Six businesses will receive Family Business Day awards at the 2018 Montana State University Jake Jabs College of Business and EntrepreneurshipState Farm Insurance Family Business Day, set for Friday, Oct. 26, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bozeman. Event check-in starts at 4 p.m. with the panel conversation and awards program beginning at 4:30 p.m. A networking social with hors d’oeuvres will follow.
The 2018 Family Business Day award winners are: Eaton Turner Jewelry of Helena in the very small business category (fewer than 10 employees); Collection Bureau Services, Inc. of Missoula in the small business category (10-30 employees); Montana Ale Works of Bozeman in the medium business category (30-50 employees); A.M. Welles, Inc. of Norris in the large business category (more than 50 employees); Hayden Truck Repair of Belgrade in the old business category (operating at least 50 years); and Tongue River Winery of Miles City in the new business category (operating 10 or fewer years).
Information about each winning family business will be shared during the awards reception.
This year’s speakers will include U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Dean Folkvord, founder of Wheat Montana and Sacajawea Hotel. Panel topics will include resources available to family businesses, regional and federal policies affecting businesses and advice for turning business challenges into successes.
A fifth generation Montanan, Daines has 28 years of private sector business experience. He grew up in Bozeman and graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. He spent 13 years in a management role for Procter & Gamble and then returned to Bozeman in 1997 to work in a family construction business.
In 2000, Daines became vice president at RightNow Technologies, a Bozeman-based cloud computing startup company. The company was acquired by Oracle in 2012.
Daines was elected to serve as Montana’s United States representative in 2012; he was then elected as one of Montana’s senators in 2014.
Folkvord and his family founded Wheat Montana, a family wheat farming operation. Wheat Montana’s operations cover roughly 10,000 acres in Broadwater County near Three Forks. Wheat Montana received a Family Business award in 1994. Since the sale of the mill/bakery, Folkvord has been slowly turning over the reins of the company. He and his wife, Hope, are helping their daughters build a foundation in the hospitality industry. Their new company, called Folkvord Family Investments, develops, owns and operates hotels and restaurants, including the historic Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks and the newly reimagined RSVP Motel in Bozeman.
Folkvord has earned numerous awards and is well known as a volunteer. He was named the Montana Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine in 1996 and the 1997 Montana Small Business Person of the Year. He and his wife received the 2012 Community Excellence Award, which honors service to both MSU and the greater Gallatin Valley community. He has served on SBA’s National Advisory Council, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana Board of Directors, the Federal Reserve Bank Advisory Council on Agriculture and as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Helena.
The public is invited to this celebratory and educational event. RSVPs are requested by Oct. 22. A $15 registration is required to attend the keynote, awards ceremony and networking social. For more information or to register, visit montana.edu/business/familybusiness or contact Anna Reardon at 406-994-6195 or [email protected].
The Montana Family Business program is in its 25th year and is one of many events scheduled as part of MSU’s 125th anniversary celebration. The Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship and State Farm Insurance, in honor of Robert Jaedicke, host the program. Additional support for the program has been provided by the Montana Chamber of Commerce and Wipfli.