate school.

“I was working in Twin Falls as a reporter and the woman I loved was on the other side of the country,” he said.

Melanie, who owns Brock Consulting and is also featured in this year’s “20 Under 40,” called her husband an “optimistic, get-things-done type of guy.”

AARON BROCK “Sometimes, I think if I wasn’t around Executive director, Missoula Food he would donate his entire paycheck to Bank charity,” Melanie said.

Hometown: Bozeman One of the small things that has always impressed her, she said, was Family: Wife Melanie; two daughters, that for years, Brock has been a regular Annabelle 5, Clara, 3 platelet donor, even going so far as to Pets: Cat, Tuna put it on his calendar when he is able to Hobbies: Fly fishing. We’re pretty spoiled go in again. living in western Montana. Spending time The Brocks said being a working with my two daughters. couple and having kids takes discipline and planning.

Best business advice: Do something “If she has a meeting Wednesday you love. Find the thing that gets you out of bed, excited to go to work on a Monday night, I know I have to prioritize being a parent,” Aaron said. “I have two daughmorning. ters. They are a lot of fun, there’s a lot of Three keys to success: pink in my house. Every once in a while, Surround yourself with people smarter I get my toenails painted.” than you.

It also means he has put a lot of emphasis on having a strong work Listen first. life balance.

Have a strong work-life balance.

“I love my job, but it doesn’t mean I have to be here all the time. When I leave work, I really leave work,” DILLON KATO Brock said. dillon.kato@missoulian.com‌ In 2003, they moved to Missoula, and Brock began working at the Missoula issoula Food Bank executive director Aaron Brock will always Food Bank. He stayed until 2008, when he left for jobs with Missoula Aging think of Montana both as his Services and then the Missoula YMCA. home, and the place that brought his Brock said even when he first left the family together. food bank, he knew he eventually Although he was born in Michigan, wanted to come back.

Brock moved to Bozeman when he was “I knew when this job would open, I very young, growing up “at the end of wanted to come back,” he said. a gravel road in the country.” He was He credited his time at the YMCA homeschooled through the seventh with helping him to develop the skills grade, before attending a Catholic he needed to be effective in his current school so he could fulfill his dream of position with the food bank, where he playing basketball. was hired back as executive director Brock’s family moved and he went in 2014. to high school in Great Falls, before “How many people have their master attending Susquehanna University in plan work out just like they wanted?”

Pennsylvania, where he met his future

MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

“Sometimes, I think if I wasn’t around he would donate his entire paycheck to charity.”

– Melanie Brock, wife to Aaron said Brock, who also sits on the board of directors of Garden City Harvest.

The food bank is at the start of a relocation process, building a new facility at the corner of Wyoming and North Catlin streets, which will more than double

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the current operating space of around 8,000 square feet. The food bank plans to be in the new location by 2016.

“It will be the biggest thing the Missoula Food Bank has ever done,” Brock said.

Missoula Taekwondo Center and Steve and Amanda Rosbarsky would like to

Thank you Missoula!

We are so grateful for the privilege of teaching thousands of Missoula’s families over the past 13 years and, we look forward to many more years of positively influencing this community we love so much.

2305 S Grant St, Missoula, MT

(406) 829-1328 missoulatkd.com

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10 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Growing business by cutting grass

33 CARL CHRISTOFFERSON

Lawn, landscape and mini-storage owner Hometown: Missoula Family: Parents Clayton and Sandy Christofferson, sister Jessica and brother Chad Christofferson, all of Missoula; son Jalen, 7, and daughter Tenley, 5.

Hobbies: Motorcycles, golf, spending time with Tenley and Jalen Best business advice: Figure out what works well for you. Once you find it, put all your focus on it. Don’t dwell on negative things, they WILL happen.

Three keys to success: “Once you have a goal or plan, commit to it. I named my business Lawns of Montana, and committed to the goal of expanding outside Missoula, even if I didn’t have the resources to do it right away.”

“Ask for advice, but go with your gut.”

“Maintain good credit and reinvest.”

KIM BRIGGEMAN kbriggeman@missoulian.com‌

‌I

t took a pencil, a bar napkin and maybe 30 minutes at the Iron Horse Brew Pub to sow the seeds of Lawns of Montana.

Carl Christofferson was 22 when he and a partner scratched out a business plan to build an all-service lawn care, snow removal and sweeping business in the competitive Missoula market.

That was in 2004, and while the partnership is no more, Lawns of Montana is a mature and still-growing enterprise with branches in Helena, Hamilton and Kalispell.

“What set us aside from a lot of people is in most companies people get done working at 5 o’clock,” Christofferson said. “We had no problem working around the clock, working every day, and we worked at a very high speed.”

Now an employer of up to 40 people, Christofferson is ready to branch out further. Access Storage, a 127-unit ministorage facility and U-Haul rental, is all but complete on the property adjacent to his lawn care offices at 7766 Thornton Drive near the Wye. It should be fully operational by mid-June.

Christofferson was born and raised in Missoula. He graduated from Big Sky High School in 2000 and the University of Montana in 2005.

He was fresh out of high school when he and a partner started RCC Sprinkler, and was still going to college in marketing and management when he and Ken Ellis launched Lawns of Montana.

They got a small loan of less than $2,000, bought some hand tools and a trailer and financed the first walking mower. The tools of the trade have multiplied to 13 mowers, a couple of sweepers and two dozen trucks.

An early decision was to fit the mowers with headlights. Drive by businesses on Reserve Street or Expressway Boulevard at midnight and don’t be surprised to see white Lawns of Montana trucks and workers in the company uniform shirts mowing away.

Christofferson woke up one day in 2007 or 2008 and decided he wanted to grow the business in Helena.

“I drove over there and picked up probably two or three customers, and word of mouth spread. That’s how I picked up the majority of my biggest accounts,” he said.

The Hamilton branch was launched next as the Missoula business spread south up the Bitterroot to Lolo, then Florence.

“The next thing you know it’s in Stevensville, so we decided if we went to Hamilton we could work our way back See CHRISTOFFERSON, Page 13

MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

“What set us aside from a lot of people is in most companies people get done working at 5 o’clock. We had no problem working around the clock, working every day, and we worked at a very high speed.”

– Carl Christofferson

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Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 11

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Delivering healthy snacks to Missoula

34, 32

“We try to do a mix of things that people will recognize, so that they don’t think it’s all kale chips in our machine.”

ALEX BAER AND SARAH TARKA-BAER

Co-owners of Missoula Healthy Vending and Missoula Healthy Delivery Home state: Pennsylvania Family: 3-year-old son Pets: 2 dogs Hobbies: Soccer, coaching youth sports Best advice: Innovation: “You have to be able to change. If you’re averse to change, it’s not going to work out,” Alex said.

Do something you love: The combined venture provides both of their passions.

“We like eating better ourselves, we both like trying new products, we both kind of get different things out of it,” Alex said.

CORY WALSH cory.walsh@missoulian.com‌

- Sarah Tarka-Baer

‌T

hree years ago, the vending machine in a rec room upstairs at the Missoula Family YMCA was stocked with candy and other sugary snacks.

Stop by now, and you’ll find Muscle Milk, Fig Bars and Veggie Straws in a sleek refrigerated unit. When they’re in season, you can find apples from Corvallis or clementines.

The good-for-you choices are there thanks to Alex Baer and Sarah TarkaBaer, a Missoula couple who started Missoula Healthy Vending three years ago to get residents interested in quality snacks.

“We try to do a mix of things that people will recognize, so that they don’t think it’s all kale chips in our machine.

They may see a brand that they’re used to eating, and it may be a gateway for them to try some of the other even healthier things,” Sarah said.

The two were athletes in college, and were inspired to start their Human Healthy Vending franchise after the birth of their first child.

TOM BAUER, Missoulian‌

It’s even more important to eat healthy when you have a family, and they know how busy it can get.

“We’re certainly not slowing down since we had our son, so we certainly understand that lifestyle,” Sarah said.

They were one of the early franchisees for Human, a startup based in Los Angeles.

To take that metro-area model to a small town, they had to learn to adapt— finding which products work in which locations. Every location they serve, for instance, has a custom selection.

If something isn’t selling, they need to adjust and find another product.

For instance, they found smaller businesses and smaller schools were interested in offering healthy snacks, but didn’t have enough employees or kids to warrant a full refrigerated machine.

So a year ago, they spun off a second

business called Missoula Healthy Delivery that serves them.

The two have been active in the community, offering themselves as a resource.

For instance, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new guidelines last year on the types of and nutritional quality of snacks that can be served in schools.

“I would say we’ve really been on the forefront of that in Missoula. We were testing out those new products before the rules were even in place,” Sarah said.

Four out of their 12 machines are in schools, so they’ve worked with administrators and educators on what can be offered.

Sarah has collaborated with Let’s Move Missoula, the Eat Smart Missoula Coalition, and served on the Graduation Matters nutrition subcommittee

and more.

The two order, stock and source the products themselves.

The latter requires research and travel, such as going to expos on new healthy products, and figuring out the logistics of getting items shipped to a new market like Missoula.

They’ve advised the national franchise on working in smaller markets as well.

As an example, they sell wholesale to some groups, such as the MAPS Media Institute in Hamilton, which teaches kids cutting-edge media skills.

When the Montana Special Olympics held its state Summer Games in Missoula this year, the two delivered some 5,000 snacks for the athletes.

They refer to the switch to healthy options as a “cultural change,” and are committed to showing people that it can be done.

12 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Business owner finds balance

34 NICK MONACO

Independent Auto Dealer, Owner Florence Auto Mall Hometown: Lolo (graduated Big Sky High, 1999, lives in Florence) Family: Wife: Kara (married his high school sweetheart); son, Quintan, 9; daughter, Alyx, 7.

Pets: None. “No farm animals, although I would take them on trade.”

Hobbies: Community service, golf, camp, travel, be outside, anything with a title (cars, trucks, campers).

Best advice: “It feels best when you work for it – have some skin in the game.”

Three keys to success: It is what it is.

Measure success wisely.

Have family support.

MICHELLE MCCONNAHA michelle.mcconnaha@ravallirepublic.com‌

‌F

LORENCE—Nick Monaco started his auto sales and consignment business from scratch in 2011.

He began by selling vehicles out of another business, then moved to a shed, and now Florence Auto Mall has a Highway 93 storefront and car lot.

“We started from zero,” said Monaco.

“Make your hobby your work, right? I was dabbling with a car sale here and there, and I decided to do it full-time.

Cars are kind of a hobby. I’m not mechanically inclined, but I do like cars.

You’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize, right? I like big road cars, Cadillacs and things like that.”

Monaco believes it is essential to have a vested interest.

“I think it feels best when you work for it – that’s something my folks instilled in me,” said Monaco. “Growing up, I always

MICHELLE MCCONNAHA, Ravalli Republic‌

“... the measure of your real success is the one you cannot spend – it’s the way your kids describe you when they’re talking to a friend.”

– Nick Monaco had to have some skin in the game. Every car I had or anything I wanted, materialistically, I always had to have some skin in the game.”

Monaco said he always had an entrepreneurial spirit and that the downturn in the economy spurred on his independence. He works for himself and works more hours, at times that are convenient for his customers.

“I’m here when I need to be,” he said.

“If folks can’t meet until 7 or 8 o’clock at night, I’ll stay. It makes sense. Work smarter not harder – I’m not sitting here all day staring out the window, but if I have productive work to do I’ll be here.

“My dad has been in the car business for 30 years. It’s amazing how we follow in the footsteps of our folks.”

Monaco says he lives by the saying ‘It is what it is’ and a poem about success given to him by his mother: “Success: You can use most any measure when you’re speaking of success. You can measure it in a fancy home, expensive car or dress. But the measure of your real success is the one you cannot spend – it’s the way your kids describe you when they’re talking to a friend.”

He is the sole employee of Florence Auto Mall, which is buy, sell, trade, order, custom buy or consignment. “Bring your

‘fam’ to FAM!” is their slogan and they keep an inventory of 15–20 vehicles: cars, trucks, campers and “anything with a title.”

“The vice president tries to stay away from the office,” said Monaco, referring to his wife. “Another key to success is family support. Family support has been a big factor for me. It has been important to have the support of both my immediate family and my extended family – my parents, Kurt and Robin, and my two brothers, Nate and Tyler.”

Nick Monaco is very active in the See MONACO, Page 13

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 13

Business: 20 under 40 Bethel Continued from Page 7

The Hamilton native said she’s learned to keep her cool when dealing with angry family members or clients who don’t want to go back to jail. “I’ve gotten a better understanding of how people work,� she said. In those tense moments, “you never need to raise your voice.�

Bethel was recently selected to work for three years with the U.S. marshals.

She and another officer from Billings will traverse the country tracking down Montana felons who have absconded and are on the lamb.

When she returns to the probation and parole office, Bethel plans on working in management and spending more time with her dog Mack, a mastiff Labrador mix. The 100-pound pup believes he’s a lap-dog, she explained.

Doherty

rights and the rights of the public.�

According to Blake Henning, vice president of Lands and Conservation at Continued from Page 8 the RMEF, Doherty’s dedication, ethics and high work standards have earned “My family and I utilize public lands her RMEF’s Chairman’s Award and every chance we get,� she said. “I think numerous other recognitions throughout it’s easily taken for granted and times her career. are changing rapidly. The time to do Her leadership in improving public something about it is now. People access to public lands is making RMEF a need to get their kids outside so they leader in that effort, he added. Doherty understand the value of (public access to public land) and the risk of the loss of also has taught swimming lessons at the YMCA, served on the citizen advisory public access. “Those relationships are so important, board of the United Way of Missoula County and participated in many other between public lands and private landorganizations and committees. owners and respecting the landowner’s

Christofferson Continued from Page 10

and tie everything together,� Christofferson said.

The Kalispell addition blossomed with more and more calls from property owners on Flathead Lake. Now Lawns of Montana has about 65 lawns to take care of from Polson to Whitefish. “To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you how many lawns we cover,� Christofferson said. “There’s a lot.�

Eyebrows raised when he vaulted into the mini-storage unit business this spring. “I’ve been told by different

Monaco Continued from Page 12

Bitterroot Valley community as well.

He’s a reserve sheriff’s deputy, an ambulance driver, an EMT, a basketball official, a husband, a dad, an assistant Little League coach, an auto dealer and—until recently—a volunteer fireman for Florence.

contractors that’s a terrible location and it wouldn’t work here,� Christofferson said. “I guess one of the things I like to do is prove them wrong.�

Christofferson recalls taking one vacation in his early years of business: half a day to go to the lake. With a dependable coterie of employees, including his sister/office manager Jessica Christofferson, his mother Sandy and an aunt, Kate Gibson, he has a bit more time to relax with his family and play some golf.

College courses provided him with a business vocabulary, he said. “But the best way to learn is to go out and do it.

They don’t teach you how to bounce back from a bad business decision or anything like that.�

He said he had had too many things on his plate and had to prioritize his time and focus his energies on his family. “[Being a firefighter] is a life commitment and I needed to make a lifestyle change – my kids are in sports now,� said Monaco. “I really miss calls, but it is important to find a balance. This has made me able to make more of a commitment to the things I want to commit to.�

14 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Keeping Roxy full, open to community

36

“My goal as operations director is, I keep all three theaters occupied at all times.”

INGRID LOVITT-ABRAMSON Director of operations and development, Roxy Theater and International Wildlife Film Festival.

Hometown: Missoula.

Family: Partner Dave Hartman of Hellgate Cyclery; and parents Abe Abramson and Beda Lovitt.

Pets: Seven chicks.

Hobbies: Cycling and skiing.

– Ingrid Lovitt-Abramson

Best advice: Her grandfather told her father, and her father told her, that even though you’re majoring in liberal arts, you should take at least one accounting class.

Three keys to success: Eat right and get enough sleep.

Think of others first.

Don’t be afraid to ask.

CORY WALSH cory.walsh@missoulian.com‌

T

he Roxy Theater is on track to host 1,600 screenings, events and programs this year.

Last year, the nonprofit worked with more than 100 businesses and educational, cultural and nonprofit groups.

And that’s not even counting the International Wildlife Film Festival.

That nonprofit, which owns the building and runs the Roxy as a year-round program, marked its 38th year with nine days of documentaries from around the world.

Helping keep that calendar full and running smoothly is Ingrid LovittAbramson, the Roxy’s director of operations and development.

“My goal as operations director is, I keep all three theaters occupied at all times,” she said.

Lovitt-Abramson joined the Roxy in fall 2013, just a few months after the

TOM BAUER, Missoulian‌

IWFF launched year-round community film programming, a model that was new to Missoula.

She said they reached out to the local audience with open arms and an open mind.

“This is an experiment. Let’s see where the community takes us,” she said.

She described the Roxy as “a product that you can change all the time.”

She never guessed that her day-today work would include many of her current tasks.

The Roxy now runs new releases twice a night, seven days a week, for instance.

Lovitt-Abramson works with businesses on sponsorships, partners with community groups, and coordinates educational programs like the Montana Film Academy. In conjunction with the Montana Film Office, those intensive courses teach adults to work on film sets.

Lovitt-Abramson worked at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival for years with Mike Steinberg, who now serves as the Roxy’s executive director.

The two had talked about starting a theater program like the Roxy before the right place and time aligned.

“There’s simply no way we could have done anything we’ve done here without Ingrid,” Steinberg said.

He described her as tenacious, enthusiastic and energetic, with an athlete’s way of pushing her fellow employees to work harder and get better.

For her part, Lovitt-Abramson is careful to credit the hundreds of volunteers and thousands of hours of donated time.

“That’s what really keeps us going.

There are volunteers in the building from 8 a.m. to midnight every day,” she said.

Lovitt-Abramson’s great-grandparents came to Missoula from Sweden at the turn of the last century and built a house a few blocks away on Gerald Avenue, where she was born.

She graduated from UM’s Davidson Honors College with a degree in liberal studies.

“I really value my education, because it taught me a little bit bigger picture of the world and how to write and communicate,” she said.

Her previous jobs have included managing Le Petit’s retail operations and working in construction consulting

as an accredited professional in LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

She volunteers as well, on the board of the Clay Studio of Missoula, City Club Missoula, and a gubernatorial appointment on the state Board of Engineers, and a term on the Montana Board of Alternative Health Care.

In her free time, she enjoys skiing and mountain biking—she’s won a national championship. Cyclocross has been her main passion lately.

Maybe that’s the athletic work ethic that Steinberg was talking about.

“It’s been blood, sweat and tears, honestly, and still is,” she said. “To work at the Roxy, you have to be really dedicated and willing to put a lot of heart into the project, which is part of what I like about it. It’s like being in a business, but you’re also doing something that will have a legacy to the community.”

The building has been there since 1937, she pointed out. Her mother worked there in the 1950s.

“This space means a lot, and that kind of ideation means a lot to me. When I walk out my front door every day, where I’m going and what effect it will have on the future is really great,” she said.

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 15

Business: 20 under 40

CEO advanced the old-fashioned way

38

returning to Missoula three years later as a vice president.

He was promoted to his current position as president and CEO in 2012.

“I believe in what we’re doing, that’s why I stayed here for 11 years,” Bledsoe said.

Consumer Direct and its companies offer a full spectrum of home care, including helping people in self-directed care situations, helping to support people who pay for their home care.

BEN BLEDSOE “You want to be in control of your life, President and CEO of Consumer wherever you are. Elderly, and sometimes Direct Care Networks someone who is disabled, they want that Hometown: Emory, Virginia too,” Bledsoe said.

Family: wife Judith; sons Wyatt, 5, and Rhett,1 Bledsoe earned a degree in sociology from the University of Virginia, then Hobbies: Playing musical instruments, worked for his family’s trucking business biking, travel, UVA sports after school. In 2002, he joined the Peace Best business advice: “For me, it Corps, and was sent to the islands in the comes back to doing what’s right. What Kingdom of Tonga. you feel is right, what you know is right at “Initially, I was assigned to be a shop the time. Even if it takes you back a step teacher, but when I got there, I took on or loses you money.” the computer lab instead,” Bledsoe said.

Three keys to success: He also taught students English and math in his two years in the country.

Be present.

While in the Peace Corps, he met his Work hard. wife, another Peace Corps member.

Before he left the U.S., though, Bledsoe Have fun and be happy with what had gone on a road trip, and had fallen you’re doing. in love with Missoula. His wife ended up coming to the University of Montana DILLON KATO for graduate school, and he moved here dillon.kato@missoulian.com‌ with her.

“Like many people, I couldn’t find a en Bledsoe’s career is a story that job,” he said, saying that was when he doesn’t happen much anymore. took a job with Nightingale Nursing, the Over the last 11 years, Bledsoe first company in what would become has worked his way up from an entrylevel caregiver with Nightingale Nursing Consumer Direct.

and Caregiving in Missoula to the presiConsumer Direct is the parent dent and CEO of its parent company, organization of 18 different companies Consumer Direct. operating in 12 different states, with its “I know what each job means in this headquarters in downtown Missoula. company,” he said.

In 2004, he took a job with Nightingale Across the country, it serves about 12,000 clients, with as many as 22,000 Nursing as a caregiver after he returned people being paid for caregiving services from working in the Peace Corps. every year.

“I was going into people’s houses, The company employs about 1,400 sometimes as a stranger, to help them with the activities of their daily lives that caregivers and administrative employees you and I take for granted,” Bledsoe said. in Montana, with 250 professional positions in Missoula, likely to grow to more A few months into the job, he was than 300 in the near future, Bledsoe said. promoted to an office job, and started taking classes to earn a master’s degree in Almost 100 more professional positions health care administration. He moved to are spread out between the other 11 states Tucson in 2006 to implement services at where it has operations.

“We want to be a household name in a new sister company in Arizona, before

“I believe in what we’re doing, that’s why I stayed here for 11 years.”

– Ben Bledsoe MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

self direction, the choice in home care,” he said.

Consumer Direct also recently announced that it will be building a new, $21 million, 65,000-square-foot office in Missoula east of North Reserve Street.

It will house employees from the five offices around Missoula, with more room to grow in the future.

“It should be our home for a long time. We want to commit to providing professional-level jobs,” Bledsoe said.

‌B

We provide quality services to individuals and families so they can remain in their homes and communities.

• In-Home Care • Skilled Nursing • Mental Health and Autism Services • Self-Directed Programs

www.consumerdirectcare.com

16 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

A career built on destruction, reuse

30 JASON NUCKOLLS

Deconstruction manager, Home ReSource Hometown: Missoula Family and pets: Married to Christina; daughter Rylie, 2; and two dogs, Lloyd and Izzy Hobbies: Camping, hunting, fishing, housework Best business advice: Set expectations you can live up to. 80 percent of our business comes from referrals from happy clients.

Three keys to success Know what your employees can provide.

Invest in your employees with living wages and fun work environment.

Reward your staff for well-done work.

ROB CHANEY rchaney@missoulian.com‌

‌I

t’s a little misleading to call Jason Nuckolls a home-wrecker.

But he has turned his talents for dismantling buildings and recycling their structural materials into a growing concern at Missoula’s Home ReSource DeCon program.

What started as an optimistic but inefficient offshoot of the used-construction material resale business has become so successful, Nuckolls’ crews are now booked almost eight weeks in advance.

“The key was putting ourselves on the same playing field as the rest of the construction industry,” Nuckolls said.

“People are aware of other options than demolition now. Three years ago, we might have bid on one of every 10 houses that got knocked down. Now it’s closer to seven of 10.”

Timing is always a challenge. While a traditional demolition crew can remove

ROB CHANEY, Missoulian‌

“Three years ago, we might have bid on one of every 10 houses that got knocked down. Now it’s closer to seven of 10.”

– Jason Nuckolls a house in two days, a DeCon crew needs about two and a half weeks to properly conserve about 70 percent of a building’s basic ingredients.

The DeCon program typically fields crews of seven to 10 workers. They remove nails from lumber, dismantle electrical and plumbing systems, preserve entire kitchen and bathroom counter/cabinet installations and complete window packages. They bring out doors hung in their original frames. Most of that is sold through Home ReSource within the next 14 days.

“It’s not unusual to completely remove a house that 95 percent of the people in Missoula would love to live in – but the

new owner wants to gut it and rebuild,” Nuckolls said. “The silver lining is we make sure those materials get reused. I’m constantly amazed how fast things go back out.”

Some of it never makes it to Home ReSource’s Russell Street headquarters.

Nuckolls said neighbors and passersby often arrange to buy and haul away material from the site as fast as his workers can take it apart.

All of the activity is tracked, so a client can claim the sales of the deconstructed material as a tax deduction against the cost of hiring the DeCon crew. Nuckolls said clients can recover as much as a third of the bill that way.

Since Nuckolls took over the program in 2013, he has raised crew workers’ starting salary by 33 percent, and provided greater benefits and professional training. Before 2013, the program completed about 20 jobs and brought in $100,000 in revenue to Home ReSource.

In 2014, it accomplished 53 projects totaling $250,000.

Nuckolls has also kept the program community focused. He arranged the donation of crew time and equipment to victims of house fires who couldn’t afford to clear their property, and oversaw the safe removal of buildings demolished by the Mount Jumbo avalanche in 2014.

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 17

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Counselor is advocate for students

37

“Look at it more as an opportunity for children to make better social connections and be able to talk about their feelings.”

CATIE COOK DENNEHY

Elementary school counselor, President of the Montana School Counselors Association Hometown: Missoula Family and pets: Husband Sean Dennehy; parents Janie and Tom Cook; brother Charlie Cook; Kitters the cat and Laci the dog.

Hobbies: Exercising, cooking, and socializing Best advice: Don’t waste your life being angry about something, move forward and try your best to let it go.

– Catie Cook Dennehy

Three keys to success: “Keep some form of balance in your day.”

“Set your own boundaries and try to keep them in place.”

school counselors convention in Phoenix this summer.

“Smile. It’s my favorite.”

That job takes up a lot of administration time, emails and phone calls and KIM BRIGGEMAN working with school boards if, say, an kbriggeman@missoulian.com‌ ethics problem arises.

But Dennehy’s dedication to students here’s no monetary compensation at Hellgate and elsewhere is reflected in that rivals the best part of Catie a current hot-button issue. Some school Cook Dennehy’s job. districts take advantage of a variance “The reward would be seeing kids smile,” Hellgate Elementary School’s early allowed in state law to hire counselors who don’t have counseling certification. grade counselor says.

“We’re trying to make sure that around “A lot of times, I’m working with kids the state they’re getting the right people who are having behavior challenges or into those jobs,” she said. things happening at home, and it’s very “To say Catie goes the extra mile difficult for them to focus on school. So would be an understatement,” says Julie the reward basically is to see them feel McCarthy-McLaverty, principal of the good about themselves.” primary grades building at Hellgate. “She Dedication to her ever-evolving craft works really hard to benefit the kids. She’s goes beyond the group and one-on-one always, always an advocate of the kids.” sessions she has with the little ones,

grades K-2, in Montana’s largest elemenDennehy, who moved to Missoula tary school. from Iowa at age 2, graduated from A year ago, Dennehy was elected by peers around the state as president of the Washington Middle and Sentinel High Montana School Counselors Association. schools. She has a degree in psychology from the University of Montana and a She’ll represent Montana at the national

‌T

LOREN BENOIT, Missoulian‌

master’s degree in school counseling from Montana State University.

She’s married to Sean Dennehy, an assistant contractor in Missoula.

Dennehy, 37, is completing her 11th year in the profession, four as counselor and junior high Spanish teacher at Lolo Elementary and the rest at Hellgate.

Her father, Tom Cook, is former chairman of the University of Montana’s music department. Her mother, Janie, taught fourth grade in Iowa before the family moved to Missoula in 1979. Janie nominated her daughter for the Missoulian’s 20 Under 40 recognition.

A school counselor’s days are divided into three roles: education in social and classroom skills; monitoring attendance, contacting parents and developing behavior modification plans when the need arises; and actual counseling, both in groups and – Dennehy’s favorite – one on one.

Over the last 10 years, she’s witnessed a disturbing trend in even the youngest students.

“We worry about the fact that kids

come in with, I guess you’d say, less manners,” she said. “We worry that a lot of times they’re coming in not knowing to say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ and how to treat friends.”

Basic social skills are a focus in the first years. But going to see the school counselor is no longer a stigma of bad behavior.

If she had one message for parents, Dennehy said, it would be to not fear school counselors.

“When I was a kid, I think people went to the counselor’s office if they needed their schedule changed or if they were in really big trouble,” she said. “It’s changed as a profession. We’re supposed to be open door. All children are supposed to have access to us.”

Don’t think, she said, that because your child is seeing the school counselor that there’s something wrong with him or her.

“Look at it more as an opportunity for children to make better social connections and be able to talk about their feelings,” Dennehy said. “They’re young enough so that will help them down the line.”

18 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Martin gets Griz to games, back home

31

“I love the studentathletes, that’s why anyone in this department does their jobs. You see kids graduate, and you have an internal look at the work they’ve done over four years.”

RYAN MARTIN

Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations, University of Montana Hometown: Whitefish Family: Wife Erika Pets: Cat Lucy Hobbies: Outdoor recreation, whitewater kayaking, fishing in Rock Creek. “I like to get off the grid when I’m not here at work.”

Best business advice: Always stay curious. It lends itself to a successful business career. Why things are happening, how they happen. Being curious can lead to opportunities.

Three keys to success: Being a student-athlete was a huge driver in setting me up, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

Be happy with your work. So many times, we go and pick out the negative things and overshadow the positive.

Have pride in what you do. As coach John Wooden said, “If you don’t have time and watching the game,” he quipped. to do it right, when will you have time to While he followed Griz sports casually do it over?” as a kid, Martin said he would never have considered himself a “diehard fan” of the UM teams. Now, as the school’s assistant DILLON KATO athletic director for business operations, dillon.kato@missoulian.com‌ he oversees budgeting for the department. ast October, Ryan Martin was in “Even now, I can’t be the No. 1 fan of the stadium in Grand Forks, North the team. I have a fiscal responsibility to Dakota, as Griz kicker Daniel Sulmake the best choice with the money we livan hit a last-second, game-winning have,” Martin said. field goal that gave the University of He is also responsible for arranging Montana an 18-15 win. travel for the UM Grizzlies football team, Griz fans in the stadium and watching including the team’s gear. the game at home were cheering, but “I travel with the teams, and I superMartin couldn’t enjoy the big win. He was vise the track and field team. That’s the stressed, the Griz’s charter flight home was behind schedule, and it was his job to one connection I have directly back to make sure the team got back to Missoula. student-athletes,” Martin said.

Martin grew up in Missoula, graduat“There’s something to be said about ing from Sentinel High School in 2001. sitting on your couch, cracking a beer

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– Ryan Martin TOM BAUER, Missoulian‌

Partly because he wanted to play baseball in college, he went to the University of Illinois in Chicago and studied finance.

“I thought I was going to stay there but in the end, I couldn’t stay away from Missoula,” he said.

After he graduated, Martin moved back to town, working as a Missoulian delivery driver for a few months, and married his wife Erika, who he had dated since high school.

“It was mainly so I have enough money not to have to move back into my parents’ basement,” he said.

Eventually, he took a job with Business Services at the University of Montana, then left the school to work as a loan officer with Missoula Federal Credit Union.

When a job opened up in the UM athletic office for a business manager,

Martin believed the qualifications were beyond his experience, but applied anyway, and was hired.

Just over two years later, he was promoted to assistant athletic director for business operations.

“I love the student-athletes, that’s why anyone in this department does their jobs. You see kids graduate, and you have an internal look at the work they’ve done over four years,” Martin said.

Hanging just over his desk, Martin has a framed paper written by one of his younger sisters, who died almost seven years ago. After she passed away, Martin found the paper that Chelsey had written in high school about the person she looked up to. The paper was about him.

“My younger sister, she makes me a better person every day. Life is short, appreciate what you have,” Martin said.

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 19

Business: 20 under 40

Science to politics for commissioner

31

“It worked out. I love what I do now. I feel like I’m making a difference for the larger society.”

– Cola Rowley

in Hamilton, working on neurological immunology.”

Missoula County commissioner Rowley did the work for a year, but she longed to be more active in Hometown: Sidney the community.

Family: Husband and two children She took a job at Early Head Start Hobbies: Reading, exercising, outdoors before funding cuts sent her looking for a new job. She found it as an enviBest Advice: “Ethics are exceedingly ronmental health specialist working for important. That’s something I feel very Missoula County. strongly about – doing what you think is The position introduced her to the the right thing and not always the popular thing. I think that’s the key to being a suc- structure of local government and the role it plays for community residents. It cessful person.” also sparked her interest in leadership, Keys to success: Stay positive and keep and she prepared to make a run for the going.

Lolo Community Council.

It was then, as she knocked on doors during the early days of her campaign, MARTIN KIDSTON that people asked her to think bigger. martin.kidston@missoulian.com‌ She was encouraged to run for Missoula County commissioner. s a girl growing up in Sidney, “I’d thought about it, but I also Nicole “Cola” Rowley was encourthought it was a pretty bold step,” she aged to dream big. She took her said. “But it seemed like the timing parents’ advice and left for Utah, where was right.” she earned her doctorate in pharmacolRowley and Donald Davies, both ogy and toxicology.

Democrats, faced incumbent commisSince then, Rowley – now 31 – has become a mother twice over, maintained sioner Michele Landquist in last year’s June primary. Rowley won the primary an 11-year marriage to a chemist, and and squared off against Republican Vicky won a tight election to become a MisGordon in November’s general election. soula County commissioner.

Rowley watched the election play out Through it all, she looks back on the at Brooks and Brown. When the night advice of her parents and maintains an ended, she’d won 53 percent of the vote. optimistic outlook for the future.

“It worked out,” she said. “I love what “My dad owned a business and my mom was a teacher,” Rowley said. “They I do now. I feel like I’m making a difference for the larger society.” always just believed in me and thought I With six months under her belt as a could do anything.”

Rowley’s travels from her Sidney roots new commissioner, Rowley is looking to engage with the public, despite the have taken her down an ambitious path. necessity of sitting in countless meetings She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from Dickenson State University that keep her and other commissioners sequestered. and her doctorate from the University “The job has a lot of challenges, and of Utah.

Her research focused on drug develop- they’re new challenges to me in unexpected ways,” she said. “Sitting in our ment for neurological disorders. little meeting room becomes insular. It “After I got my Ph.D., I wanted to would be easy to become complacent and come back to Montana,” she said. “I did lose touch, and I don’t want to do that.” my post-doc at Rocky Mountain Labs

COLA ROWLEY

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KURT WILSON, Missoulian‌

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20 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Open Aid Alliance director brings creativity

37

plan, she said.

Open Aid charges for some of its programs, and Weathers said clients are willing to pay, and charging them builds value.

Later this year, the organization plans to launch a business, a tortilla company.

It will bring in money for the cause, and it will put program participants, including some of the most challenging ones, to work.

CHRISTA WEATHERS “We want to include people coming Executive director, Open Aid Alliance out of incarceration,” Weathers said. “We know without jobs, a lot of people can’t Hometown: Kettle Falls, Washington get out of jail. They can’t get housing. It’s Family and pets: I have a husband, just such a first step.”

Nathan; two little boys, Aden, 6, and Bay, She sees Dave’s Killer Bread as a model.

2; and a border collie named Camper.

One out of three of the people who work Hobbies: I love to dance, any kind of at the bread company has a criminal dance, but it’s got to have a good beat. background, and the bakers are commitSecretly, I want to be a Beyoncé backup ted to creating the best product and giving dancer someday. I’m trying to be a runner. people second chances.

I signed up for the Double Dip this year “That’s going to be very much our because I figured that surely I would be a approach. Dave is an inspiration,” Weathrunner on the other end. I also love to be ers said.

KURT WILSON, Missoulian‌ outside with my family.

The working name for Open Aid’s “Be creative. Success is incremental steps. You may achieve success, company is “Hella Good Tortillas,” and Best business advice: Start with creativity and passion. but you might not even realize it because you did it in such small steps.” Weathers said it’s possible the organization may work on other “hella good” Keys to success: – Christa Weathers products down the road. The team will Find a work and life balance. start small to ensure the business is solid, Be creative. but it will launch with a large dose of said Robertson in her nomination of Alliance parlayed the temporary setback enthusiasm, of course.

Weathers.

“Christa has readily adapted to into positive gains.

Success is incremental steps. You may “We’re really excited about (Hella Good the transformation of OAA in anticipation For one, the office moved from a dark achieve success, but you might not even Tortillas), ” Weather said. of more complex conditions and limited basement into a brighter and more visible realize it because you did it in such small In the future, Weathers sees herself resources.” space at 1500 W. Broadway at the corner steps. owning a business, and she already has

of Broadway and Russell Street. Secondly, Weathers is a molecular biologist, plans bubbling. She generates a lot of Weathers sees signs the newer syringe KEILA SZPALLER ideas, and even if she isn’t able to follow but work as a scientist wasn’t for her. exchange program is only going to grow. keila.szpaller@missoulian.com‌ through on every one, she likes to feel the “I needed to be around people and talk Two tribes in Montana contacted the creative juices flowing. to people. Sometimes, scientists go to hrista Weathers is fueled by creativ- Open Aid Alliance for help setting up a “I believe I will be a business owner in work and don’t talk to anybody,” she said. program, one in eastern Montana and ity. my life, so I’m really passionate about it,” She’s been the executive director at one in western Montana, she said. And Weathers, 37, sees success in she believes a statewide syringe exchange Open Aid since 2009, and she loves work- she said. the most recent developments at the One idea at the fore is developing stylprogram may not be far off, with support ing for the nonprofit, although she isn’t Open Aid Alliance, and she’s bringing ish workout pants for mothers and women keen on the term “nonprofit.” energy and passion to push the organiza- from both the state and federal govern“It sends the message that we shouldn’t who experience a phenomenon associated ment. tion forward. make money. But we should make money, with a bladder that doesn’t control itself.

“I think we’re kind of at the tipping The Open Aid Alliance, where Weathers “You sneeze, you cough, you jump on and we should act more like businesses point for widespread support for syringe has worked since 2008, is dedicated to a trampoline,” Weathers said. The result? exchange and federal dollars. I think that’s and do our part to support ourselves. We “empowering people living with HIV, You pee. “It’s a really frustrating situahave this big vision and big goals, but coming,” Weathers said. hepatitis C and other health disparities tion.” asking people to support 100 percent Martha Robertson, on the board of the and preventing new infections through So she wants to create absorbent pants of the bill? I just don’t believe in that,” Open Aid Alliance, said Weathers has testing, education and outreach.” that women can use without underwear, Weathers said. managed the organization in a time of Recently, the nonprofit was forced to since many people work out wearing In fact, she believes donors should ask dwindling state and federal funding. She’s move because its property manager had only outerwear. nonprofits what they’re doing to supdone so, though, with aplomb. received complaints about the syringe “They have to be cute. I want great port their own mission, and the answer “Christa is creative, articulate, sensiexchange program. With Weathers at the prints,” Weathers said. shouldn’t be handing over a fundraising tive, bright, and incredibly proactive,” helm as executive director, the Open Aid

‌C

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 21

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Law prof fought off cancer, fights for vets

37 HILLARY WANDLER

University of Montana law professor Family: Scott, husband, and Grace, daughter Pets: Tucker and Lancelot, dogs Hobbies: Reading, playing the piano for church, music, hiking and walking with family.

Advice: Fight for joy every day.

Three keys to success: Do the hard work and put in more hours than the next person.

Be curious, so that you are always questioning and digging deeper.

Listen carefully.

KATHRYN HAAKE kate.haake@missoulian.com‌

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hen Hillary Wandler welcomed her 30th year of life, she was completely unaware that the radiation therapy that saved her life as a child was about to reemerge as something sinister – breast cancer.

The 37-year-old is an accomplished lawyer whose resume includes impressive professional stints serving as U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s clerk and working with the Missoula firm Garlington, Lohn and Robinson.

Now, she’s one of the youngest law professors at the University of Montana, teaching the dreaded classes, legal writing and civil procedure. In her spare time, she goes to bat for veterans who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, helping them get the full amount of disability payments they are entitled to.

But the battles she’s won in the legal field pale in comparison to the struggle she’s had with the disease. It was the single life event that tested her resilience and forced her “to stretch” and grow

MICHAEL GALLACHER, Missoulian‌

“I thought I had it all wrapped up. For me, it took a moment of sheer terror to realize, ‘Whoops, I don’t have it all wrapped up. I have a lot of heavy lifting.’”

– Hillary Wandler in ways incomprehensible before her 2012 diagnosis.

“I feel like I was given a death sentence,” she told a nurse after her double mastectomy, but before her hysterectomy.

The nurse responded that every life is subject to a finite number of hours, minutes and seconds, and in that so-called death sentence, Wandler was not alone.

“When you become aware of your ‘death sentence,’ you start to ponder your meaning,” she explained. “I thought I had it all wrapped up. For me, it took a moment of sheer terror to realize, ‘Whoops, I don’t have it all wrapped up. I have a lot of heavy lifting.’ ”

When she was 5 years old, Wandler was diagnosed with Wilms tumor – a cancer that develops in the lining of the kidneys. The 1980s’ treatment of the disease included the maximum amount of radiation therapy, which wasn’t offered at the local hospital.

So her family left their home in Buffalo, Montana, for an extended stay in Billings’ Ronald McDonald House while she received chemotherapy

and radiation.

“For (my siblings and I), that was all back then and more my parents’ deal,” she explained. “I did not understand that treatment might impact my health later on the way it did.”

It was only after she was diagnosed with breast cancer that she discovered that childhood radiation made her more susceptible to cancer as an adult.

“I had no idea that my 30s were a time bomb about to go off,” she added.

The 2012 maximal risk reduction mastectomy was a success, but she still had a ways to go. She underwent the knife again when the doctors removed her uterus and cervix as a preventative measure.

Though her health was steadily on the incline, the battle against the mental turmoil that followed was just beginning.

She said she felt fearful and vulnerable, and at times the cancer made her feel like she lost her dignity.

As a whole, the experience gave her a fresh understanding of the pro-bono work she was doing with veterans, many of whom were wading through layers of bureaucracy in an attempt to receive a better disability rating or an honorable discharge—all the while dealing with PTSD. Though sometimes less severe, the PTSD experienced by cancer patients mimics the symptoms veterans endure.

She now understands firsthand the reexperiencing, isolation and hyper-vigilance. She knows what it’s like for returning soldiers dealing with the aftershock of war—where they were in constant fear for their lives and are now reliving the horror of fighting an enemy—seen or unseen.

“PTSD was really fascinating for me – the dark days were a living hell, but as I started to emerge I told my clients it’s amazing the work you have done,” Wandler said. “(Veterans with PTSD) confront this crap over and over and over again. I don’t think that many people realize what hard work that is to deal with it.”

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22 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Brothers continue community tradition

32, 28 PAT AND COLIN BOYLE

Certified Public Accountants, Boyle, Deveny and Meyer Hometown: Missoula Family and pets: Pat: I have been married for 5 years on Friday, May 29, to Molly, and we have two daughters, Nora, 3, and Sophie, 10 months. We also have a dog, Sula, and a cat, Vince.

Colin: My wife, Maddy, and I are expecting our first child, with the due date May 28th. We also have a dog, Felix, who is looking forward to being a big brother.

Hobbies: Golfing, golfing, golfing.

Best business advice: Invest in your retirement. It’ll be here before you know it, and it’s the best tax savings tool available to anyone.

Key to success: Pat: The best part of being a CPA is helping people save money on taxes, but I think the keys to being successful is listening to your clients and being as responsive as possible so they are able to make timely business/personal decisions.

Colin: Enjoying what I do has been the biggest influence to my success as a CPA. Sounds odd coming from a “number cruncher,” but in reality it’s working with people and developing relationships that keeps me coming back for more.

KEILA SZPALLER keila.szpaller@missoulian.com‌

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he scandal around Enron led Pat Boyle to follow in his father’s footsteps.

John Boyle is a founding partner of the accounting firm Boyle, Deveny and Meyer. Now John is on the brink of retirement, and his two sons, Pat and Colin, are hard at work, not only at the firm as CPAs, but in the community.

In school, Pat saw a wave of opportunities in the finance industry after Enron’s directors cooked the books and toppled

Pat spent time working in Portland, Oregon, before returning to Missoula.

Colin went to work at the firm of some 20 certified public accountants right out of school, but outside work, he has toured places far from his hometown. Chile.

Italy. Spain. England. Ireland.

“I think it makes you appreciate Missoula as a community, and how community-minded really this place is, and how people enjoy giving back. You want to encourage that in the place that you work and contribute to,” Colin said.

In the future, when John retires, Pat anticipates his little brother will become a partner in the firm, too. Pat and Jaime Ward were made partners after Jack Meyer retired.

Kim Arnot, who nominated the brothers, said they are “spectacular human beings” and come from a long history of accountants. She said they will be the future leaders of the company and serve it well.

“It is awesome to watch a third generaROB CHANEY, Missoulian tion, not only that they are able to stay in our community, but how much they honor their hometown and give back,” Arnot said.

They gave some free advice for this story, too.

From Colin: “Invest in your retirement. It’ll be here before you know it, – Pat Boyle, right and it’s the best tax savings tool available to anyone.”

Said Pat: “That’s a good one.” accountants to engage in the community, the company. In response to the ensuHe has one of his own, too, of course. and many volunteer at other organizaing disaster and other similar foibles, Many people have business ideas, and Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act tions. Pat said the firm’s philosophy some of them can’t wait to create someallows its staff to cultivate their own of 2002 to prevent fraudulent accountthing and hire other people to take action. niche and clients. ing practices.

“Those are usually the ones that fail,” “Go develop your own thing. Get out “There was lots of employment,” said Pat said. in the community. Meet people. Donate Pat, 32, a partner in the firm.

When they aren’t doling out advice or The sons are third-generation accoun- time to nonprofits,” Pat said. improving their community, the Boyle Pat donates time at the Blackstone tants, and Colin, 28, was led into the field brothers are golfing, deflecting praise, LaunchPad, a business startup program for different reasons. golfing, golfing, and cracking jokes. at the University of Montana, and he’s “For me, it was more about working Take the first response to the question on the boards of Habitat for Humanity of with people and the relationships you Missoula and the Hip Strip. Colin is help- about why they both followed in their develop with people. Numbers always father’s footsteps. ing The Max Wave come to fruition, and came easily, but people is what I enjoy,” “We specialize in nepotism,” Pat joked. he’s on the Homeword board.

Colin said.

Actually, they specialize in community, Affordable housing has long been a The firm’s roots in the community are and Arnot said they deserve accolades for need in Missoula, and the fact that both evident throughout the establishment. brothers find themselves on the board of doing so.

It’s located in an historic brick building “It is so important to support these near the Clark Fork River trail, and a piece organizations that work on housing may young leaders and encourage them to be more than a coincidence. by the late Montana ceramicist Rudy “It can be complex financial stuff, and be an important part of the fabric of our Autio hangs in the reception area. community,” she said.

The firm encourages its certified public it’s sort of interesting,” Colin said.

“Go develop your own thing.

Get out in the community. Meet people.

Donate time to nonprofits.”

Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015 — 23

BUSINESS: 20 UNDER 40

Work on MPG Ranch inspires next generation of conservationists

37 JOSHUA LISBON

MPG Ranch education and community outreach manager Hometown: Doylestown, Penn.

Hobbies: Anything that keeps me outside in the natural world, hunting, fishing, hiking mountain biking, backpacking, rock climbing. I also enjoy developing my primitive wilderness skills like hide tanning and tool production. For me, it’s not about survival. It’s about developing a relationship with the natural world.

Best business advice: Be honest, authentic, and reliable. Above all, nurture good relationships and work to benefit the greater community.

Keys to success: There is a quote attributed to the Roman philosopher Seneca, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” I would advise, as he did, to prepare for what you want in life and to seize opportunities when they present themselves. But to this I would add, do not be afraid to take risks.

PERRY BACKUS pbackus@ravallirepublic.com‌

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OLO — Some of Joshua Lisbon’s earliest memories are of tracks in the snow.

Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, with easy access to hundreds of forested acres, Lisbon remembers cold winter hikes and his father patiently teaching him about the variety of tracks that animals make as they traverse the landscape.

“That was something I really enjoyed as a boy,” he said. “I had a very idyllic childhood.”

For the last 10 years, Lisbon has

developing positive relationships later in life.”

Three years ago, Lisbon took all that he had learned to the folks who operated the sprawling, 10,000-acre MPG Ranch and offered them a chance to expand their education and outreach offerings.

“I had already collaborated with them to create summer internships,” he said. “I was a known entity to the ranch. When I pitched my idea, they liked it.”

Lisbon now works with both young and old in sharing the MPG Ranch’s mission of inspiring the next generation of conservationists.

This summer, he’ll work in conjunction with the Ecology Project International organization to create opportunities for high-school-aged naturalists to walk alongside researchers gathering information on everything from butterflies to soils.

TOM BAUER, Missoulian‌ When the snow falls, he’ll reach back to his earliest days while working alongside University of Montana students tracking carnivores across the wildest reaches of the ranch.

In between all of that, Lisbon works closely with local citizen-scientist volunteers banding birds, documenting migrating raptors and replacing miles – Joshua Lisbon of old barbwire fences with wildlifefriendly barriers.

“If I feel like I’m doing right by the “It was a unique situation,” he said. “I made it a point to share his love for land and I’m going right by wildlife and had a chance to work with kids starting everything wild with young people in I’m doing right by youth, then I feel like when they were 9 and following them western Montana.

I’m doing good,” he said. “I feel really all the way through to their high school He feels incredibly fortunate to have fortunate to be able to have this opporgraduation. I was able to nurture them. landed here. tunity.”

As a result, I built a strong relationship “I left my hometown on a fourHis co-worker, Katharine Roggeveen, with the kids and their families. It was a month-long road trip in search of a new really wonderful experience and one that has witnessed first-hand the impact place to live,” he said. “I left looking for Lisbon has had on the community. a place with a good sense of community. I enjoyed immensely.”

“Joshua is an exceptional human Lisbon was especially enthralled with I also wanted a place with easy access to the ways the wilderness setting impacted being,” Roggeveen wrote in a nomination wilderness. Missoula had both of those letter. “He genuinely cares about people, both his teaching style and the way stuthings in abundance.” his community, and educating students dents interacted with each other.

His first job was with the local “In the wilderness, you’re forced to be about native landscape restoration and nonprofit, Women’s Opportunity and Resource Development, where he worked real,” Lisbon said. “You can’t hide behind wildlife. Joshua empowers people and does whatever it takes to give people a the social mask that you’ve invented for with at-risk children. Lisbon ran the positive and educational experience.” yourself. You’re forced to be real on a organization’s summer camp, helped “I feel grateful to know him and am level that’s really beautiful. It helps you provide academic support in local schools and eventually created a wilder- develop a really good sense of authentic- appreciative of the opportunity to work with him every chance I get,” she wrote. ity that can be helpful when it comes to ness program for high school students.

“In the wilderness, you’re forced to be real. ... It helps you develop a really good sense of authenticity that can be helpful when it comes to developing positive relationships later in life.”

24 — Western Montana InBusiness, Summer 2015

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