MSU College of Business 2010 Annual Report

2010 Annual Report

Montana State University  College of Business outstanding students faculty & programs Alumni & Friends Community involvement Honor roll of donors

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2010 Board of Advisors Thank you D.A. Davidson & Co. for your sponsorship of the CoB Annual Report

CeLeBrating our Communities Davidson turned 75 in 2010.

To celebrate, our associates across the region helped us identify agencies and charities that are making a difference in their communities.

All in all, we contributed over $125,000 to these organizations.

The West has been very good to us. It's our privilege to give something back.

Montana offices in: Great Falls, Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Dillon, Hamilton, Havre, Helena, Kalispell, Livingston, Missoula and Whitefish.

2010 College of Business National Board of Advisors

Shavon Cape JWT

Donald C. Larson Boeing

Susan J. Carstensen RightNow Technologies

Andrew S. Martzloff Bitterroot Capital Advisors

Bridget Cavanaugh Schedulicity

Paul Matteucci US Venture Partners

Jim Edwards Mountain West Benefit Solutions

Michael Monaghan UBS Financial

Todd Eliason Rock Creek Associates

John O’Donnell Tech Ranch

Andrew Field PrintingForLess.com, Inc.

Scott Peterson Wells Fargo Bank

Alan Fuhrman Ambit Bioscience

Kalli Ryti First Interstate Bank

David Hill KPMG, LLP

Kathy Sanchez Northwestern Mutual Financial Network

Karen L.R. Howard Enchantment Land CDC

James C. Taylor, Jr. Bostwick Properties, Inc.

Alan Kahn Entrepreneur

Janice K. Whetstone Janice K. Whetstone, P.C.

Susan King Consultant

Ed Rice, General Counsel Zoot Enterprises, Inc.

Administration & Staff

Dan Moshavi Ph.D. Dean

Jackie Sather Director of Development

Bruce Raymond Ph.D. Associate Dean

Audrey Lee Director of Communications & Public Relations

Susan Dana J.D. Associate Dean & Director of the Bracken Center Chris Lamb Ed.D Assistant Dean

Linda Ward Assistant Director of the Bracken Center Brenda Truman Assistant Director of Student Services

Also in Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

dadavidson.com

Montana State University College of Business 412 Reid Hall · PO Box 173040 · Bozeman, MT 59717-3040 www.montana.edu/cob We would like to thank the College of Business faculty and staff, as well as the MSU Office of Communications and Public Affairs, without whom this report would not be possible.

Let’s BuiLD a Brighter Future.

Design for this Annual Report by Montana State University Publications and Graphics.

Photographs provided by the College of Business, except where noted.

Editorial assistance provided by Rilla Esbjornson of the College of Business.

The Printing of this Annual Report is Funded in Part by a Grant from D.A. Davidson & Co.

table of contents 3 Table of Contents 4 Letter from the Dean 5 Event Highlights 6 MSU Alum and Successful Businessman Gives More than $3 Million to College of Business 8

Outstanding Students 10 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 19

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Faculty & Programs 22 23 24 25 26 28 29 30 31 32 32 34

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2010 Guest Speakers 6th Annual Event Gives Students a Taste of Entrepreneurship Professional Attitudes Present at the Meet the Recruiters Fairs Six Family Businesses Honored at Family Business Day Awards Luncheon Rainy Weather Did Not Dampen Enthusiasm at Annual Golf Tournament Record Attendance at Fall Entrepreneur Day CoB Students Learn from Business Leaders and Foreign Dignitaries at the Butte Economic Summit

Alumni & Friends 45 46 47 48 48 50 50 51 52 53 53 54 56 57

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Preparing our Students for Success: Letter from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Business 302: From the Classroom to the Boardroom Effective Business Today Selects CoB Instructor, Gary Bishop, as U.S. Contributing Correspondent Women’s Circle of Excellence Conference: Third Year Going Strong Faculty Updates College of Business Faculty Active in Community SIFE Club Travels to San Francisco for Regional Competition A Business’s Success Comes From More than Finances Human Resources Management Club Studies Hospitality Industry in Las Vegas Armor All Founder, Alan Rypinski, Shares Experience with MSU Students Faculty Awards Announced During Commencement Summer Program in Brescia: Opportunity of a Lifetime

Community Involvement 38 38 39 40 41 42 42

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Sophie Mumford Receives Prestigious National Scholarship College of Business Student Pioneer in MSU Student Sustainability and Green Living Efforts Kyle Blessinger Awarded Pacific Northwest Chapter/ACFE Scholarship More than 250 Tax Returns Filed by Accounting Students Over Spring Break Awards for Excellence: Seniors and Faculty Mentors Honored Sixteen CoB Students Inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma MSU Business Student Turns Enthusiasm for Sports into a Marketing Career Path Two CoB Students Participate in Unique Nature Valley Summer Internship Justin Zarecor Named a 2010 McNair Scholar President Cruzado Speaks to CoB Scholarship Recipients Day of Student Recognition

College of Business Clubs Jackie Sather: Generosity is Crucial to Our Success More CoB Graduates Taking the CFA Exam and Succeeding Grant Jamieson Interned with U.S. Senate Finance Committee Mike Hope Wins Business Excellence Award Two Honored with Community Excellence Award Reflections: Jackie Art Reflections: Joe Bogen Lifelong Relationship with Montana State University Leads to New Scholarships for the College of Business Justine March Volunteering in Malawi through the Peace Corps Michael DiFronzo Joins Washington National Tax Services Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Bracken Business Communications Clinic (BBCC) Expansion Allows for More Student Services Celebrating a 25-year Partnership: Creation of the D.A. Davidson Silver Fund In Memoriam

Honor Roll of Donors

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letter from thestudents dean outstanding

“For the College of Business, 2010 began and ended with considerable excitement.”

For the College of Business (CoB), 2010 began and ended with considerable excitement. In January, we welcomed a new university president, Waded Cruzado, who shares the CoB’s entrepreneurial spirit and understands the important role that business schools can and should play in the life of a university and in the economic development of the state and region. In December, we thanked a Montana State Dan Moshavi University (MSU) alumnus for his incredible generosity. Jake Jabs (B.S. in vocational agriculture, 1952), CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, provided the college with one of the largest gifts in its history, a gift that will significantly enhance and expand our entrepreneurship education and outreach efforts through the newly renamed Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West.

In this annual report, you’ll learn more about Mr. Jabs, his Montana roots, and his passion for entrepreneurship. You’ll also read about other alumni who are having a significant impact in such places as Washington D.C., Malawi, and right here in Montana, as well as have the opportunity to peruse reflections on the CoB experience from two recent CoB graduates.

You’ll also discover that we continue to provide outstanding professional development opportunities for our students. This past year, our Orser lecture series hosted two very distinguished speakers—Alan Rypinski, founder of ArmorAll, and Ian Davidson, chairman of Davidson Companies and Davidson & Co. In addition, student club members traveled to Las Vegas and San Francisco, while other students took advantage of a new summer studyabroad opportunity in Brescia, Italy. We’re even creating experiences for the next generation of MSU students—more than 130 high school students (a record) from across Montana attended our annual Entrepreneur Day in the fall.

Finally, our faculty continues to do amazing work—creating new courses and refreshing the curriculum, conducting interesting and important research in accounting, finance, management and marketing, and, through their outreach efforts, enhancing the economic development of the state of Montana and the northern Rocky Mountain region.

Stay tuned as we continue to innovate.

Dan Moshavi, Dean of the College of Business

event highlights

2010 Event Highlights January 1 SIFE Club guest speaker—Carson Taylor February 19 Awards for Excellence 19 Community Excellence Awards 25 Almost Spring Career Fair March 6 Spring Retreat 12 Alaska VITA 23 Student/Professional Mixer 25 Orser Lecture—Alan Rypinski April 6 Entrepreneur Day 7 Beta Gamma Sigma Induction

8 Big 3+1 Accounting Firm Spring Recruiting

19 Scholarship Banquet 21 Beta Alpha Psi Initiation 22 Women’s Circle of Excellence Graduation Celebration May 13-14 Women’s Circle of Excellence Conference 8 Hooding Ceremony 8 MSU’s 113th Commencement September 8 Freshman Convocation 10 President Waded Cruzado Inauguration 16 Meet the Accounting Recruiters 17 Golf Tournament 24 Family Business Day October 6 Orser Speakers Forum—Ian Davidson 8 Advisory Meet & Greet 13 Meet the Recruiters 13 Recruiter Panel November 3 Entrepreneur Day December 3 Bob Arrota—Scholarship Announcement 8 Jake Jabs $3 Million Gift Announced 10 CoB Holiday Celebration

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breaking news MSU Alum and Successful Businessman Gives More than $3 Million to College of Business A Montana State University alumnus who has established one of the largest retail furniture companies in the U.S. announced today that he will give more than $3 million to MSU’s College of Business.

The gift from Jake Jabs, president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse based in Denver, is one of the largest gifts ever given to Montana State University (MSU) and the second gift of this size made to the College of Business.

“This gift, from a man who grew up in a small town in Montana, will have an impact on generations of students from Montana and elsewhere,” said Dan Moshavi, dean of the College of Business. “It will pave the way for thousands of MSU students to hone their entrepreneurial skills.”

Moshavi said that the gift will be earmarked for the newly renamed Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West, sustaining it for years to come. A portion of the gift will be used immediately to provide entrepreneurship-related services and learning opportunities for students, such as oneon-one mentoring and coaching and hosting entrepreneurs in residence. In addition, a separate fund has been established to provide scholarships to College of Business students studying entrepreneurship.

The college plans to develop further curricular and professional opportunities for entrepreneurship students

Jake Jabs, an MSU alumnus and president and CEO of American Furniture Warehouse based in Denver, has given more than $3 million to the MSU College of Business.

through the center, as well as provide computers, video conferencing equipment and other technological tools for entrepreneurship-oriented initiatives. The gift will also be used to provide professional development and research opportunities for entrepreneurship faculty.

MSU President Waded Cruzado said the gift will be used to satisfy a pressing need. Since its creation in 2003, the Center for Entrepreneurship has become so popular with students that its current offerings, including the Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship, have reached capacity.

“Mr. Jabs’ gift could not have come at a more opportune time,” Cruzado said. “It provides the necessary financial strength and flexibility that will allow the College of Business to expand its entrepreneurship classes and better meet the needs of our students and communities.

“With his gift, Jake Jabs is helping other Montana kids follow their dreams and become successful entrepreneurs in their own right,” Cruzado added. “Entrepreneurship is one of the important engines driving the nation’s economy.”

Jabs’ father, who had no formal education beyond the second grade but who believed strongly in its value, is part of what inspired Jabs to invest in education, Jabs said.

The fourth of nine children, Jabs was raised in rural Montana on a ranch outside Lodge Grass. Jabs’ family lived in a home that had no indoor plumbing, electricity or running water. They were poor, but the children didn’t know it at the time, Jabs wrote in an autobiography published in 2000.

Instead, his parents taught their children the importance of self-confidence, the courage to take risks, the importance of developing hobbies outside of work and caring about things other than money. The family formed a band together, often playing for community dances and other special gatherings. Music has been one of Jabs’ lifelong pursuits.

Jabs also credits his parents, who immigrated from Russia and Poland, for providing him with a strong work ethic, and Jabs’

7 Dan Moshavi, dean of the CoB, with Jake Jabs and President Waded Cruzado

father shared with his children his belief that education was essential.

“My dad always wanted us to get an education,” Jabs said during a recent visit to MSU. “He always said he felt left out. My dad only had the opportunity to go through the second grade in Poland, and my mother only went through the seventh grade. Both of them encouraged us to get an education, saying it opens doors for you.

It gives you opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise. So, my dad gave us enough money to start in college.

“Education gives you the confidence to take risks, and to be successful in life you have to have take risks,” Jabs added.

After he graduated from high school in Hardin, Jabs enrolled at what was then Montana State College, graduating with a degree in vocational agriculture in 1952.

During his college years, he played with the Montana State band, was on the MSU rodeo team, joined the ROTC, and took many elective courses, which he said helped him explore a variety of subjects and ultimately helped him pursue several different careers throughout his life, including music and business.

And, though his studies were focused on agriculture, his business instincts and entrepreneurial spirit were evident even as a college student and young adult. Jabs and his brother worked their way through college doing odd jobs and playing music. Later, after serving in the U.S. Air Force and working as a musician in Nashville, Jabs returned to Bozeman, where he bought a music store. He secured a loan from the bank to buy out his partner in the store only after putting up as collateral cattle from his family’s ranch.

Jabs’ first serious venture into the furniture business came in 1968, when he opened a highend furniture store with locations in Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Colo. and Billings.

Five years later, Jabs decided to close the business. Then, in 1975, he purchased a struggling furniture business, renaming it American Furniture Warehouse.

Since then, American Furniture Warehouse has experienced remarkable growth and expanded into an 11-store operation. Jabs, who is now 80, remains responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and also oversees the company’s team of buyers, often traveling to Asia on purchasing trips. Today, American Furniture Warehouse is one of the top retail furniture companies in the U.S. and one of the largest privately held businesses in Colorado, with sales topping $330 million in 2008 and 1,400 employees throughout Colorado.

Jabs, well-known in Colorado for his philanthropy, has come to view gifts to education as an important way to make a difference.

“I thought, ‘Well, where does the money that I give do the most good?’ I got to thinking that maybe if I gave to education, and helped education, that my money would go further,” Jabs said. “I think I can do more good by giving to something like MSU.” Jabs hopes his gift will provide opportunities for students to receive a strong education so that they can compete well in a global marketplace.

“I think the entrepreneurship center opens doors. It makes students feel like there are other opportunities out there where they could be an entrepreneur, also.”

The interim head of the MSU Foundation said Jabs’ gift is a generous act of confidence in MSU’s faculty and students.

“We’re elated,” said Michael Stevenson, interim president and chief executive officer of the MSU Foundation, the non-profit fundraising arm of the university. “The Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West will create unparalleled opportunities for our students and community, inspiring generations of entrepreneurs right here in Bozeman.”

MSU’s president also expressed appreciation for the gift.

“With this infusion of capital from Mr. Jake Jabs, we can take this program to the next level and create a world-class entrepreneurship center right here in the state of Montana,” Cruzado said.

“On behalf of Montana State University and the College of Business, I would like to thank Mr. Jabs for his incredibly generous and selfless gift to his alma mater,” she said. “We understand that there are many entities that Mr. Jabs could have given to, and we are honored that he chose us.”

By Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service

About the Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West: The Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West at Montana State University provides entrepreneurial training for students who generate research, business plans and market analysis for start-up state and regional organizations, as well as university-based innovations and inventions. Since its creation in 2001, more than 400 students have provided approximately 12,000 hours of pro-bono consulting services to more than 60 businesses and organizations in Montana, according to Dan Moshavi, dean of the College of Business.

The College has partnered with TechRanch, a technology business incubator, on many of these efforts.

The College of Business views the Center and its programs as a way to make a significant contribution to the economic development of the state while providing a framework for outstanding educational experiences for students, Moshavi said.

outstanding

students 2010 Graduating Student Profile Male/Female Ratio Male 55% Female 45%

Options

Master of Professional Accountancy Male 46% Female 54%

Minors

Total students: 43

50 25 0

25 50

Marketing 26% Management 35% Finance 16% Accounting 23% Total students: 246

Management of Information Technology 5% International Business 16% Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management 47% Business Administration 31% Accounting 1% Total students: 133

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outstanding students Sophie Mumford Receives Prestigious National Scholarship

Sophie Mumford

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) gives 15 U.S. student scholarships and another 15 international student scholarships each year. Sophie Mumford, a Montana State University (MSU) College of Business (CoB) accounting student, who grew up in southern Vermont and is currently majoring in accounting and economics, was chosen to receive one of the $1,000 Ritchie-Jennings Memorial Scholarships for 2010-2011.

Criteria for receiving the ACFE award are rigorous, requiring the student be taking at least 12 semester credit hours, with a declared major in accounting or criminal justice. Recipients are selected on several factors, including overall academic achievement, a short essay explaining why the applicant deserves the scholarship and how the awareness of fraud will affect the student’s career.

Bonita Kramer, CoB professor of accounting, encouraged Mumford to apply for the scholarship after instructing her in ACTG 223 (Principles of Financial Accounting) and ACTG 328 (Intermediate Accounting II). Kramer also wrote one of Mumford’s recommendation letters.

Kramer had this to say about Mumford: “She stops by my office to chat every now and then, and I am so impressed with not only her academic abilities, but also her commitment to serve her community in a variety of volunteer capacities, her personality, her motivation and her vision for her future accounting career. I knew she could compete on a national scale with other scholarship applicants and I am absolutely thrilled the ACFE awarded her this scholarship.

She is very deserving and I know she will be an outstanding member of the accounting profession.”

Mumford maintains a cumulative GPA of 3.80, often carrying a heavy credit load of 18 to 24 credits. She says, “I was very excited to be awarded the ACFE scholarship, particularly as my interest in accounting is becoming more focused on auditing.” She says this scholarship will be an important means of funding for her future education.

Besides excelling in academics, Mumford is involved in a wide variety of activities. She serves as a resident hall writing tutor throughout the academic year, volunteered as a BUS 101 (Freshman Seminar) Student Associate during the fall 2009 semester, is active as a math tutor for middle school students through the MSU AmeriCorps program, served as a volleyball coach for 8th grade girls’ for the past three years and has now started working as the accountant for the Sacajawea Middle School Parent Advisory Council (PAC).

Mumford is working as an intern with the MSU Internal Audit Department this summer. She expects to graduate December 2010 and start the Master in Professional Accounting (MPAc) program immediately afterwards.

College of Business Student Pioneer in MSU Student Sustainability and Green Living Efforts Even on a Montana spring day when the snow is so thick that one can’t see the house across the street, Matt Smith looks out the window and sees green.

“I’ve lived all my life in the West and I think for a lot of people like me, the environment has always been an inseparable part of our lives,” said Smith, a senior at Montana State University (MSU) from Helena who is majoring in both business and philosophy. “Experiencing the natural environment is something we all especially value at MSU.” At the age of 21, Smith is something of a pioneer in MSU student sustainability and green living efforts. When he came to MSU, there were few such student efforts. Even campus-wide recycling was sporadic. Yet in those three years, a variety of organizations have sprung up, most notably the MSU Network of Environmentally Conscious Organizations (NECO), which Smith co-founded, and the resulting ASMSU Sustainability Center, funded by an overwhelming student vote and manned by a full-time permanent staff director.

Smith believes that in the last three years, MSU has caught up and, in some ways, is even surpassing other

campuses in the region in earthconscious initiatives. MSU’s progress in the area was on display April 18-24 with a variety of activities. The event began with Matt Smith a “Run for the Earth” on Sunday, April 18, and ended with a community-wide Earth Day cleanup on Saturday, April 24. The activities also included a lecture Thursday, April 22, by David Orr, who pioneered a campaign for ecological literacy in education and is a leading thinker on environmental politics and climate change.

“I would say that our university has changed,” Smith said.

“You can’t pin that on NECO entirely because so much has changed. There are a lot of small things that are happening that add up to some progress.” Smith particularly points to faculty leadership, especially Paul Gannon, an MSU assistant professor in chemical and biological engineering, who is leading a student poster presentation on energy and sustainability.

“When sustainability is in the curriculum, there is the potential for change,” Smith said.

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Kyle Blessinger Awarded Pacific Northwest Chapter/ACFE Scholarship

Kyle Blessinger

Kyle Blessinger, an accounting student with a cumulative GPA of 4.0, was encouraged to apply for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) international scholarship by his professor, Dr. Bonita Kramer. Competition is very stiff for one of the 15 international awards and Blessinger was notified by the ACFE that he was not selected in this year’s program. Less than a week later, he unexpectedly received a letter from the Pacific Northwest Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners. The ACFE had forwarded Blessinger’s application to the Pacific Northwest Chapter/ACFE for consideration in the annual student scholarship program and he had been selected as one of the 2010 Student Scholarship Award winners.

The award letter, signed by Joseph R. Dervaes, CFE, ACFE Fellow, CIA and Chapter President, stated that Kyle is an outstanding student at Montana State University (MSU) and is most deserving of the award. Applications for the chapter student scholarships were extremely competitive and Dervaes said that Blessinger’s application “stood head and shoulders above the rest.” Dervaes also said Blessinger’s selection makes a fantastic statement about the quality of the students who attend the fine educational institutions in the Pacific Northwest.

Kramer had this to say about the award: “When Kyle first told me he wasn’t selected for one of the ACFE international scholarships, I

was a bit disappointed, but there are so few awards available and the competition is fierce.

We had just learned a week or so earlier that Kyle was selected as one of 15 graduate students throughout MSU to receive an MSU Presidential Graduate Scholarship, so overall, we were pleased with the recognition Kyle received as he is truly deserving when you look at the grades he has earned and the extracurricular activities he is involved with. Then a short while later, Kyle mentioned to me he received this ACFE Pacific NW Chapter award—I had never heard of this award before, and was absolutely thrilled and delighted to learn Kyle is being recognized by the ACFE! It made my day!”

Blessinger is honored to be acknowledged with this scholarship and he says this award will help him pursue his Masters of Professional Accountancy (MPAc) from MSU. For future plans, he is unsure of where he is headed except that it will be in accounting. “With so many avenues available in the field of accounting, I have yet to decide which one I will pursue; I continue to be interested in learning more in each area of accounting. I developed an interest in learning about fraud detection by taking my first auditing class; however, as I have taken more classes on tax-related “ Blessinger’s application subjects, I am leaning towards pursuing a “stood head and shoulders career in tax.” above the rest.”

The ACFE is the world’s largest antifraud organization and Joseph R. Dervaes premier provider of anti-fraud training and education. The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the ACFE is one of approximately 135 world-wide chapters and consists of 115 highly qualified fraud professionals. Members are accountants, auditors, financial managers, private investigators, educators and anyone simply interested in joining the anti-fraud battle.

The chapter mission is to promote fraud prevention and detection through education training programs. They continually work to increase their outreach and professional networking at colleges and universities as well as in their communities. This $500 scholarship is given to only one or two Pacific Northwest college or university students each year.

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outstanding students

More than 250 Tax Returns Filed by Accounting Students Over Spring Break

The four MSU accounting students and a University of Idaho student in Alaska. From left to right: Matthew VanZeipel, Jennifer Larson, Bryan Jackson, Caitlyn Deen and Wasawat Tuntiprapha

Four Montana State University (MSU) accounting students, Caitlyn Deen, Bryan Jackson, Jennifer Larson and Wasawat Tuntiprapha, spent spring break in Alaska filing tax returns through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The program, established through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), assists “Going to Alaska gave people who find it difficult to pay for me the opportunity to tax preparation services.

The four students were selected apply my knowledge to from a pool of about 25 who were a real-life situation.” interested in participating in this program, based on their academic exWasawat Tuntiprapha cellence and experience. The College of Business (CoB) pays up to $600 towards each volunteer’s airfare to Anchorage, Alaska and the students make up the difference. The Alaska Business Development Center (ABDC), a non-profit organization, sponsors the trip by covering all other trip expenses and taking care of logistical arrangements.

The students arrived in Anchorage on Friday, March 12, where they trained in tax laws specific to Alaska before heading out to the villages on Sunday. Prior to arriving in Alaska, all the students had practiced preparing returns

through the VITA program on campus. They also had to pass an IRS tax preparation exam, complete at least one comprehensive tax course and receive specific training related to common tax issues and those pertinent to villages in Alaska, such as considerations related to fishing, oil and gas, as well as Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend program for its citizens.

Jackson and Tuntiprapha visited smaller villages on Kodiak Island: Old Harbor, Larsen Bay, Karluk, Akhiok, Port Lion and Ouzinkie; while Deen and Larson visited three larger villages: Kongiganak, Kwigillingok and Tuntutuliak, all located in Western Alaska.

With these villages being so remote, roughly 90 percent of the villagers are native and speak a first language other than English. Deen and Larson interacted mostly with the Yupik Eskimos and the villagers were kind enough to teach them a few words in the Yupik language.

The students also experienced some culture shock with their living situation being so different from what they are used to in Bozeman. There were no roads so everyone traveled by four-wheelers, snow mobiles, boats or bush planes. Everything was very expensive. Larson recalls buying a box of donuts for twice what she pays in Bozeman. Luckily many of the

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From left to right: (back) Dan Moshavi, Frank Kerins, Morgan Legerski, Christie Johnson, Susan Dana (front) Kyle Blessinger, Bonita Peterson Kramer, Rachel McGinnis, Jann Spizziri, Gary Bishop

students had brought food with them from Bozeman.

The students slept on cots, air mattresses, on the floor and and even on a table. Toilets were broken at all three places where Deen and Larson stayed so they learned firsthand about honey buckets. The trip was an eye-opening experience for these four students.

On the other hand, the students were able to experience a rich native culture. Deen and Larson watched a rehearsal of native dancers at the local school in Kongiganak and they also visited an artist who created baskets and dance fans (similar to those used at the rehearsal) in Kwigillingok.

In four days, Deen and Larson printed 167 returns, while Jackson and Tuntiprapha completed 100, for a total of 267 returns from nine villages.

Tuntiprapha believes this experience helped prepare him for his future in accounting. “Going to Alaska gave me the opportunity to apply my knowledge to a real-life situation,” he stated. “I would like to give a special thanks to [professor] Anne Christensen who did an excellent job teaching us”. Tuntiprapha plans on taking the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam and work in the U.S. before returning to Thailand. He says, “I am confident that the Master of Professional Accountancy program at MSU and the experience in Alaska will help me contribute to the improvement of Thailand’s accounting and tax system, which is principally important, given that Thailand has entered into an epoch of violently competitive trade in the international arena.”

Overall, the students gained valuable tax preparation experience, learned about another culture and were able to help many villagers and their families.

For a video clip of what the students experienced and more information about the VITA program, please see our website: http://www.montana.edu/cob/Accounting/vita.html

Awards for Excellence:

Seniors and Faculty Mentors Honored The Montana State University (MSU) Alumni Association and the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce recognized 40 top MSU seniors and their faculty or staff mentors at the 28th annual Awards for Excellence banquet. The awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, February 16. Student winners were nominated by faculty in their college or department and chosen by an award selection committee. Honorees maintained a minimum 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated campus leadership and community service.

The College of Business students and mentors who were honored at the banquet were:

accounting

marketing and finance

accounting

management

Jennifer Larson, CoB accounting student preparing taxes in Alaska.

Kyle Blessinger Bonita Peterson Kramer

Morgan Legerski Frank Kerins

Rachel McGinnis Christie Johnson

Jann Spizziri Gary Bishop

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outstanding students Sixteen CoB Students Inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma

2010 BGS INDUCTEES seniors Joseph Bogen Meghan Doyle Anthony Gaffke Loretta Hemingway Rachel McGinnis Sophie Mumford Heather Morris Stephanie Mundt* LeAnn Plymale juniors Caley Chadwick Carl Nystuen Randi Regli Garrett Shaw Abbey Schmaltz Jay Trotter Xiaochen Zhao * in absentia

Sixteen Montana State University College of Business (CoB) students and one CoB faculty member were added to the prestigious list of Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) inductees at the induction luncheon on Wednesday, April 7.

BGS, an international honor society started in 1913, provides the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in an accredited, Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), undergraduate or master’s program.

BGS Advisor, Dr. Susan Dana welcomed attendees and the induction started with the definition of Beta Gamma Sigma and what it means to be a member of this honor society.

The inductees were encouraged to live according to the standards of Beta, meaning honor, Gamma, meaning wisdom and Sigma, meaning earnestness. The inductees recited the BGS pledge and received their certificates and pins.

Afterwards, BGS presented The Beta Gama Sigma Professor of the Year Award to Dr. Omar Shehryar, CoB associate professor of marketing. Shehryar joined the CoB in the summer of 2005 after teaching at Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri.

His primary teaching interests include principles of marketing, marketing management and marketing research. His research focuses on the application and extension of terror management theory in the domain of consumer behavior and behavioral pricing. Shehryar received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri. The graduating CoB class of 2009 acknowledged Shehryar’s

excellence in teaching, during commencement, with the prestigious Professor of the Year Award.

BGS also recognized Todd E. Eliason, president and founder of Rock Creek Associates, as the Chapter Honoree.

An accomplished industry executive and visionary, he has offered significant leadership contributions to telecommunications companies for more than 25 years. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from MSU and his MBA from Seattle University. Eliason is also on the CoB Advisory Board.

Eliason congratulated the students for the honor of being in BGS and told them to savor the moment and to take pride in their success, the CoB and MSU. “Be proud of your education and what foundation you’ve received here.

The college is truly becoming a world-class organization centered on student success.”

His advice to the students, “Todd’s Tidbits,” focused on key attributes that lead to professional and personal development. He listed twelve attributes: Attitude and Enthusiasm, Teamwork, Integrity, Openness, Hard Work, Focus, Challenge/Question/Ask Why, Trust, Perspective and Humor, Positive Noise and Professionalism and Balance, giving examples of how each lead to positive outcomes.

Eliason also talked about defining realistic expectations, making a plan and then identifying various paths to achieve one’s goals.

He closed by saying that a leader stands out by the nature of their commitment and the integrity of their character.

From left to right: (back) Todd Eliason, Carl Nystuen, Garrett Shaw, Jay Trotter, Joseph Bogen, Loretta Hemingway, Abbey Schmaltz From left to right: (front) LeAnn Plymale, Heather Morris, Sophie Mumford, Rachel McGinnis, Meghan Doyle, Xiaochen Zhao, Omar Shehryar

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MSU Business Student Turns Enthusiasm for Sports into a Marketing Career Path Montana State “I don’t want to leave,” Cordell said. “I have so many amazUniversity (MSU) ing opportunities here.” student Bethany Some of Cordell’s responsibilities with MSU Athletics have Cordell is a die-hard included preparing pre-game and halftime promotions for sports fan who has Bobcat football, basketball and volleyball games. She has also parlayed her enthusi- written scripts for announcers to use at basketball games and asm for sports into a created games and contests for students and children. future career path.

In fact, it was Cordell’s experience with MSU Athletics that “I’m the most made her internship application to the Mariners stand out, un-athletic person said Mandy Lincoln, marketing coordinator at the Mariners.

Bethany Cordell around, but I have a “We receive hundreds of applications each year, and choose lot of spirit,” Cordell only three to four people each season,” Lincoln said. “Her said. “I’ve also discovered that I love marketing.” resume stood out for having experience that the position Cordell says these two passions make a career in sports mar- would entail. keting a great fit for her. And, thanks to opportunities she has “We also saw [in Cordell] initiative in completing other pursued as a student in MSU’s College of Business (CoB), she internships,” Lincoln said. “That’s a good indication of has already gained considerable experience in the field, includ- her work ethic. She had applied what she was learning.” ing an internship with a major league baseball team.

Cordell’s internships with the Mariners and MSU AthletCordell, now 20 and a CoB junior from Helena, has ics, as well as two other internships she’s held with Montana landed a number of marketing internships, including one Lottery and the Bozeman Public Library, have affirmed she recently completed with the Seattle Mariners. Cordell Cordell’s decision to pursue a career in marketing. They are was with the Mariners from August through mid-October. also a reminder of the wonderful opportunities she’s had as a While there, she supervised a group of employees who gave student at MSU. away promotional items during Mariners games. She also “My internships and classes go in a circle,” Cordell said. “I planned several kids’ appreciation days, which involved coor- learn things in internships that I later learn in class, and vice dinating 30 area mascots attending the events. versa.”

“I was out on Safeco Field four hours after starting the internFor example, her final project with the Mariners was a ship,” Cordell said. “I wasn’t expecting a major league team to professional analysis comparing how promotions affected let their interns have that much responsibility. It was great.” attendance at major league baseball games. The project Working for the Mariners in a year when their record relied on the use of Excel, a program that Cordell reluctantly wasn’t stellar made for valuable marketing experience, learned as a student at MSU, but which proved to be invaluCordell added. The Mariners had 61 wins and 101 losses in able as she worked on the project. the 2010 season.

“I’m really proud of that project,” she said.

“The New York Yankees sell out every game regardless of Drew Ingraham, Cordell’s supervisor at MSU Athlethow the team is doing,” Cordell said. “In a year like this one ics, said that Cordell has good intuition when it comes to for the Mariners, you really need to focus on marketing to marketing for sports. get people there.”

“She has a really good perspective when it comes to underCordell said the marketers focused on ways of encouragstanding the flow of events and finding what people would ing families to attend games, such as promoting inexpensive find entertaining,” Ingraham said. “She is also a quality seats and adding additional attractions like the kids’ apthinker who is able to think outside of the box.” preciation days.

And, because of her many experiences while at MSU, Cordell also said she was able to hit the ground running at business professor Michael Kroff, who is Cordell’s adviser, the Mariners after working as an intern with MSU Athletics’ predicted that Cordell will do well in the field once she marketing department. Cordell, who discovered she loved graduates. marketing after taking a marketing class in her senior year at “She has been gaining experience in different areas, and I Helena High School, applied for the MSU internship at the think she will be well-prepared coming out of college,” he end of her freshman year. said. “She will be ready for the job market.”

“I was really well-prepared for my job in Seattle after MSU After she graduates from MSU, Cordell plans to continue Athletics,” Cordell said. “I think I get as good or better on her path to a future career in sports marketing. experience at MSU than people at bigger schools do, because “I’d like to stay involved in university athletics,” she said.

I get to do such a large variety of things.”

“And I would love to go somewhere different. I’m really open.

Even though Cordell’s original plan was to attend MSU I’ve really learned that if you’re not open, you’re going to for two years and then transfer to another university out-ofmiss out on opportunities.” state, she said she quickly decided to stay.

By Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service

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outstanding students Two CoB Students Participate in Unique Nature Valley Summer Internship

Eric Doyle points to one of their campsites in the Grand Tetons.

Jack Kost, a finance major, and Eric Doyle, a marketing major, traveled in and documented 10 national parks through Nature Valley’s National Parks Project internship. As “Team Mountain,” Kost and Doyle were charged with visiting the parks in the Rocky Mountain West. Armed with a credit card for gas and other expenses, courtesy of Nature Valley, the two outdoor enthusiasts began their adventure in Utah, driving Kost’s 2003 Subaru Outback. During June, July and August, they toured Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Theodore Roosevelt, the Badlands, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.

Kost and Doyle, both juniors, first met as roommates their freshman year.

They discovered this internship opportu“We actually nity through Kost’s mom, who works for General Mills. Nature Valley, the Genwent through eral Mills-owned company, hired three three teams to “capture--and share—nature at its best in stories, photos and videos . thunderstorms . . So many national parks, so little vacahiking up there. tion time for most of us—which is why we’ve sent three teams to 30 national Our tents were parks over the course of three months pretty much this summer,” as stated on the National Parks Project website. blowing off According to an interview with the the side of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the greatest adventure for the two students was mountain.” camping at 11,000 feet in a hail storm on the lower saddle between Middle and Grand Teton mountains in Grand Teton Jack Kost National Park.

“We actually went through three thunderstorms hiking up there,” Kost said. “Our tents were pretty much blowing off the side of the mountain.”

Over the course of three months, Kost and Doyle worked in Yellowstone National Park, visited ancient cliff dwellings, helped microchip endangered bull trout, and saw everything from wild horses to moose.

These students were also getting the word out about Nature Valley and the National Parks through social media and by handing out Nature Valley bars to those they met over the summer. Another facet of the project is a fundraiser for the National Parks Conservation Association. Nature Valley is donating 10 cents for every granola bar wrapper that customers mail in or people can donate directly online. The money raised will fund three preservation projects: · realigning private fences to allow pronghorn antelope migration around Yellowstone Park. · removing invasive species and cultivating native plants in Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park. · restoring coral reefs in Florida’s Biscayne National Park.

With the extra promotion and hype surrounding the teams’ travels, Nature Valley has donated $366,857, according to their Website, and they are challenging fans to help raise up to $250,000 more.

Kost said, “Working with Nature Valley’s National Park Projects last summer was the opportunity of a lifetime. We got to enjoy the beauty of our national parks and share our experience via social media. It was excellent use of social media and social networking for both a marketing strategy, as well as fundraising.”

Other teams participating in this internship were the University of Montana’s “Team East,” who visited the Atlantic Ocean area and “Team West,” from the University of Minnesota, who visited the Pacific Ocean area.

To read more about the adventures of Team Mountain, visit: www.naturevalleyexplorers.com/category/teammountain/ .

More information about the National Parks Project, visit: www.naturevalley.com/National_Parks_Project.aspx .

Jack Kost enjoying a beautiful summer sunset.

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Top to bottom: 1) Kost and Doyle in the Tetons; 2) Doyle at Bryce Canyon National Park; 3) Kost and Doyle visit Canyonlands National Park; 4) Doyle at a viewing area built by the CCC in Theodore Roosevelt National Park; 5) Their kayak in Glacier National Park; 6) Kost and Doyle at Rocky Mountain National Park; 7) Kost crawling through Balcony House in Mesa Verde National Park; Background photo: Enjoying the sunset at Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

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outstanding students

The twenty-five undergraduate students selected as McNair Scholars. Justin Zarecor is circled.

Justin Zarecor Named a 2010 McNair Scholar Justin Zarecor, College of Business (CoB) management major from Stanford, Montana, was selected in December 2010 as one of 25 undergraduate students in the first cohort of MSU McNair Scholars. Zarecor owned a construction company in Bozeman for seven years before deciding to go back to school in business.

The McNair Scholars were chosen based on strong academic potential and are from first-generation to attend college/low-income families or are minorities from traditionally underrepresented cultural groups. Scholars are committed to attending graduate school and spend a minimum of one summer working on a research project with a faculty mentor.

Minette Jessup, adjunct instructor of management and Zarecor’s faculty mentor, says that the program administrators have done an outstanding job selecting high achieving students and providing them with the networks and tools necessary for success. She believes that the McNair Scholars Program provides a unique focus on preparing students for future graduate work.

Zarecor’s particular field of research studies risk. In his abstract, he states “risk is an increasingly important factor within business in light of social, economic, environmental and political factors.” Zarecor is taking a closer look at modern business leaders and how they are managing their corporate assets and determining what level of capital reserves to retain for available short-term cash.

Last year, Zarecor began an internship with Profitable Ideas Exchange (PIE) and has been hired as a full-time employee. The business serves as a communications medium for top performing executives so they can interact with each other around topics of mutual interest without having to leave their desks. PIE gives Zarecor access to Standard and Poor’s 500 executives for his research. Zarecor hopes this study will reveal the major causes of corporate hesitancy to reinvest capital. He is conducting research, data analysis and has interactions with S&P’s 500 executives, shareholders and stakeholders as part of his study.

So far, Zarecor has documented that the S&P 500 currently have almost $4 trillion they are not reinvesting into their companies, the market, business development, mergers and acquisitions and employees. Zarecor is excited about examining what forces are holding these executives back from reinvesting capital and what needs to change to open up investment.

Zarecor says the CoB has been very helpful with his research in many ways. Most important is the faculty and staff who have supported him with his endeavors. He credits Jessup as his biggest supporter. Other faculty including Bill Brown, professor of management, and Frank Kerins, associate professor of finance, who have also been instrumental in his research as technical consultants. Connie Strittmatter, with the Montana State University library has also been very helpful. Zarecor has started his research project, but the bulk of the work to be done will take place over the summer.

Zarecor’s overall curriculum at the CoB has exposed him to a wide variety of disciplines and given him a broad understanding of business—which helped him create his hypothesis and has given him the tools to analyze his research.

Jessup says that supporting Zarecor in this program has been a highly rewarding experience because of his tenacity, maturity as a student and professionalism. She says, “Justin is one of those extraordinary students that is driven to succeed at every project he pursues. He is never hesitant to tackle the toughest challenges and is only satisfied to deliver results of the highest quality.”

Zarecor has also been selected for the 2011 Starzen Internship and was recently offered a summer internship with Boeing, examples that Zarecor is a go-getter and a great representative of the CoB.

Justin Zarecor

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President Cruzado Speaks to CoB Scholarship Recipients Even with tough economic times, the Montana State University College of Business (CoB) presented more than 85 scholarships and awards for students majoring in business options for the 2010-2011 academic year. The scholarships, announced Monday, April 20th at the CoB’s annual scholarship banquet, were provided through endowments and funds set up to specifically grant financial aid to students enrolled in the CoB. Around 230 people, including family and friends, attended the event.

President Waded Cruzado, the banquet’s keynote speaker, began the evening welcoming those in attendance and talked about the legacy being celebrated that evening before she launched into a fun and entertaining story that emphasized her message for the students.

“Many years ago in the Middle East, there was a country that had a currency called “talent,” President Cruzado began saying. She told the story of a wealthy man who, before leaving on a journey, passed on “talents” to three servants who were to care for his properties while he was gone. He gave them each a different amount and asked them to use their “talents” wisely and invest, saying he would come back to see how they had done. Upon his return, he found two of his servants had invested the “talents” and

now had more than what they started with.

On the other hand, the third servant, who was afraid, had buried his “talent.”

President President Cruzado Cruzado concluded the story by encouraging the students to follow the first two servants and not the last. “Everyone here has a talent. You need to delegate and believe in people and trust their judgment. To those who receive a lot, they need to give back a lot.” Then she looked into the audience and emphasized that the donors didn’t know the scholarship recipients beforehand, but had chosen to invest in them. She said each student has now received many “talents” and we will see what they do with those gifts.

If you would like more information about CoB scholarships, please contact Halina Rickman at hrickman@montana.edu or 406994-4423.

Matt Smith and President Cruzado

Day of Student Recognition This year marked the 87th anniversary of the Day of Student Recognition ceremony held on Tuesday, April 27, 2010. The focus of this day is exclusively on MSU students who are outstanding in the areas of leadership, service and scholarship. Superior academic performance also plays a significant role in the Day of Student recognition; however, a strong emphasis is placed on qualities that are integral to being or becoming exemplary leaders within the campus and global community.

Since service is a natural extension of true leadership, it is also an important facet of the ceremony.

Senior CoB student, Matt Smith (management and philosophy), was awarded the Christy Foundation Scholarship and the Val G. Glynn Award.

The Christy Foundation Scholarships are awarded to students bringing special recognition to Montana State University based upon meritorious community leadership and service.

From left to right: (back) Loretta Hemingway, Michael Hines, Samantha Kujala, Dawn Kellam, Jeffrey Pipkin (middle) Samantha Mahlen, Angelica Hould, Amanda Manuel, Katie Maurillo, Randi Regli, with presenter Jerry Carvalho (front) Sophie Mumford, Kale Norwood, Racheal Pienaar, LeAnn Plymale

The Val G. Glynn Award, based upon leadership, scholarship and contributions to Montana State University, is presented to a senior man in honor of Mr. Val Glynn, Dean of Students from 1948-1964.

faculty &

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ALC Inc. Anderson Zurmuehlen Austin Bridge & Road Bank of Bozeman Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Sky Resort Bobcat Sports Properties Bozeman Public Library Broad Comedy Conveyabull Department Of Energy - HR Downtown Bozeman Partnership Eagle Mount Bozeman Easter Seals Enterprise Rent-A-Car Fastenal Flooring Place Gallatin County Fairgrounds Galusha, Higgins, and Galusha, PC Hamilton, Misfeldt Hastings Headwaters Economics Heritage Propane HRDC Icing on the Cake Events

Jackson Hewitt Jahner Chiropractic Kiewit KPMG Lockheed Luna Properties Markus Promotions Merrill Lynch Montana Lottery Moonlight Basin Moss Adams, LLP MSU Athletics Department MSU Business Office MSU Department of Internal Audit MSU Disability, Re-entry & Veteran Services MSU Division of Graduate Education MSU Internal Audit MSU PBS KUSM MSU Student Activities MT Department of Transportation Murdochs Museum of the Rockies Nature Valley Granola Navsea Northern Plains Agricultural Research Lab USDA-ARS

Northwestern Mutual Outside Magazine Outside Media Group PricewaterhouseCoopers Profitable Ideas Proxima Marketing Quantel USA Rainbow Ranch Lodge RightNow Technologies Schnees Seattle Mariners MLB Organization Senator Jon Tester’s Office Starzen International Co. Ltd The Flooring Place The Old Roofer and Sons The Wellness Community Trade Risk Guaranty U.S. Senate Finance Committee US Bank USDA USDA Farm Service Agency Vertical Media Voice Wayfare Foods Wells Fargo Financial

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faculty & programs Preparing our Students for Success: Letter from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs We know that College of Business seniors know more about business than most graduates of undergraduate business programs around the nation because our seniors as a group consistently score above the 90th percentile on the Major Field Test in Business, a nationally-normed test administered by over 500 schools of business in the U.S. We also know that it is our responsibility to enable our students to develop their professional skills in order to compete effectively in the workplace and succeed in their careers.

Employers in the U.S. are demanding an ever-greater skill set from college graduates. According to a recent survey, 91% of employers say they are “asking employees to take on more responsibilities and to use a broader set of skills than in the past.” (Hart Research Associates (2010), Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn, p. 5). Seventy-five percent or more of employers believe colleges should place more emphasis on oral and written communication skills; critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills; the ability to apply knowledge and skills to realworld settings; the ability to analyze and solve complex problems; and the ability to make ethical decisions. (Hart Research Associates, p. 9) This list of employer needs nicely reflects the learning goals of the College of Business, which include critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, effective communication, ethical decision-making and life-long learning, and the college has developed a variety of tools to help students improve their skills in these areas. One example is the PEAS Framework for Critical Thinking, which gives students a consistent set of steps for effectively analyzing almost any issue. PEAS stands for Problem, Evidence, Analysis, Solution. The expectation is that whenever they are faced with a complex question, students will first clearly identify the problem rather than the symptoms of the problem, then will assemble all relevant evidence, analyze the evidence in order to identify several possible answers, and finally choose the best solution based on thorough and rational analysis. Another example is the college’s Bracken Business Communications Clinic where professionals coach students in both oral and written communication skills.

The college also emphasizes softer professional skills such as self-awareness, awareness of others and the development of a professional attitude in order to help students prepare for the workplace. Thus, BUS 302, Career Perspectives, which is the subject of a profile elsewhere in this Annual Report, provides a foundation for professional interactions during the transition from an academic to a business environment. In addition, in January 2011 the college will launch a pilot Professional Coaching Clinic in which each of twelve upper level students will be paired with a personal coach who has significant experience working and coaching in professional business environments. Students will meet regularly one-on-one with a coach throughout the semester to explore their professional strengths and weaknesses, develop an action plan for improving upon selected skills, implement the action plan, and assess their performance. We hope in the future to find the resources to allow us to expand this coaching clinic to a wider student population.

It is particularly important that students are able, as stated in the Hart Research Associates report, to “apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings.” All students in the college have the opportunity to apply their skills in the “real world” through consulting classes, internships, participation in competitions, attendance at conferences, and social events with professionals and recruiters. Students consistently report that these opportunities provoke the most profound learning they experience during their college careers as they begin to see the synergies among their academic, professional and personal development.

We are confident that every College of Business student who avails herself of these opportunities will graduate as an effective and knowledgeable professional in high demand by employers. We are excited to create these offerings for students and hope that you will help us, whether as a parent encouraging your son or daughter to participate, as an alumnus/a or friend of the college offering assistance, or as an employer offering advice and insights.

– Susan Dana Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Director of the Bracken Center

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BUS 302 students waiting for class in front of the Bracken Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Business Education.

Business 302: From the Classroom to the Boardroom An iron might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about a future career, but a lack of one just might derail a promising graduate’s chances for that first job. That was one of the messages that Bozeman attorney and College of Business (CoB) Advisory Board member, Janice Whetstone, gave a rumpled student recently. He was meeting with her as part of BUS 302, Career Perspectives.

“I told him that employers actually do look at things like that and that he needed to get an iron and press his shirt,” Whetstone recalls. “I think he was a little surprised that I would say it. But who else is going to tell him?”

Whetstone is one of 15 businesspeople who give their time—and sometimes their tough love—to BUS 302 students. A required course designed to provide a foundation for professional interactions, BUS 302 helps students understand professional expectations. The tête-à-tête with a local businessperson is the capstone assignment for the course.

Course coordinator and instructor, Linda Hughes, says “The professionals who come in have been great about providing feedback—everything from students’ eye contact and appearance to the strength of their handshake. Students go away with an idea of things they can work on.”

The eight-week course is structured to allow students to think deeply about themselves, says Susan Dana, CoB’s associate dean for academic affairs. “We start with an online assessment tool so students can explore where their career interests lie and create a professional development plan.

Students take a couple of weeks to develop their ‘elevator speech’—a quick and articulate presentation that captures their strengths and who they are. Then we have a member of the community come in and sit down with each student one-on-one for a five to 10 minute conversation after which the student receives direct feedback on how he or she did..”

Students also seek feedback from professors, employers and others about how they are perceived, allowing them to focus in on their strengths and weaknesses—and to come up with strategies to address their needs. “One of the main purposes of the program is to create a personal action plan that students can undertake to work on any areas that may need improvement,” Hughes explains.

The course also places an emphasis on teamwork. Katherine Snapp, a junior business major from Billings, who is pursuing a double option in management and marketing, as well as a museum studies minor with an emphasis in art history, said, “Business 302 allowed me to work in a team setting. This was

extremely beneficial as it gave perspective into what working with a team in the work place would be like.”

Hughes says group experience helps increase the course’s practical applications, but the individualized attention makes the course effective. That tailored approach is setting the tone for the CoB’s newest initiative: the Professional Coaching Clinic, a pilot program launched this spring, offering one-on-one career mentoring for 12 CoB students.

Dana adds, “Business 302 has allowed us to learn that each student has his or her own interests that are sometimes difficult to address in a classroom. This course is the keystone to what we envision in the future being a much more comprehensive program to help students develop their professional skills. I would love to have every student in the College of Business, from their freshman year on, have a professional coach,” She also acknowledges such an endeavor would be cost-prohibitive. “But what if we had every junior? That would still be huge—over 200 students—and it would help us get closer to our vision of having each individual student doing self-assessments and developing self-awareness.”

BUS 302 is fulfilling a measure of that goal—and employers are taking notice. “About three years ago, we were hearing from employers who visited that while our students were very well prepared academically, they were not conducting themselves as well professionally as (the employ“One of the main purposes of the ers) would like,” Dana says. “We program is to create a personal took that very seriaction plan that students can ously and in a year we began hearing undertake to work on any areas that our students that may need improvement” were so much more professional than Linda Hughes students they were seeing at any other school.” Dana sees BUS 302 as part of that turnaround; the course contributes to the CoB’s strong emphasis on producing the best possible future professionals. She concludes, “We are committed to developing the whole student here.”

By Nicole Rosenleaf Ritter

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faculty & programs Effective Business Today Selects CoB Instructor, Gary Bishop, as U.S. Contributing Correspondent Montana State University’s College of Business instructors have always gone above and beyond their duties as mentors, educators and researchers. All are encouraged to actively participate in business research and practices. One such instructor is Gary Bishop, who has been asked to be a regular contributing correspondent for

In the article, Bishop described the thriving Bozeman area entrepreneurial environment and how matching up students with businesses provides a win-win situation for everyone.

Gary Bishop

each issue of Effective Business Today as the U.S. Correspondent.

Bishop’s article, “The Economic Recovery in America, and Montana,” was published in the second edition of the magazine. In the article, he touched upon the Alderson Entrepreneur program, the small business management and entrepreneurship minor and the Management 463 course, Entrepreneurial Experience. He described how the course uniquely pairs up small 2-3 person student teams with local and state-wide businesses and non-profits.

Through these consulting classes, students are directly contributing towards local and state-wide economic development.

The syllabus accurately describes the course as “designed to provide students with handson experience in working with actual entrepreneurial enterprises, functioning in teams, and managing real projects for respective client companies. The course is intended to expose students to essential elements of entrepreneurial endeavors and provide the opportunity to make a real-world contribution to their client companies.”

In the article, Bishop described the thriving Bozeman area entrepreneurial environment and how matching up students with businesses provides a win-win situation for everyone.

The businesses receive pro bono consulting and research, while the students gain invaluable hands-on experience. These students have worked with more than 250 local businesses ranging from Yellowstone Bees, a natural body-care products company, to Kitchen TLC, a boutique artisan chocolate and tea company. Bishop says that a large percentage of these businesses have endured beyond the start-up phase, and are continuing to grow and prosper, even during the economic downturn.

The third edition of the publication featured Bishop’s article on the “Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico” as the cover story. He investigated the impact of the disaster on businesses in the locality and how that impacted the relationship between the U.S. and Great Britain.

The latest edition, out the first week of October, Bishop’s article focused on customer service in the U.S. and what differentiates the winners from the losers. Bishop covers the three things an organization must do to succeed, which he also stresses to his students: you have to have more money coming in the door than is going out the door; treat every customer you have as though they are the most important customer you will have that day; and always “do the right thing.”

Effective Business Today is a new bi-monthly online publication based out of the United Kingdom (U.K.). It is published by Effective Business Group (EBGi), which seeks to provide business owners with a source of information and inspiration for the challenges they are facing today. According to their website, www. effectivebusinesstoday.com/about.php, EBGi is the fastest growing network of businesses in the U.K. and already has more than 100,000 members comprised of managing directors of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

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Women’s Circle of Excellence Conference: Third Year Going Strong Broad Comedy performance for the WCOE.

The Women’s Circle of Excellence (WCOE) hosted its third annual conference at the Best Western GranTree Inn, May 13-14. There were more than 90 participants and speakers who took part in the event.

The event began on Thursday with Lynn Owens, associate professor in Health and Human Development at Montana State University (MSU), presenting “Personality and Relationships, Understanding the Cast of Characters,” which explored how different personalities interacted and worked together both personally and professionally. Participants then chose a breakout workshop to attend: Business Ethics and Fraud: How to Protect yourself; The Balancing Act: Time Management for a Healthier Lifestyle; or Entrepreneurship: Start, Manage and Grow Your Business. The final session of the day was presented by Becky Franks, of The Cancer Support Community, addressing the importance of mentoring, one of the key skills the WCOE encourages women to develop.

The afternoon ended with the WCOE planning committee announcing that Micki Munro, former College of Business (CoB) adjunct accounting instructor, was selected as the recipient of the first Women’s Circle of Excellence Outstanding Mentor Award. Munro, one of the original founders of the program and conference, was unable to attend this year’s event, but spoke with the participants through Skype. The award is given to a woman who willingly shares her time, ideas, expertise and friendship, inspiring other women to excel.

Munro’s mentorship has encouraged many students and other women to achieve and become involved academically and in the community.

The buzz from participants continued through the evening with everyone sharing what they had learned during the day at dinner. The evening ended on a high note with Broad Comedy performing zany skits and musical numbers for the participants.

Friday morning’s session began with Kerry Hanson, Associate Director of Alumni Relations for MSU’s Alumni Association, who also serves on the WCOE core planning committee, preparing the participants for day two with “Be Proactive: The Value of Involvement.”

Hanson encouraged participants to choose organizations and activities to be involved in

based on interest and not to add another item to the resume or list of accomplishments. The morning break-out sessions gave participants a choice to attend “The Significance of Marketing and Branding” or “Create a More Effective Workspace and Professional Environment,” and then between “It’s a Tough Economy: Become a Better Financial Manager” and “Navigating Your Professional Path.”

After lunch, a panel discussion, “He Said/ Mary Meier talked about staying healthy in the workplace.

She Said—Breaking Down the Perceptions,” included Larry Aasheim, Universal Athletics; Rhett Nemelka, Nemelka & Restum, LLC; Dan Rust, State Farm Insurance; Susan Agre-Kippenhan, dean of the College of Arts & Architecture; Tricia Binford, MSU Bobcats women’s basketball coach; and Morgan Smith, Junkermier, Clark, Campanella, Stevens, P.C. Dan Moshavi, CoB dean and Susan Dana, CoB associate dean, moderated the panel. The The “He Said/She Said” panel. panel discussed employer-employee topics, generational gap issues and male-female differences in the workplace.

Mary Perry, president of Ryan PartnershipWilton, the leading independent marketing agency in the United States, was the conference keynote speaker. Her presentation “Living to be the Ultimate You” focused on living life with purpose, leveraging natural talents to make wise decisions about careers and being the best you can be.

Lynn Owens began the conference with a The event provided a supportive setting for session about personalities in the workplace.

WCOE participants to mentor and inspire each other, as well as network and participate in educational The event provided a sessions that added both professionsupportive setting for WCOE al and personal enhancement. The conference was sponsored in part by participants to mentor and RightNow Technologies and State inspire each other.

Farm Insurance.

The Women’s Circle of Excellence has partnered with the Prospera Women’s Business Center to host a new and improved conference, scheduled for Thursday, May 19, 2011 at the GranTree Inn in Bozeman, Montana. For more information, please contact Audrey Lee at audrey.lee@ montana.edu or 406-994-7026.

Laura Black talked about how to run For a complete list of sponsors, please check effective meetings. the following website: www.montana.edu/cob/Alumni_and_Friends/WomensCircle.html

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faculty & programs Faculty Updates Tim Alzheimer, M.S., adjunct assistant professor of finance, continues to coordinate and administer two business simulations in junior high and high schools across the state for the Montana Council on Economic Education. These two simulation programs reach more than 2,500 students per year.

He currently serves as Past Chairman and board member of the Montana Community Finance Corporation, a non-profit organization that works with commercial banks in using the Small Business Administration to finance real estate loans for businesses across the state.

Tim Alzheimer

Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz

Laura Black

F. William Brown

Scott Bryant

Gary Caton

Anne Christensen

Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor, presented “Is Higher Better? Determinants and Comparisons of Performance on the Major Field Test-Business,” a paper co-authored with F. William Brown and Richard J. Semenik at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Montreal, Canada in August. She also had two papers accepted for publications: “What determines Excise Tax Rates?” in the Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice and “Interpreting Standardized Assessment Test Scores and Setting Performance Goals in the Context of Student Characteristics: The Case of The Major Field Test in Business,” coauthored with F. William Brown and Richard J. Semenik in the Journal of Education for Business. The latter paper was presented at the Global Business & International Management Conference in Portland, Oregon in August.

Laura Black, Ph.D., associate professor of management, presented to the Gallatin Valley Tech Alliance in March, sharing practical applications of her research on collaboration processes. She also spoke about cross-functional challenges in product development to the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy’s Decision & Policy Sciences group. Black gave a presentation at The Women’s Circle of Excellence Conference in May on ways to make meetings more effective. Starting in 2010, Black began a three-year term as a member of the International System Dynamics Society’s Policy Council, and she attended the society’s conference in Seoul to participate in the governing body’s summer meeting, as well as to hear research on current applications of simulation to a variety of society’s problems and opportunities.

F. William Brown, Ph.D., professor of management, presented his paper “Is Higher Better? Determinants and Comparisons of Performance on the Major Field Test-Business,” co-authored with Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz and Richard J. Semenik, at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Montreal, Canada in August. He also published “Interpreting Standardized Assessment Test Scores and Setting Performance Goals in the Context of Student Characteristics: The Case of The Major Field Test in Business,” coauthored with Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz and Richard J. Semenik in the Journal of Education for Business; it was later presented at the Global Business & International Management Conference in Portland, Oregon in August.

Scott Bryant, Ph.D., associate professor of management, presented “HabiHut Case: Improving Shelter for People in Need” at the Academic and Business Research Institute (AABRI) in Orlando, Florida, September 23-25. He presented “Building Sustainable Communities through Effective University Partnerships” and “Polymer, Inc. Case: Balancing Eco-Friendly Products with Cost-Effective building Solutions” with T. Beaubois at the Business and Sustainability Conference in Portland, Oregon in November. Bryant also presented “Sub-national Institutions, Export Strategy, and Firm Performance: A Multilevel Study of Private Manufacturing Firms in Vietnam” with T. Nguyen and N. Bich at the International Society of Markets and Development (ISMD) Conference in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Gary Caton, Ph.D., associate professor of finance, attended the Financial Management Association International annual conference in New York in October. He recently finished a manuscript titled, “Managerial Intent, Corporate Governance, and Open Market Share Repurchase Programs,” which is coauthored with Jeremy Goh and Lee Yen Teik of Singapore Management University and Scott Linn of the University of Oklahoma. The manuscript has been submitted for a possible presentation at the 2011 Asian Financial Management Association meeting in New Zealand. His paper titled, “An Analysis of Japanese Earnings Forecast Data: With Application to Seasoned Equity Offerings,” co-authored with Justin S. P. Chan, Jeremy Goh and Sheng-Yung Yang is in process to appear in the 2010, volume 19 of the International Review of Economics and Finance. Caton served on the program committee for both the 2010 Asian Financial Management Association meeting in Singapore and the 2010 European Financial Management Association meeting in Denmark. Caton is also the faculty advisor for the Finance Club and has participated in many of the club’s events including the summer trash pickup for their adopted highway.

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Anne Christensen, Ph.D., professor of accounting, published two articles in 2010 in Advances in Accounting Education. One article, “Assessing Service-learning Outcomes for Students Participating in Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Programs,” was written with Dennis Schmidt and Priscilla Wisner. The other article, “Unauthorized Electronic Access: Students’ Ethics, Attitudes, and Actions,” was written with Jane Cote and Claire Latham. Anne served as the co-program chair of the Western Region of the American Accounting Association. She also directs the MSU Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program in which 54 students prepared nearly 400 tax returns in 2010 for international scholars and low-income members of the community.

Craig Ehlert, M.A., adjunct instructor of management, was selected to be a Preliminary Round Judge for the American Society for Quality’s Team Excellence Award. He attended a two day seminar to learn about the judging process and then judged two first-round team presentations. Ehlert was also announced as the new director of the Family Business Program beginning in 2011.

Minette Jessup, B.S., adjunct instructor of management, currently serves as the coordinator for Business 302. She is an advisor for the College of Business McNair Scholar, Justin Zarecor, a member of the Assessment of Learning (AoL) Committee, and was a panel speaker for the AoL Committee in November. Jessup was also a volunteer financial mentor for Love, Inc., a volunteer for the Haven’s Drop & Trot and the treasurer for the Bridger Parks Homeowner’s Association. She volunteered as a MSU Telethon Recruiter and participated as a MSU Aspen Pointe Lecture Series Speaker, in November.

Craig Ehlert

Minette Jessup

Bonita Peterson Kramer

Bonita Peterson Kramer, Ph.D., professor of accounting, published “Do the Right Thing” in the Internal Auditor (February 2010), p. 38-42, with John E. Johnson III, a 2002 MSU MPAc alumnus. The extended version, about assessing the effectiveness of codes of conduct, is also available online at the Institute of Internal Auditor’s Website.

Martha Joh Reeder-Kearns, M.B.A, adjunct instructor of marketing, received a grant through the MSU Office of the Provost to participate in Uncommon Sense, a two-year program for businesses and organizations focused on improving sustainable practices within the organization and in business applications. She was a member of the task force working to develop and implement the plan to establish the Institute of the Environment (IoE) at Montana State University. The goal of the IoE is to enhance the land grant mission by leading interdisciplinary environmental research, education, outreach, and partnerships for the benefit of Montana. Kearns was the keynote speaker for the Intermountain Affiliate of Colleges and University Resident Advisors (IACURA) Convention. She spoke to 450 students from around the country about “Extraordinary Leadership.” She was also the keynote speaker for the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce Annual Convention, speaking on “Salesmanship and Building Relationships.” Also for the Chamber, Kearns hosted a workshop for their brown bag series titled, “Using the SPIN Technique in Selling.”

Richard J. Semenik, Ph.D., professor of marketing, presented his paper “Is Higher Better? Determinants and Comparisons of Performance on the Major Field Test-Business,” co-authored with F. William Brown and Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz, at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Montreal, Canada in August. He also published “Interpreting Standardized Assessment Test Scores and Setting Performance Goals in the Context of Student Characteristics: The Case of The Major Field Test in Business,” coauthored with F. William Brown and Agnieszka Bielinska-Kwapisz in the Journal of Education for Business and it was later presented at the Global Business & International Management Conference in Portland, Oregon in August.

Perry Solheim, Ph.D., assistant professor of accounting, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in May and was officially awarded his Ph.D. in August.

Martha Joh Reeder-Kearns

Richard J. Semenik

Perry Solheim

Carson Taylor

Carson Taylor, J.D., adjunct instructor of management, was the speaker for a SIFE Club presentation on ethics.

George Thompson, M.B.A, adjunct instructor of management, just finished up four years of service working on the Gallatin County Tax Appeals Board this past spring. He has been appointed to the Bozeman Impact Fee Advisory Committee.

George Thompson

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faculty & programs of a Laura Black, left, on the roof

straw bale house.

College of Business Faculty Active in Community Apart from their roles as educators, many College of Business (CoB) professors and instructors are very active in the community as board members, advisors and volunteers. They make a significant contribution to the community and across the state. We’d like to highlight a few of their activities:

Participants running the 2010 Huffing for Stuffing race.

o Martha Reeder-Kearns stands in front of Nomko

Nomkoo, a 9 foot 1.3 ton elephant sculpture made from recycled truck tires

Laura Black, associate professor of management, spent two weeks on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation helping build a straw-bale home with volunteers and staff of the Red Feather Development Group and members of the Northern Cheyenne community.

A Bozeman-based nonprofit, Red Feather ( www.redfeather.org ), partners with American Indian nations to develop and implement sustainable solutions to the housing needs in their communities.

In 2010, Red Feather and partners built one home on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana and one on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, each growing from foundation to finish in four weeks with the work of volunteers supervised by skilled construction staff.

The 4th Annual Huffing for Stuffing was huge success with the help of John Dudas, adjunct instructor of accounting, who coordinated and originally founded the event. Despite the seven degree temperature, with significant snow accumulation, which made for the most adverse weather conditions in the history of the run, 2,080 participants raised $21,000 for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. More than 200 volunteers and 45 sponsor organizations made the event possible.

Martha Joh Reeder-Kearns, adjunct instructor of marketing, headed up the six month Nomkhubulwane Project for the State of Montana. “Project Nomkoo” was a grassroots citizen’s project—a collaboration of local nonprofit organizations, businesses, agencies, schools and citizens of all ages, using the arts, cultural diversity, and conversation to address sustainability. The international sustainability project’s intention is to draw attention to our global connectedness and to inspire individual and collaborative efforts to become more sustainable. The local group brought Nomkhubulwane, a 9 foot, 1.3 ton elephant sculpture made from recycled truck tires, to Bozeman. This Ambassador for Sustainability, created by Andries Botha, an eminent South African sculptor, human right activist and founder of the Human Elephant Foundation (HEF) was displayed on the Bozeman Public Library lawn.

Bozeman was one of only six cities in North America invited to host Nomkhubulwane. More information about the project can be found at: http://www.humanelephant.org/journey.html

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SIFE Club Travels to San Francisco for Regional Competition After a full year of planning and hosting events, really pulled together and had a five Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) memgreat performance, even though bers were able to compete in the regional SIFE we didn’t make it into the world competition in San Francisco in March. Zach cup. Other competitors consisted Curtis, Jamie Pearce, Elliot Rueb, Susan Sheaf- of large schools such as UCLA fer and Kate Snapp represented the College of and Oregon State, but even their Business (CoB) SIFE club along with advisor, advisors said we competed tough Gary Bishop. for such a small school. It taught In order to qualify for the competition, the me how valuable teamwork can be club had to complete a project in each of SIFE’s and what teams can accomplish seven categories: market economics, success when working together.” skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, enClub advisor, Bishop agreed, vironmental sustainability, business ethics and “The SIFE team performed admirably at the team and program sustainability. Each project 2010 regional competition. The competition had to promote and create economic opportuwas fierce but this event has strengthened the nity for those attending the event.

SIFE team’s performance and overall desire to The club put together some great educational do better at next year’s competition and other events for these categories, including a financial future competitions.” literacy session for freshman students and a This opportunity was made possible to the guest lecture focused on business ethics with SIFE club by the CoB; alumni, Jim and ConCarson Taylor, City of Bozeman commissioner nie Alderson, and the Associated Students of and CoB adjunct instructor. All of the events Montana State University (ASMSU). and activities had to be documented and it The SIFE website, www.sife.org , describes took the club multiple days of organizing and these competitions as “challenging, teamcompiling presentation plans and travel plans oriented events that create a sense of accountto prepare for the competition. ability and motivation for teams to continually The competition was an amazing experience improve the quality of their projects. They also for the students. Elliot Rueb, president of the provide an opportunity for collaboration and SIFE club recalled the trip as very rewarding best-practice sharing, further strengthening the professionally: “We gave a 24 minute presenvalue of the learning experience and the overall tation on our accomplishments of the year, effectiveness of the program.” which was presented to a panel of 15 judges, as well as a conference room of spectators. We From left to right: Susan Sheaffer, Jamie Pearce, Zach Curtis, Katie Snapp and Elliot Rueb

About SIFE SIFE, an international nonprofit organization, works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.

Participating students form teams on their university campuses and apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. An annual series of regional and national competitions provides a forum for teams to present the results of their projects, and to be evaluated by business leaders serving as judges.

National champion teams advance to the prestigious SIFE World Cup. In addition to the community aspect of the program, SIFE’s leadership and career initiatives create meaningful opportunities for learning and exchange among the participants as well as the placement of students and alumni with companies in search of emerging talent.

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faculty & programs A Business’s Success Comes From More than Finances, D.A. Davidson Chair Tells MSU Crowd

Ian Davidson and Dan Moshavi

“Corporations typically measure success with numbers, but in my opinion, factors other than finances contribute to the success of an organization.”

Ian Davidson

Factors other than sound finances contribute to a business’s success, the chairman of one of the largest regional investment firms not based on Wall Street told a crowd of several hundred faculty and students during a lecture at Montana State University (MSU).

“Corporations typically measure success with numbers,” said Ian Davidson. “But in my opinion, factors other than finances contribute to the success of an organization.”

In his lecture, “Standing the Test of Time: 75 Years of D.A. Davidson Success,” Davidson said the company has been successful because of its culture, the unique region in which it operates, its conservative nature and, perhaps most importantly, the quality of its people.

Davidson is chairman of Davidson Companies and D.A. Davidson & Co. Davidson Companies offer integrated brokerage, capital market, money management, trust and wealth management services. D.A. Davidson & Co. is a subsidiary of Davidson Companies. Both are based in Montana.

In the 75 years that D.A. Davidson & Co. has been in existence, it has grown to 1,100 employees (390 are based in Montana) and has 70 locations in 17 states, Davidson said. The company is based in Great Falls and services 150,000 accounts worth $22 billion.

Davidson said the first factor contributing to D.A. Davidson’s success, culture, is tough to describe.

“My definition is when you work in a positive culture, you know it,” Davidson said.

The region in which the company operates is unique and also contributes to its success, because most of the other major regional competitors have been absorbed by other firms, he said.

And, the company’s conservative investment and management philosophy has also been positive, because it has meant that turmoil afflicting the world of investment banking has not adversely affected D.A. Davidson & Co.’s performance.

Finally, it’s the people of D.A. Davidson — known internally as associates — who really make a large difference, Davidson said “When we have great associates, we’ll attract loyal customers,” he said.

Davidson said that the fact the company is independent and employee-owned is also critical for its future.

“Our independence and reputation are the primary reason we’re able to attract professionals from other organizations,” he said. “By remaining independent, our business opportunities become greater, particularly as other companies merge.”

Davidson has been with Davidson Companies for 52 years. He joined the firm as its third employee in 1958, working alongside his father, David Adams Davidson. From 1986-2000, he served as president and chief executive officer of Davidson Companies. He was president of D.A. Davidson & Co. from 1969 to 1983 and served as CEO from 1970-1998.

At the lecture in MSU’s Procrastinator Theater, Davidson also discussed the Student Investment Program, which he created at MSU 25 years ago. The program provides teams of students at participating schools with $50,000 each to invest over the year. The school teams get a chance to share in any profits, and D.A. Davidson absorbs any losses. Each team makes investment decisions alongside a local D.A. Davidson financial consultant, who acts as a team adviser.

The work of students at the 20 schools over 25 years has collectively resulted in a net gain of $310,000, Davidson said. An incentive program was started 10 years after the program began, where profits were shared with the students’ schools. Since then, more than $375,000 has been paid to the 20 schools, including $19,900 paid to the MSU College of Business (CoB).

Davidson was a guest presenter at the MSU CoB’s David Orser Executive Speaker’s Forum.

The forum is named for David B. Orser, a 1966 MSU graduate who started funding the program in 1988 in order to inspire MSU business students to pursue careers as innovative, responsible and ethical business leaders.

By Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service

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From left to right: John McIlhattan, Jesse Hildreth, Robin Kautz, Jordan Cole

Human Resources Management Club Studies Hospitality Industry in Las Vegas Four Montana State University College of Business (CoB) students traveled to Las Vegas to observe and learn about the hospitality industry April 1-4. As members of the Human Resources Management Club (HRMC), Jesse Hildreth, John McIlhattan, Jordan Cole and Robin Kautz visited two casinos to understand what the hospitality business in this industry entails. Hospitality management has been a longterm interest for HRMC members, especially since Montana has a large tourism and hospitality industry.

Prior to their Las Vegas trip, HRMC hosted a hospitality management guest speakers series, which included Tom Stenzel, with Western Heritage Inn; Jamie Hamp, with Big Sky Resort; and Colin Davis, with Chico Hot Springs. This provided club members who weren’t going to Las Vegas some exposure to businesspeople in the hospitality sector and more information to members going on the trip. The trip gave club members a “behind-the-scenes” view of the hospitality industry from a management perspective, showing them the processes that create and enhance the hospitality experience. These processes ranged from employee services, cash management, guest relations to marketing and facility design at the Bellagio, to job design, market research, philosophy and security at Dotty’s.

The HRMC’s first stop was at the Bellagio, where they toured the facilities and met with Clare Brady, the director of the front office. She gave a two hour tour, sharing her perspectives, as an employee and manager at a major resort property, with the group. Students were able to see the human resources offices, communications, security areas, casino floor, hospitality and luxury suites, including the “high-roller” suite.

John McIlhattan, a senior in management and marketing, was impressed with Brady’s deportment. “She was composed and gentle through the entire tour and had a great, calm sense of humor.” Observing her body language, tone and overall demeanor was his biggest take-away from the Bellagio visit. “It really brought all the puzzles pieces together as to the leader I would like to become”.

The second stop was Dotty’s, where the students met with Nevada Restaurant Services CFO, Mike Eide, a CoB alumnus. He provided a detailed insider view of Dotty’s Casinos, headquartered in Las Vegas, but with branches in other locations, including Bozeman. He talked to the students about the hospitality industry’s opportunities and challenges, as well as the impact of government and sudden regulations on the industry, such as varying state tax rates on gambling, as well as the impact of smoking regulations.

Professor Virginia Bratton, HRMC advisor, said this visit was a very interesting experience because Dotty’s operates in the same industry as large luxury properties like the Bellagio, but they succeed by targeting a very different market—residents and middle-class patrons—while the “signature Vegas properties” target tourists and higher income segments of the market. Dotty’s was one of the few casinos in the country which has expanded during the recent recession because it is not dependent on tourism to thrive. Both casinos’s hosts credited much of their business’s success to an intimate knowledge of their target markets, and the fact that their strategy and operations stay true to those markets.

Bratton, believes this trip was very important for HRMC students because it provided a new strategic direction for the club and enabled HRMC leadership to experience business and hospitality management on a large scale, in a major metropolitan area. This year, HRMC will raise the bar for professionalism for their members. They plan to host new workshops encompassing professional dress and etiquette; observe more companies in the industries they are interested in pursuing; and work on their interviewing skills, presentation skills and other skills for career success. The club will be bringing in more guest speakers from local businesses and plans are underway for another club trip.

The HRMC was able to go on this trip with funding from the Alderson family and the Office of Student Activities.

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outstanding students faculty & programs Armor All Founder and Bozeman Resident, Alan Rypinski, Shares Experience with MSU Students Before Alan Rypinski patented, re-bottled and renamed it, Armor All was called “Trid-on”—“no dirt” spelled backwards.

Rypinski, 71, stumbled upon the polish in the late 1960s while trying to restore the interior of his vintage Jaguar.

“When I saw it do what it does, I could not believe it,” Rypinski, who moved to Bozeman last year, told Montana State University (MSU) students during a lecture at the Procrastinator Theater on campus, Thursday, March 25.

Rypinski had found the polish—created by a California chemist for car collectors—at the Briggs-Cunningham Automotive Museum in Costa Mesa, California. But the museum was one of only a few places that sold it.

“I was thinking it could be sold anywhere,” Rypinski said.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes and my mind. I couldn’t sleep for awhile.”

Rypinski jumped on the opportunity, bought the world marketing rights to the polish from chemist and inventor Joe Palcher and in 10 years it paid off, big.

In 1979, Rypinski, then 40 years old, sold the rights to Armor All to McKesson Corp. for $49.6 million.

“It truly is an American dream story,” he said.

Rypinski and his wife moved to Bozeman from southern California, where he’s lived most of his life.

As a kid, Rypinski would wash his neighbors’ cars for the chance to drive them.

In high school, he worked as an actor, appearing on the television show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He sold doughnuts outside the local supermarket. And he dreamed of opening his own men’s clothing store.

“I wanted to open the ‘Brick Shirthouse’ in the worst way,” Rypinski said.

Rypinski served in the U.S. Army in Germany and studied at a junior college for two years. He worked sales jobs for a department store and real estate company.

His success eventually led to a job marketing cars for Malcolm Bricklin, an automotive entrepreneur known for introducing the sale of foreign cars, such as the Subaru, in bulk to the U.S. Bricklin, a multi-millionaire, had his share of setbacks, including the introduction of the Yugo.

But Rypinski said Bricklin was his inspiration. Working for him made him realize that he didn’t need all the accounting and legal advice his father said would help him make it in business. He just needed a good idea and the courage and creativity to make it happen.

And it wasn’t long before he ran across that obscure, miracle polish for his Jaguar.

With an initial investment of $5,000, Rypinski bought rights to the polish, put it in a new bottle and came up with a new name with the help of his wife.

“We did 18 pages before we came up with Armor All – meaning to protect everything,” Rypinski said.

He marked up the price, because “if something is really expensive, it’s got to be fabulous.”

And he launched a series of creative sales strategies.

He hyped Armor All as a sort of wonder product.

He signed up dealers to demonstrate and sell it in places like laundry mats where there were captive audiences. Sales managers worked out of motor homes,

Faculty Awards Announced During Commencement On Saturday, May 8, the College of Business (CoB) held its annual spring graduation ceremony in the MSU Strand Union Building. Eight professors received honors during the ceremony, based on outstanding performances in teaching, research and service.

The awards, provided through endowment programs, give faculty members financial resources for scholarly and pedagogical development.

The Haynes, Heck, Nopper and Loendorf awards are bestowed at the discretion of the dean. Students choose their most influential faculty member for the Bracken Student’s Choice Award and faculty members nominate their colleagues for the Dean’s Research, Teaching and Service Awards.

F. William Brown, professor of management, received the Harold and Reta Haynes Faculty Fellow Award. This award is given to a faculty member who has demonstrated sustained excellence in all phases of faculty performance related to teaching, research and service.

Associate professor of accounting, Bonita Peterson Kramer, received the Scott and Barbara Heck Faculty Scholar Award. This award supports the recipient’s outstanding teaching performance and fosters the sharing of educational experiences with students.

Minette Jessup, adjunct instructor of management, was the recipient of the Thomas Nopper Excellence in Teaching Award. This award is given annually to a faculty member who has made significant contributions to the teaching mission of the CoB.

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traveling to county fairs, shopping malls and trade shows.

And in the first year, Armor All’s sales hit $200,000.

“I can’t emphasize how important it is for a company to have style,” Rypinski said.

As Armor All’s popularity grew, 279 “cheater products” cropped up.

Rypinski fended them off by creating more buzz for the real thing.

At one trade show, he hired a magician to demonstrate how one of the cheaper, but less effective imitations compared to Armor All. When the magician was finished, he passed out candy suckers that said, “Don’t get suckered into a cheap imitation of Armor All.” “We had more fun,” Rypinski said. “Everybody couldn’t wait to see what Armor All was doing at trade shows.”

Rypinski helped get Armor All out to the masses by handing out millions of samples.

“The last count was we had sampled the population of the United States six times,” he said. “That’s how many samples we distributed.”

By the late 1970s, when Armor All was generating millions of dollars in sales, Rypinski decided to go on the offensive and go out and find a buyer for the brand rather than wait for one to come to him.

And after making the deal with McKesson, he was rich enough to retire.

But he wasn’t done. And 30 years later, he still isn’t.

In addition to Armor All, Rypinski has launched several products, including the kids’ “World Pog Federation,” a fad game with collectible paper discs that was popular in the 1990s.

“We did $18 million worth of business in just a little over a year,” Rypinski said. “We even had a Pogs Barbie.”

He has founded numerous businesses—Wrinkle Free, Lasting Endearments, the Internet Tool Box—and he’s currently working to unveil a new sewage treatment product line.

“My wife wound up making a collage of my business cards once and we lost it in one of our moves,” Rypinski said. “But, believe me, I’ve been around and tried a lot of things.”

Advertising Age and Business Week magazine have inducted Rypinski into the Marketing Hall of Fame.

His presentation at MSU was part of the College of Business’ David Orser Executive Speaker’s Forum. The forum is named for a 1966 MSU graduate who started funding the program in 1988 in order to inspire MSU business students to pursue careers as innovative, responsible and ethical business leaders.

By Amanda Ricker, Bozeman Daily Chronicle

This year’s recipient for the Joe and Sharlene Loendorf Excellence in Teaching Award was Laura Black, associate professor of management.

CoB colleagues also selected the following faculty members for special performance recognition awards:

Frank Kerins, associate professor of finance, was voted by his peers to receive the 2009-2010 Code of Excellence Award. This award recognizes the recipient’s commitment and positive effect on the lives of all members of the CoB community.

· Dean’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Teaching:

Mike Kroff, assistant professor of marketing

The CoB senior students voted on the most prestigious faculty award. They selected Craig Ehlert, adjunct instructor of management, as the recipient of the Gary K. Bracken Student’s Choice for Excellence in Teaching. For this honor, Ehlert was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony.

· Dean’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Research:

Gary Caton, associate professor of finance · Dean’s Award for Outstanding Performance in Service:

Anne Christensen, professor of accounting

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faculty & programs Summer Program in Brescia: Opportunity of a Lifetime Meghan Doyle and Tyson Johnson, College of Business (CoB) students, spent two weeks in June exploring business and culture in Brescia, Italy with opportunities to travel before and after their program through the college.

CoB alumnus, Kitch Walker, owner of Flat Earth Imports, a business based in Bozeman that imports authentic Italian products, works with the World Trade Center in Brescia, Italy through his business. He brought our attention to a small summer program through the University of Brescia in partnership with the World Trade Center in Brescia and the University of Montana (UM). What followed this conversation resulted in the opportunity of a lifetime for these students.

Michael Braun, an assistant professor of management and marketing at the UM, had been a part of this program for the past four years, bringing business students with him to Italy.

Walker jumped at the opportunity to also have Montana State University (MSU) representation.

During the two weeks, students took classes on topics relating to the European Union, global markets, consumer behavior, strategic management and logistics. The students visited a number of businesses including the Berlucchi winery and the IVECO plant, a part of the Fiat Industrial Company.

Doyle and Tyson were also able to enjoy some sightseeing and visited museums, castles and other historical sites.

We visited with Doyle for a more in-depth look into her experiences in Brescia . . .

What about this trip appealed to you to apply?

There were several things that appealed to me when I saw the e-mail. First of all, I had already studied in Ireland for a semester and I was able to travel around Europe a bit. I had wanted to go back, especially to Italy, as I had not made it there in my travels. I also liked the length of the study. Three weeks was the perfect amount of time to spend in Italy to learn, experience the culture and travel around a bit. The added fact that the trip was free definitely made it very appealing! How could I say no to that?

What were some memorable parts of the trip?

On our first full day, our class was invited to a cocktail party put on by Brescia’s World Trade Center. We were in awe when we showed up at a beautiful mansion where we were wined and dined for hours. We were able to socialize with several powerful individuals and the event was so important that the press was invited and we were in the newspaper the next day!

It was a surreal experience and a great way to begin the trip.

Our class took a day trip to Milan where we met with some of the architects for the 2015 World Expo (also known as the World’s Fair). It was amazing that we got a rare glimpse into the planning of such a monumental event. We were tasked with creating a plan to attract tourists from the U.S., which we presented at the end of our stay. The 50 person audience we pre-

The students were able to visit the Milan Duomo, one of the largest churches in the world.

35 Doyle and Johnson were also able to visit Venice and see some of the famous canals.

sented to included World Expo planners, World Trade Center officials and more press. It was an extremely thrilling experience to present to such a large and important group of people.

What were the most interesting things you learned while on the trip?

I learned several interesting things during my trip. First of all, I found that Italians like to do things big in business.

Even a tour of an Italian bank turned into a lavish cocktail party. They are very hospitable and enjoy sharing their culture and are eager to learn about ours. I also learned that successful global business is extremely reliant upon relationships. It takes time to gain trust and understanding, but it can be very rewarding in the end. Also, when Italian professors tell you class starts at 1:00, they really mean 1:20, so you should stop for that gelato!

What was your favorite part of the trip?

Aside from the delicious gelato, pizza and pasta, my favorite part was spending time with the other students. The class was a mix of UM, MSU, and Italian students which provided a great opportunity to meet people from various backgrounds. The Italians were extremely hospitable and took us to their favorite restaurants, showed us around Brescia, and even invited us into their homes for dinners and soccer matches. We were able to build friendships, learn about their culture and make the most of our time in Italy.

Any advice for future participants of the program?

My advice would be to take advantage of this opportunity.

It’s a great way to have a study abroad experience without the commitment of a full semester. Also, I would advise that they take every opportunity available to them while over there. Eat too much, spend time with the locals and travel around Northern Italy. It’s an unforgettable experience!

Tyson Johnson

Meghan Doyle

community

involvement College of Business: International Exchange Students

Norway

Sweden

Canada Poland Kazakhstan Morocco Mexico

Haiti Jamaica

Mongolia China

Kuwait Tajikistan Saudi Arabia

Total students for 2010: 134

India

Japan Hong Kong

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community involvement 2010 Guest Speakers

Kevin Babcock, First West Insurance Carina Beck, Career Services Kate Boie, Boeing Clare Brady, Bellagio Resort Phil Bratton, Bank of Bozeman John Brown, Judge Eric Bryson, Bozeman City Commissioner Jon Butler, Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. Erik Carr, Main Street Over Easy Tej Chigateri, RightNow Technologies David Cole, Edward Jones Stephanie Cole, Profitable Ideas Exchange Guy Cook, Bacterin International, Inc. Colin Davis, Chico Hot Springs Resort and Day Spa Cheri Decker, Simms Fishing Products Mike Eide, Dotty’s Eric Flynn, Bitterroot Capital Tom Fulton, Stifel Nicolaus Carmalen Gillilan, Dotty’s Jamie Hamp, Big Sky Resort Sabrina Hanan, All About Work Mike Hedegar, Moberry Soft Ice Cream Mike Hope, Ferraro’s J.C. Hoyt, Cash Grain Bins Michael Johns, RightNow Technologies Jeff Kaufman, All State Insurance, Full Circle Foundation Bryan Klein, American Bank Tom Lacey, NAVSEA Suzie Lalich, PrintingForLess.com J. David Lankutis, Black Hills Corp.

Ross Leckie, retired KPMG partner E.B. Love, RightNow Technologies Erin McDonald, Career Services Penny McElroy, Northwestern Energy Kevin McNew, Cash Grain Bins Patty Meighen, State Farm Insurance Dave Meldahl, Meldahl Leadership Consulting, LLC Brady Meltzer, RightNow Technologies Libby Miller, NAVSEA Abigail Olp, NAVSEA Jacob Parks, Profitable Ideas Exchange Chris Penor, Penor and Associates Cory Pulfrey, senior advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Brock Schimbeno, Cash Grain Bins Ryan Screnar, Glacier Bancorp Joe Seaman, Entertainment of America Barry Silverman, Calender Club Kelly Smith, Edward Jones Tom Stenzel, Western Heritage Inn Jared Tanner, PrintingForLess.com, Uplanders Warehouse Carson Taylor, Bozeman City Commissioner Jodi Thelen, Kiewit Lisa Tierney, Thomson Reuters JT Tonkin, Stifel Nicolaus Harrison Trask, HS Trask Shoes, Hemmingway Shoes Lance Trebesch, TicketPrinting.com Dennis Unsworth, MT Commissioner of Political Practices Jean-Pierre Wlady Grochowski, La Chatelaine Jesse Woodson, Boeing

Grant Jamieson, CoB alumnus, helping high school students during the interactive workshop.

6th Annual Event Gives Students a Taste of Entrepreneurship The College of Business (CoB) held its sixth annual Entrepreneur Day on the Montana State University (MSU) campus Tuesday, April 6.

Associate Dean Susan Dana welcomed high school participants from around the state in the morning. The students were given an introduction into entrepreneurship and small business management. Split into smaller groups, they created a small entrepreneurial business as a part of a simulation. All businesses were required to be “green” and related to food. Assigned differing amounts of “seed capital,” the groups met objectives such as assigning organizational positions, including company president and vice president. They produced PowerPoint presentations about their start-up business at the end of the workshop, which included creative endeavors such as edible bags and smoothie carts.

Elizabeth Mead, Jessica Fix, Tara Lindblom, Morgan Rangel and Lily Hurley, CoB students in the Alderson Entrepreneurship Program, as well as Grant Jamieson, an alumnus of the program, served as “experts,” answering questions as the groups developed their businesses. At the end of the workshop, the students presented their ideas and the winning team received a “$25,000 check,” simulating a Small Business Association (SBA) grant for the successful launch of a small entrepreneurial business.

During lunch, CoB graduate, Lorie Hoffman of L.A. Hoffman Art, talked about her experience in the entrepreneurship program and gave students advice about how to start their own businesses.

After lunch, keynote speaker Jennifer Sipes, operation director for the nonprofit, Central Asia Institute (CAI) and CoB alumna, gave a lively presentation about the CAI, how it was developed, its projects and her role in the organization. CAI promotes education and literacy programs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, establishing and supporting 131 schools and educating more than 58,000 students, including 44,000 girls. Mortenson, the executive director, along with his team, has combined philanthropy and entrepreneurship by providing educational opportunities for these students. Sipes oversees and manages CAI’s daily operations, while Mortenson frequently travels to fundraise and manage on-site overseas operations.

Entrepreneur Day reflects the CoB’s and the Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship’s commitment to improve Montana’s economic development, while providing a framework for an outstanding educational experience for students. This event was sponsored in part by Boeing. Students from any major at MSU can take the CoB’s 30 credit-hour Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management minor.

For further information about Entrepreneur Day, please contact Audrey Lee at 406-994-7026 or e-mail: audrey.lee@montana.edu.

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Professional Attitudes Present at the Meet the Recruiters Fairs The 2010 Meet the Recruiters Fair and Accounting Recruiters Fair served as the perfect environment for students to connect with recruiters. Students came prepared with resumes and a professional attitude while recruiters eagerly handed out business cards and collected resumes, looking for their next hire.

Meet the Accounting Recruiters was September 16 and Meet the Recruiters was October 13, both located at the Stadium Club over-looking the football field. The Meet the Recruiters event was co-sponsored by MSU Career Services and Student Employment and the accounting event was sponsored by Beta Alpha Psi. In order to present the best opportunity for students, the College of Business (CoB) worked with local and national businesses to provide as many options for jobs or internships as possible.

This year’s recruiters included Boeing, Enterprise Rent-aCar, First Interstate Bancsystem, Hewlett Packard, Kiewit Pacific Co., Kraft Foods, PrintingForLess.com, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Target, RightNow Technologies and State Farm Insurance Corporate. Meet the Accounting Recruiters included “big three” accounting firms Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as local, regional and national firms such as Eide Bailly, JCCS, KPMG, Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co. and Clark Nuber.

Students took advantage of this opportunity in hopes of securing jobs or internships. About 45 businesses were represented between the two events and 190 students participated in the recruiting fairs. Garrett Shaw, a junior in accounting was one of these students.

“Both recruiting events were significant tools that helped me succeed in getting interviews with several firms. I believe that attending these events, in addition to just applying for the job/internship was what got me and other applicants the interviews.

Our attendance showed that we are serious enough to take some time out of our schedule to learn more about the job/internship and we had the opportunity to give a brief introduction of ourselves, which gave the recruiters another dimension to consider in selecting their interviews. I had gone to the Meet the Accounting Recruiters as a sophomore as well, knowing I wasn’t eligible for most internships, but I

found it useful because I got some low-risk practice with the recruiters and I was able to come back more confident for this year’s event (one recruiter came up to me personally to check up on my status of eligibility for their internship).”

The recruiters seemed equally excited by the opportunity to meet with potential employees. Paula Johnson, CPA, tax manager, with Anderson ZurMuehlen, described the event as fantastic.

“I didn’t have a free moment all night because there was always another student ready to ask me questions about our firm! We found a great fall intern that evening and we took dozens of resumes back to the office for future internships at our office and other Anderson ZurMuehlen offices around the state. We will definitely be back next year.”

Kostelecky and some other recruiters, were CoB graduates, a good sign for students that companies and firms alike were hiring our students.

CoB students found the experience rewarding, both in securing interviews for jobs and internships, as well informative.

For more information about the MSU College of Business Meet the Recruiters Fair or Meet the Accounting Recruiters Fair, please contact Linda Ward at 406-994-1995 or lward@ montana.edu.

The two recruiting events brought together 190 students and 47 businesses.

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outstanding involvement students community Six Family Businesses Honored at Family Business Day Awards Luncheon The 17th Annual MSU College of Business (CoB) State Farm Insurance Family Business Day Program honored several family businesses with an awards luncheon on Friday, September 24, at the Holiday Inn in Bozeman, Montana.

Many businesses, which range in size from fewer than 10 employees to more than 50, in various industries, are nominated each year.

Winners were chosen from a pool of more than 50 applicants, based on their commitment to customer service, family values and their adaptability to an ever-changing business environment.

Kathy Stark, co-owner of Starky’s Authentic Americana, and this year’s luncheon keynote speaker, shared Starky’s story, “Back from the Blast: Comeback Strategies for Success.” She told how their small family restaurant has weathered tragedy and experienced continued success.

The Starks opened a New York-style lunch-only eatery, Starky’s Authentic Delicatessen, after moving here from Detroit, Michigan in 2003. It was a tremendous success and operated smoothly until Bozeman’s 2009 gas main explosion. The restaurant was destroyed in a tragedy that leveled half a city block.

Since starting the restaurant, the Stark’s mantra has been to “create a meaningful experience for our customer,” which is not limited to those who walk through their doors, but includes everyone in the community. It was this community connection that led to their comeback after the explosion.

The outpouring of support following the explosion was integral to their recovery and Stark emphasized the importance of the customer and community. She credited this support for taking her and her husband from “discouragement, rejection, exhaustion and self-pity” to an attitude of perseverance and “It’s Possible.”

The Family Business Day luncheon brought participating families together to celebrate their achievements, as well as learn from each other. Multiple generations were represented at the occasion, with several who were MSU alumni.

The CoB and State Farm Insurance, in honor of Robert Jaedicke, hosted the program. Stockman Bank underwrote the awards, with additional support from the Montana Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on the Family Business Day program, go to: http://www.montana.edu/wwwdb/FamilyBusiness/FamilyBusiness.html

or contact Karen Beach at 994-6796 or familybusiness@ montana.edu.

This year’s six winners: Very small business category (fewer than 10 employees) Small business category (10 to 30 employees) Medium business category (30 to 50 employees) Large business category (more than 50 employees)

TwoMedicine Health & Financial Fitness of Bozeman Red Rock Power, Inc. of Havre Montana Milling, Inc. of Great Falls BioScience Laboratories, Inc. of Bozeman

Old business category (in business more than 50 years)

Teton Banks of Fairfield

New business category (in business less than 10 years)

Agri-Best Feeds, Inc. of Billings

Kathy Stark The Pyette Family, owners of Red Rock Power Inc., winners in the “Small Business” category. From left to right: Lindsey Pyette, Melissa Pyette, Willie Pyette, Mary Pyette, Claire Stoner and Jon Stoner.

41 The First Interstate Bank team from left to right: Les Mahon, Steve Wheeler, Doug Lanphear and Norm Millikin

2010 Results The Mountain West Bank golf team at the 50/50 Betting Hole with students from Beta Alpha Psi and the Finance Club.

Gross 1st Place: Scott Eide, Dusty Fasbender, Eric Murphy and Adam Wrightson (Dotty’s)

The first place team (gross) with the traveling crystal trophy, sponsored by Dotty’s.

Rainy Weather Did Not Dampen Enthusiasm at Annual Golf Tournament The 9th annual College of Business (CoB) Classic Open Benefit Golf Tournament took place on Friday, September 17 at Bozeman’s Riverside Country Club. Even with a bit of rain and misty conditions, participants were able to play 18 holes of golf, network and have a chance to outbid each other during the silent auction.

As with past tournaments, the event began with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Players had opportunities to win prizes at the longest drive holes and closest to the pin holes throughout the day. The weather was wet and cool but there were many smiles among the players, high fives and even a chest bump after one of the players made a very long putt.

The betting hole was staffed by the Finance Club and Beta Alpha Psi/Accounting Club.

Monies raised at the betting hole went directly back to the clubs for club events, competitions and special projects. Adam Wrightson was this year’s betting hole winner.

After each team finished and each score was posted, players anxiously waited for the last teams to finish so they could find out who had won the prestigious traveling crystal trophy. This year, the team sponsored by Dotty’s, comprised of Scott Eide, Dusty Fasbender, Eric Murphy and Adam Wrightson, were the 1st place winners

with the lowest gross score. Team members’ names were etched into the base of the trophy and they have the distinct honor of showcasing the trophy at their place of business.

A number of individuals and teams also won prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, both net and gross. Please see the sidebar for the list of winners.

Overall, the tournament was a fun event where CoB alumni and friends spent the day golfing while supporting CoB students. The funds raised through the tournament go toward student programs and scholarships. Last year, CoB students, Tyson Johnson, Tonia McCarmish and Kate Oswald, were awarded the 2009 “Friends of the Classic Open Benefit Golf Tournament” scholarships, which were presented at the April 2010 awards banquet.

It is with the support of our event sponsors, players and silent auction donors that the CoB is able to continue providing excellent business education. A complete listing of all donors to the Golf Tournament and other CoB activities can be found in the Honor Roll of Donors located in the back of this report.

Next year’s event is tentatively slated for Friday, September 23. Contact Audrey Lee at audrey.lee@montana.edu for more information or see the CoB website.

Gross 2nd Place: Brady Meltzer, Gary Bloomer, Devin Gray and Tory Atkins (RightNow Technologies) Gross 3rd Place: Rob Rouse, Travis Cottom, Graver Johnson and Mathew Blades (Mountain West Bank) Net 1st Place: Jeff Weedin, Brandon VanCleeve, Rhett Nemelka and Ryan Mikkola Net 2nd Place: Steve Wheeler, Les Mahon, Norm Millikin and Doug Lanphear (First Interstate Bank) Net 3rd Place: Tom Sather, Ed Brandt, Sean Gallinger and Tyler Wiltgen Longest Drive (Men 0-20): Scott Eide Longest Drive (Men 21+): Barry Jeide Longest Drive (Women 25+): Julie Kostelecky Closest to the Pin (Men): Rich Semenik Closest to the Pin (Women): Jackie Sather

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outstanding involvement students community Record Attendance at Fall Entrepreneur Day For the first time, the MSU College of Business Entrepreneur Day took place fall semester. On Wednesday, November 3, the event hosted high school and college students in the Strand Union Building for a day of interactive business education with a focus on entrepreneurship.

By switching to the fall, the event had an overwhelming response; with more than 140 students and advisors attending, it was filled to maximum capacity. Participating schools included Cascade High School, Columbus High School, Flathead Valley Community College, Park City High School, Park High School (Livingston), Reed Point High School, Shields Valley High School, Simms High School and Whitefish High School.

A number of College of Business (CoB) entrepreneurship students volunteered as “SME” (Subject Matter Experts) advisors. These students were Kaley Bjornsen, Kyle Blackmore, Ryan Brajcich, Cody Brister, Alli Hunthausen, Lily Hurley, Heather Krugher, Tara Lindblom, Samar Najaar, LeAnn Plymale, Zach Wilkinson and Chealsea Wilson. They were on hand during the workshop to answer questions relating to the project and to offer their business knowledge.

The day began with an entrepreneurial small business building workshop. The students were divided into teams and given information about creating their businesses. Every group developed a small business, based in Montana, which could be brought into a fully operational status in 180 days.

Each team was given a $15,000 check as seed capital to launch their business. The students were able to choose the business’s legal form of ownership and even filled organizational positions.

The students were also tasked with putting together a PowerPoint presentation for their new business concept.

Partway through the workshop, Gary Bishop, a CoB management instructor and the workshop facilitator, told the students to close their laptops, saying there was a “software problem.” He said they had the remaining time to put together a two minute “elevator pitch” addressing what their product or service was, where it would be located, what the need associated with the product was, and then to ask for investment money.

When the time was up, Bishop told the participants a story about being part of a team that was sent to pitch a business proposal which would lead to a critical partnership.

As the team stepped out of the elevator to walk down the hall to the meeting, they heard a loud crash and realized that their laptop had just dropped to the ground and was damaged. The team had to make some last minute phone calls and improvise their business pitch. In the end, the team succeeded and they were told that their presentation was the most refreshing and original the company had seen. Bishop had just simulated this type of problem for the students and emphasized that in business you have to be prepared for everything.

The students then gave their elevator pitches, one team at a time. Unique businesses such as Bubbles of Fun carwash, Early Bird Espresso, and Rent-a-Coat were presented through the elevator pitches.

Management student Tara Lindblom was very impressed with the students. “As a senior College of Business student, [I think] the level of creativity and professionalism among the high school students is incredibly impressive.”

After lunch, two groups of CoB entrepreneurship students gave presentations on the projects they have worked on through the program. One group worked with biodiesel

CoB Students Learn from Business Leaders and Foreign Dignitaries at the Butte Economic Summit College of Business (CoB) students from the Finance Club and the Human Resources Management Club attended and volunteered at the Butte Economic Summit. The summit was held on September 13 and 14, hosted by Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Economic Developers Association, and Montana Tech of the University of Montana.

Top entrepreneurs, academics, policy makers, corporate representatives, investors and Montana business owners attended the 2010 summit to discuss the mechanics of a healthy recovery and how to move workers back into goodpaying jobs. The summit featured panels and breakout sessions focusing on issues that will spur business growth and job creation, policy discussions, trade shows, networking events, one-on-one meetings for Montana business owners, and prestigious keynote presentations.

Club officers, John McIlhattan, Jordan Cole, Tyler Cottrelle, Dylan Whitcraft and advisor CoB professor Virginia Bratton represented the HR Management Club. Kristian Miller, Ashley Phillips, Rebecca Meyers and Andrew Kaiser were at the event with the Finance Club.

The summit showcased business leaders in the morning and workshops in the afternoon. Business leaders speaking on the first day included the CEOs of Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and General Electric, all who provided stories of their own challenges, current challenges in the economy, and plans for the future. The afternoon workshops and seminars included small business innovations, business planning, and legal issues, such as patents. Members of the Finance Club attended panels on topics like “Venture Capital for Small Businesses” and “Government Contracting.” The second day featured the CEO of Disney as well as several local speakers.

The CoB students were able to see these business leaders and dignitaries at the Summit: • Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.

• Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric.

• Bob Iger, CEO of Disney.

• Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate and Secretary of Energy.

• Karen Gordon Mills, Administrator of Small Business Administration.

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LeAnn Plymale, CoB student, serves as a subject matter expert (SME) for the high school students attending MSU Entrepreneur Day.

fuel research and the other group worked with StuffIt bags, a laptop cover company. The StuffIt group even gave away some laptop covers.

The day ended with two local entrepreneurs, John Weber of Rancho Deluxe Promotions and Becky Restum with Luna Properties, talking with students about their businesses and how they were started. After their formal presentation, Weber and Restum mingled with the students, informally answering questions.

The event gave students the opportunity to delve into the business word and was an enormous success. Mitzi Richards, the advisor for Shields Valley said, “MSU Entrepreneur Day is a wonderful experience and opportunity for students. In the span of just a few hours, they transform from ordinary

high school students to entrepreneurs presenting an elevator pitch!”

Entrepreneur Day reflects the CoB’s and the Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship’s commitment to improve Montana’s economic development, while providing a framework for an outstanding educational experience for students.

This event was sponsored in part by Boeing. Students from any major at MSU can take entrepreneurship coursework through the CoB’s 30 credit-hour Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management minor.

For more information about the MSU College of Business Entrepreneur Day, please contact Audrey Lee at 406-9947026 or audrey.lee@montana.edu.

• Barry Diller, Chairman and CEO—IAC (Ask.com, Evite, etc.), Chairman of Expedia, Inc. • Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO—Berkshire Hathaway (Live via Video).

• A mbassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan.

• A mbassador Arturo Fermandois, Chile.

• A mbassador Mike Moore, New Zealand.

• A mbassador Michael Collins, Ireland.

• A mbassador Zhang Yesui, China.

Finance Club president, Miller said, “They were all great speakers who had insights into being on the cutting edge of business and competing in the current economic environment.” He was volunteering at the event by facilitating various panel leaders and doing some backstage work with the Baucus staffers as a part of his internship with the Senate Finance Committee.

The Montana Economic Development Summit started in 1995 and has been held every three years as a forum to spark innovation and promote economic growth within the state. The last summit, held in 2007, featured keynote speakers such as Bill Gates, Ben Bernanke, Robert Rubin, Terry McGraw and August Busch IV. For more information about the summit, please visit: www.montanaeconomicsummit.org .

Three of the participating business students. From left to right: Dylan Whitcraft, Tyler Cottrelle and John McIlhattan

alumni &

College of Business Clubs

Accounting Club/ Beta Alpha Psi

President – Jacqueline Irigoin

Finance Club

President – Kristian Miller

Human Resources Management Club

President – John McIlhattan

International Business Club

President – Jordan Stoner

Marketing Club

President – Kelly Schroeder

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)

Presidents – Jamie Pearce & Elliot Rueb

friends

Advisor — Perry Solheim perry.solheim@montana.edu Advisor — Gary Caton gary.caton@montana.edu AdvisorS — Ginny Bratton & Scott Bryant virginia.bratton@montana.edu, bryant@montana.edu Advisor — Myleen Leary myleen.leary@montana.edu Advisor — Omar Shehryar omar@montana.edu Advisor — Gary Bishop gbishop@montana.edu

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alumni & friends Generosity is Crucial to Our Success I have the good fortune to witness expressions of generosity through my development work in the College of Business. I am not just speaking of the giving that is expressed when someone donates money but the sincerity with which people offer their knowledge, expertise, ideas and support to provide more opportunities for students and to make our business school a better place. As I meet and develop relationships with alumni and friends of the college across many states, I am always delighted by how quickly they ask, “How can I help?”

It is this sincerity and concern that really makes a lasting difference to our Jackie Sather students’ success.

For example, business professionals find time in their busy schedules to offer concrete advice to students on how to be more competitive, confident and successful in the business world. Others give of their time as guest speakers, where they share with students their unique perspectives on business, what worked and didn’t work for them in business, and invaluable advice for students on finding a career path and making the most of opportunities that come along. Others volunteer as advisory committee members to assist faculty in improving and updating curriculum and to help students arrange “This personal field trips, prepare for competitions involvement makes and network in professional settings.

This personal involvement makes our our programs programs stronger and provides our stronger and students with a well-rounded business education that gives them an edge when provides our they enter the professional world. In students with a welladdition, in-kind gifts from individuals and companies have outfitted students rounded business with professional clothing necessary to education that compete for internships and jobs, and classrooms with appropriate business gives them an edge furniture, state-of-the-art technology when they enter the and much needed office supplies.

These unique gifts of time, expertise, professional world.” and supplies have helped round out the crucial monetary support received from Jackie Sather, donors which, in turn, has contributed to the college’s ability to build upon its commitment to excellence as an educational institution. Throughout this annual report are wonderful examples of how the college has used gifts from various donors to create a lasting impact on the college and its students.

A few of these examples include the development of a communications clinic where students receive one-on-one coaching from business com-

munications professionals on ways to improve their writing and oral presentation skills. Our professional coaching clinic, launched in spring 2011, offers students a unique, experiential education through personalized feedback designed to improve students’ professionalism and successful entry into the workforce. Students also have more opportunities to attend competitions and conferences to test their knowledge and skills against their college peers which help them further develop their presentation skills and improve their level of confidence. In addition, our entrepreneurship program received funding that will answer an increased demand by entrepreneur-minded students for more classes, high-level projects and an improved sustainability for the program as a whole. We have also developed additional scholarship opportunities for students and continue to explore ways to provide support for recruiting and retaining the highest level of faculty.

Although we are very proud of our recent accomplishments, the college has additional needs to secure the future of our programs and curriculum.

We need to continue to build on this positive momentum in order to sustain and expand our current programs, ensure that our students remain competitive in obtaining jobs in their fields of interest, and provide the professional training necessary to compete in an ever-changing world. We need to renovate Reid Hall, which houses the college, its classrooms, and student support services. We are exploring ways to upgrade and renovate the third and fourth floors, with the goal to provide our students with professional, state-of-the-art classrooms that reflect an up-to-date business environment.

Your questions, input and suggestions will assist us as we continue to develop and implement programs that will improve our students’ professional skills and business knowledge and help them succeed in reaching their goals. Gifts come in a variety of levels, and it is what we can accomplish together that will have lasting value. Please take a moment to review the individuals, foundations, and corporations, listed at the back of this report, who have given to the college. Thank you for that support.

There are many creative and lasting ways to create your own legacy at Montana State University and the College of Business, some of which involve planned giving. After you review this annual report, contact me if you wish to discuss a program, an idea or set up a gift that matches your goals and comfort of giving. Together, we can truly make a difference.

— Jackie Sather, Director of Development

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More CoB Graduates Taking the CFA Exam and Succeeding The College of Business (CoB) finance faculty has worked hard for almost a decade to build a program that helps prepare our finance graduates to succeed and obtain their Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. The faculty encourages interested students to pursue the CFA Program because the CFA distinction is held by only a very small percentage of finance professionals. The CFA Program is a graduate-level, self-study curriculum that combines broadbased investment principles with professional conduct requirements. Within the past two years, the (CoB) has seen a flurry of successes by many of its alumni, with CFA candidates regularly passing Levels I, II and III. To become a regular member of the CFA Institute, or a “charterholder,” a candidate must pass all three levels of the exam and meet the professional and ethical requirements.

Because of the rather low pass rates on the exam, investment industry employers and media around the world recognize the CFA designation as the gold standard of professional excellence. Achieving the CFA distinction places charterholders in elite company, confirming their mastery of the program’s rigorous curriculum and their commitment to the formidable challenge of passing all three exams. Worldwide, there have been only 120,000 charters issued since 1963.

The exam’s three levels are offered annually, and you must pass each level before moving on to the next exam.

Each exam sitting consists of a day-long test, where the candidates are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of a body of material that includes investments, financial statement analysis, fixed-income securities, economics, ethics and other investment-related topic areas. To pass one of the exams, a candidate generally establishes a regimented study routine, spanning approximately four months leading up to the exam. Even a few compromises to the routine can ruin a candidate’s chances for success. The limited offering dates for the exams, their difficulty, and the dedication necessary for success are all reasons for why taking four or five years to achieve the distinction is not at all uncommon. These same factors also cause many candidates to give up along the way.

In addition to passing the battery of exams, candidates must have four years of investment management work to qualify for the certification.

This past summer, four recent CoB graduates passed the Level I exam; two passed Level II and one passed Level III exam. Ian Bray, Micah Williams, Josh Barge and Eric

Roberts passed Level I this summer. Cairn Clark and Austin Owens passed Level II, after passing Level I in December 2009. Scott Keller, 2004 business finance alumnus, and now a senior manager for the Investment Advisory Services group for Truepoint, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio, passed Level III to receive his charter.

Many of the alumni credited the CoB finance faculty and the rigorous finance curriculum for their successes on the exams. “The finance faculty was instrumental in making me aware of the program, encouraging me to pursue it, and offering all sorts of assistance and encouragement along the way,” said Williams. Bray agreed. “You don’t know how far they’ll go to help you until you ask.” He said that even after he had graduated, the finance faculty were extremely willing to help him with questions about the CFA exam and also on the career front.

Clark, who passed Level II, had this to say “ These candidates will study 30 to about the 40 hours a week in addition CoB and the preparation to their work or class load. MSU’s for the exam: incredible success in the CFA “While other schools boast program is due primarily to the name recogtalent and work ethic of the nition, we had access to candidates in the program.” something different.

Frank Kerins We had five finance professors that were willing to develop personal relationships with their students outside of the classroom and simultaneously create an excitement and passion for finance. There is no better motivator than knowing you have a great set of mentors behind you every step of the way, especially when you are devoting a large chunk of your life to studying for exams that many people consider ‘life ruining.’ I’m hoping that the obsession with finance that I picked up on the fourth floor of Reid will take me a lot farther in my career than having an Ivy League stamp on my resume.” continued on p.57

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outstanding students alumni & friends Grant Jamieson Interned with U.S. Senate Finance Committee

Montana State University alumnus Grant Jamieson’s internship with the U.S. Senate Finance Committee sometimes reminded him of an old adage: “The more you know, the more you don’t know.” Nevertheless, the 22-year-old College of Business (CoB) graduate said his experiences with the committee were invaluable.

Those experiences ranged from answering constituents’ phone calls to monitoring a room during the health care debate to researching business incubators and meeting a former presidential candidate.

“I learned a lot, but I have a lot more questions “I was right in the middle of now, too,” he people who write policy for the said. “I want to find out a lot United States. It was amazing.” more. It’s pretty exciting.”

Grant Jamieson Jamieson had originally planned to join the Peace Corps soon after graduating from the CoB in 2009. But the application process took longer than he had anticipated, so he decided to pursue other options in the meantime. He had heard about the possibility of interning through U.S. Senator Max Baucus’ office earlier in the spring. In the past five years, about 20 students from the CoB have completed an internship with the Senate Finance Committee.

The internship Jamieson won is growing more competitive, particularly because it pays a salary for interns who are college graduates. Jamieson’s chances improved because he was from the same state as Baucus, a Democrat from Montana who sits at the helm of the committee. Jamieson ended up serving as an economic development intern. His supervisor, J.J. Adams, is Baucus’ economic adviser.

“What I did really varied from day to day,” Jamieson said.

One of his main projects involved researching business incubators. His goal was to find a sustainable business model for incubators so that they didn’t need government support.

“I was trying to find ways that business incubators can generate enough income to be self-sufficient,” he said.

Jamieson attended most Finance Committee hearings, and during Finance Committee debates, Jamieson sometimes served as an usher in the room. This responsibility allowed him to be present in the room while the committee was debating the health care bill.

One of his favorite parts of the internship was answering phone calls from senators’ constituents. This, he said, allowed him to really communicate with people.

“Even the angry ones,” Jamieson added. “I got to diffuse their anger, calm them down a little bit. It was more about the quality than quantity of the conversations.”

Jamieson also performed research about unemployment and for the potential job creation bill. He examined how much it costs to create jobs under certain programs.

And, while he was in Washington, he attended a number of hearings and heard several high-profile people testify, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Once, he saw Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, walking down a hallway, and on another occasion, he met a well-known senator from Massachusetts.

“I met John Kerry!” Jamieson said, explaining that he and Kerry, who was the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, both were part of a large group of people involved in a late-night meeting about the health care debate.

Before heading to Washington, Jamieson received a business degree with an emphasis in management and a minor in entrepreneurship from MSU in the spring of 2009.

He had lived in Bozeman since he was 10, when he moved

Mike Hope Wins Business Excellence Award Prospera Business Network presented its Business Excellence Awards on Thursday, November 4 during its annual dinner at the Best Western GranTree Inn. The dinner also celebrated the organization’s 25th Anniversary.

Mike Hope (’87, management), local business owner, was honored Mike Hope with the 2010 Economic Leadership Award. This award is given to an individual leader from government, a non-profit, or a business which has made a significant contribution to the economic development in the Gallatin Valley. Hope was recognized for his leadership and commitment to the continued economic vitality of the com-

munity. He owns and takes an active role in his businesses: the Rocking R Bar, Ferraro’s Fine Italian Restaurant and Mixers.

Hope was nominated by Bob Hietala, dean of the Gallatin College Programs. He believed Hope was a great candidate for the award. Hietala said, “As a local business leader, Mike Hope has been a strong supporter of community and economic development. Mike’s rebuilding work at the Bozeman blast site shows his commitment to downtown Bozeman.”

Chris Naumann, executive director of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership, couldn’t agree more: “Never was Mike Hope’s economic leadership more apparent than after the March 5, 2009 downtown explosion. Before the smoke had even settled, Mike and his partners committed to rebuilding the R Bar. Mike realized that from this disaster

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to the community with his family from Chicago. Going to MSU worked out well logistically, Jamieson said, because in-state tuition and living at home saved both him and his parents’ money.

“I didn’t have any loans when I graduated,” Jamieson said.

He had originally planned to Grant Jamieson pursue a career in architecture at MSU, but he switched to business because he thought it would be more practical. Both of his parents are small business owners.

And, he said, the MSU College of Business was great. He especially liked the business courses because they emphasized hands-on experiences, including learning in groups.

For example, through one course, Jamieson worked on a sustainability project involving tourism and housing with a ranch in Hawaii, and in another consulting course, he worked with the Ellen Theatre in Bozeman on a Web site and marketing plans.

“Projects like those made (school) a lot of fun,” he said.

Throughout his undergraduate career, he also spent a semester in Hawaii through an undergraduate exchange program.

He said it was fun and a good learning experience, too.

It was characteristic of Jamieson to seek out varied experiences, said Linda Ward, assistant director of MSU’s Bracken Center.

“I know Grant as a student that came into the Bracken Center looking for internship and job ideas,” she said.

“Grant is a student eager to step outside of his comfort zone and try new experiences.

“He is interested in service to others and plans to share his many skills and gifts in that direction,” she added. “He is bright, articulate and thoughtful.”

Now that he has completed the internship in Washington, Jamieson is returning to his original post-graduation plans.

He has traveled to Bulgaria, where he’ll serve for about two years as a Peace Corps volunteer.

While there, he’ll work in small business development.

He is looking forward to helping people through the Peace Corps and expects that his experience in Bulgaria will influence his career path. In his recent correspondence with the CoB, Jamieson felt that he was finally contributing now that he has broken through the language barrier.

“I’m sure the Peace Corps will change my perspective,” he said, just as his internship in Washington did.

“I became a lot more critical of how government processes work throughout my internship,” he said, and noted, for example, that the process of getting a health care bill to the Senate floor was “very slow.” It also involved a lot of compromises, he said, which was frustrating to see.

However, Jamieson believes, the legislative process does work. “I don’t know any other way you can do it,” he said.

“If you try to go faster, you lose a lot of good ideas in the process. And the process meant that more and better ideas were suggested.”

Jamieson calls himself non-partisan. He said he is not registered as a Republican or a Democrat, but rather evaluates each issue on a case-by-case basis. “It’s hard to a put a label on my beliefs,” he said.

“I just wanted to go experience Washington,” Jamieson said of his decision to seek out the internship. “Everyone there is incredibly smart. To be around that kind of intelligence was wonderful.

“I was right in the middle of people who write policy for the United States,” Jamieson added. “It was amazing.”

came an opportunity to not only rebuild, but to significantly enhance downtown. Mike’s leadership and resolve led to the design of a three story building in place of the original one story. In the depths of the recession, in an extremely challenging lending environment, Mike and his partners embarked on a wonderfully ambitious project that downtown Bozeman will benefit from for decades to come.”

In addition to economic development through the downtown rebuilding, Hope keeps active in the community through various roles. For the past two years, he has been a member of the Museum of the Rockies Board and currently serves on the Museum’s Executive and Finance Committees.

He was also very involved in an eight year process to develop the Fairgrounds Master Plan.

Nearly a decade ago, Hope began meeting with property owners and city officials to establish an urban renewal dis-

trict along North 7th Avenue. He has served on the North 7th Urban Renewal District Board for nearly a decade and was integral in developing the North 7th Connectivity Plan, which began implementation this year.

Over the years, he has served on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, Montana Ballet, Befrienders, City of Bozeman Planning and the Downtown Business Improvement District.

The Business Excellence awards are given to recognize exceptional businesses and leaders in the Gallatin Valley.

Other Business Excellence awards include the Entrepreneur of the Year, Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Innovator of the Year and Business of the Year. Award nominations are solicited and received from the business community with the final selection made by Prospera’s Board of Directors.

— By Anne Cantrell, MSU News Service

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alumni & friends Two Honored with Community Excellence Award

Reflections: Jackie Art

Each year, the Montana State University (MSU) Alumni Association and the MSU/Chamber Relations Committee honors a local man and woman, recognizing their outstanding support of Bozeman and the MSU communities through the Community Excellence Award. In 2010, Patty Kicker, a College of Business (CoB) alumna and Bozeman business woman, and Dan Rust, a State Farm Insurance agent and owner, as well as friend of the CoB, were recognized for their contributions.

The awards were presented on Tuesday, February 16, during the Awards for Excellence banquet, held in the Strand Union Building on the MSU campus. More than 300 business and campus leaders were in attendance.

Kicker (’70) received a business degree from the CoB. She then served on the Athletic Scholarship Board of Directors and was executive director of the MSU Athletic Scholarship Association for 17 years. She now works as a real estate loan officer at Mountain West Bank. Kicker is also a member of the Gallatin Association of Realtor Affiliates and the Riverside Country Club, and she serves on the Gallatin Valley Big Brothers Big Sisters Board of Directors.

Rust holds a business degree from MSU-Billings, where he also played basketball. He moved to Bozeman from Billings and has been a State Farm Insurance agent and owner since 1982. Rust is very active in the community as a member of the MSU Boosters for the past 30 years, is a member of the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce, and serves on the Valley View Board of Directors, the Big Sky State Games Board of Directors and the Bozeman Deaconess Board of Directors. He supports and volunteers for the MSU-Billings Alumni Association and Foundation. Rust provided support for a new volleyball floor in MSU’s Shroyer Gym and was a guest panelist for the 2010 CoB Women’s Circle of Excellence Conference. He has been a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics and a referee and official for the Montana High School Athletics Association.

The CoB is honored to have such wonderful alumni, supporters and friends.

The Community Excellence Awards, presented annually, are based on the giving of time and resources beyond business or professional obligations to both the community and MSU.

When I returned to school in 2006–after graduating with a degree in journalJackie Art ism and then working in publishing, public relations, hospitality and veterinary medicine–I lacked clear ideas about what career(s) to pursue next. I just knew that I needed to re-engage my brain, expand my horizons and acquire new skills that would give me an advantage in future endeavors.

To say that the MSU College of Business (CoB) exceeded my expectations is an understatement. I graduated from the University of Massachusetts, attended continuing education courses at the New School for Social Research (NYC), NYU and UCLA, and completed online veterinary technology courses through Cedar Valley College (Texas). Although all were enjoyable, none of those academic experiences were as challenging or rewarding as my time at MSU’s CoB. Below are just a few of the factors that make the CoB stand out in excellence: • the faculty are highly qualified, obviously carefully selected and committed to higher education.

• the instructors are vibrant and excited about the subject/materials they are teaching, and they are almost always readily available to help students outside of the classroom.

• the faculty and staff are truly concerned about the personal and professional development of students and do everything possible to support their growth and success; they seem genuinely interested in getting to know the students and in helping them define and achieve their goals.

• the small class size fosters learning in a challenging, yet friendly and supportive atmosphere.

• the Bracken Center and CoB student clubs provide wonderful resources and opportunities to meet professionals, learn about careers and apply for jobs, secure valuable internships and establish networks that can serve students well during school and after graduation.

My instructors’ belief in me, my abilities and my potential gave me confidence that had long eluded me. The faculty and staff nurtured my growth as an individual and as a professional, primarily by pushing me to new levels academically, teaching me skills and giving me tools to succeed in the business world, and providing me with abundant ideas about possible career directions. Toward the end of my senior year I said to one of my professors, “I’ve had the time of my life here.”

After graduation, I researched jobs and talked to professionals in the financial realm and concluded that my interests, skills and strengths are well-suited for a career in banking, perhaps ultimately in credit analysis or risk management. In September, I was very fortunate to land a job as a teller at First Interstate Bank in Livingston; I’m hoping that this is the start of a long and successful career in the field. The CoB prepared me well!

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Reflections: Joe Bogen The adage “the apple does not fall far from the tree” would describe me well. My father was a College of Business (CoB) finance graduate in 1977. His father was a 1940’s finance graduate of Augsburg College. And although he never went to college, my great-grandfather was a successful businessman and realtor in the Twin Cities area. My parents have owned a small business in Bozeman for 25 years, instilling in me an interest in entrepreneurship and business. But this latest Bogen apple also sprouted many other interests, including aviation, international finance, and music. Thanks to the flexibility and encouragement of Cob faculty and staff, I’ve been able to continue with these varied interests by participating in four university vocal ensembles, various clubs and organizations, and courses towards additional degrees in honors and Spanish.

Through the CoB, other departments, and involvement on campus, I would like to think I have become a person employers would gladly hire, and I would feel fulfilled working for them. The last four years have also taught me that a bit of humility, and following one’s passion, can go a long way, both professionally and personally.

In the times I have been recognized for my efforts, I have noticed that when I have shown my appreciation to those who offered it, the reciprocal goodwill not only improved, but I’ve also been given further opportunities. I know that I have worked hard to be in the position I am today.

However, fair self-assessment and recognition of other people’s talents and work ethic is essential if I want to be a stand-out job applicant and quality workforce member. A couple of people have helped me learn this valuable life lesson: Linda Ward in the Bracken Center and Leon Royer of American Bank. Additionally, music professor Kirk Aamot, my father, Jim Bogen, and my roommate, D.J. Jones, have shown me the value of following one’s passion in life; if I somehow can include mine in my future profession, I hope to find the joy and satisfaction they experience almost daily in their lives.

I am currently finishing employment with Skywest Airlines/United Express as a baggage handler in Bozeman. It has been a great learning experience, and provided me with some incredible

Joe Bogen in Hong Kong

opportunities: In October I flew across the Pacific to visit a friend in Taiwan that I met during a study abroad in Spain, followed by a stop in Hong Kong to visit my cousin who teaches English there.

“Through the CoB, other In November, I departments, and involvement on flew to D.C. to check out the campus, I would like to think I have sights for a few become a person employers would days, and then to Buenos Aires, gladly hire, and I would feel fulfilled Argentina to working for them.” spend time with my brother who Joe Bogen has been studying Spanish there since July.

Each time I travelled I was reminded of how small and interconnected this world is, and how fortunate I am to have received an education, and such a great one.

While this was a temporary job, my interactions with flight crews and the excitement of the industry made me realize that aviation is my passion, and I will be pursuing it beginning in January through the newly established Gallatin College at Montana State University. Words cannot describe how exited I am to follow that dream. Thanks again to MSU and the CoB. I am who I am today because of you, and I can’t wait to apply all I’ve learned, wherever it may take me!

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alumni & friends Lifelong Relationship with Montana State University Leads to New Scholarships for the College of Business Bob Arrotta is a familiar face on the Montana State University (MSU) campus, having built many relationships with MSU employees while working for Harrington’s Bottling Company. A longtime Bozeman resident “We are delighted and manager of Harrington’s, he is well respected by his employees and those he to provide this has worked with over the years. scholarship in In Arrotta’s honor, Harrington’s has pledged three-year funding for The Bob’s name.

Student Service and Mentorship Award.

He has been a At least one scholarship for a College of Business (CoB) student will be given great friend and each of those years. Scott Lease, Harco-worker for the rington’s general manager, believes this award is a great way to honor a man with past 30 years.” the ability to communicate and work well with people by developing lasting Scott Lease relationships.

“For Harrington’s, we have a soft spot for schools and young people and we are proud and honored to be associated with MSU. We are delighted to provide this scholarship in Bob’s name.

He has been a great friend and co-worker for the past 30 years.” Lease said.

Arrotta, known as a good leader and mentor for Harrington’s Bottling Company, spent many years actively involved in the community, including the Gallatin Empire Lions Club and serving on more than nine community boards.

He was instrumental in Bozeman’s successful bid for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR), which was held here for 24 years. Arrotta organized and volunteered on many CNFR committees the years the event was in Bozeman.

The Student Service and Mentorship Award will be given to a

Bob and Karen Arrota

sophomore, junior, senior, or Master in Professional Accountancy student. The award will recognize a student demonstrating exceptional commitment to community service or mentorship by volunteering in a project that enhances quality of life or community awareness, much like the citizenship Arrotta has modeled. The student will also be a role model whose work demonstrates one or more elements of the CoB Student PRIDE Code of Excellence.

Arrotta was surprised by the award and genuinely humbled by the honor. “There are great things going on in the College [of Business] and the students are lucky to receive degrees from this institution,” he said. “For about 30 years, I worked with the college daily and this [award] is very dear to me and my family.”

The award will provide another opportunity for CoB students to cultivate professional development and leadership skills while understanding the value of participating in a worthy project or giving back time and/or resources to the community.

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Justine March Volunteering in Malawi Through the Peace Corps On February 24, College of Business (CoB) alumna, Justine March, left for Africa as a volunteer through the Peace Corps. From Stevensville, Montana, March originally came to Montana State University (MSU) with no clear career path.

She believed a business degree would be optimal to allow her great flexibility in her career choices. March graduated with her marketing degree fall 2009 and found the opportunity to take what she had learned and pair it with her love of travel. Prior to her departure, we asked her a few questions about her trip to Malawi.

What led you to a path through the Peace Corps?

Honestly, I can’t remember exactly who or what placed the Peace Corps bug in my head; but whatever it was it was—it stuck. One night I ended up researching until the early morning; there are many great resources out there on the internet regarding the Peace Corps and what it is that they do. I have always had an intense passion for traveling and discovering countries and cultures different than my own. I knew immediately that Peace Corps was the perfect choice for me—it would provide the chance to experience a new and exciting culture, while allowing me to help a country in need.

Where will you be and what will you be doing for the Peace Corps? How long?

I will be volunteering in Malawi, Africa, a smaller country in Southeast Africa. I will be participating in a business program and serving as a community forestry and parks extension volunteer from February 25th, 2010-April A L A WI 23, 2012. My primary goal is to increase M the Malawian peoples reliance on sustainable agricultural and forest derived income generating activities as alternatives to dependence on the protected resources of Malawi’s National Parks.

As a marketing graduate, I will be working with my Malawian counterparts to help build and maintain various businesses that will achieve that goal. During my two years, I will be working and living as one of similar status in my designated community. I will eat what they eat, drink what they drink, and generally attempt to integrate and participate as one in the community.

What are your plans for the future?

As of right now, I believe I would like to continue my travels throughout other parts of the world and possibly pursue a job within the Peace Corps.

We hope to catch up with March after she returns from her two-year Peace Corp trip to Malawi.

Michael DiFronzo Joins Washington National Tax Services Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Washington, D.C., September 30, 2010 – Michael DiFronzo has joined PwC US as a partner in the firm’s Washington National Tax Services (WNTS) practice, specializing in international tax, the firm announced today.

Prior to joining PwC, DiFronzo served as Deputy Associate Chief Counsel (International—Technical) of the Internal Revenue Service, where he was responsible for all published guidance related to cross-border tax issues. In this role, DiFronzo also advised the IRS Commissioner and Chief Counsel, Treasury and Justice Department officials, and Congressional tax committee staff on a wide range of international tax matters.

“We are thrilled to have a professional the caliber of Mike DiFronzo joining our WNTS practice at this critical time,” said J. Richard Stamm, vice chairman and U.S. tax leader for PwC. “Mike has a deep understanding of international tax rules and policies, which enables him to provide excellent counsel to our clients on complex international transactions.”

As a nationally recognized name in many areas of international taxation, DiFronzo will play an important role in advising the firm’s largest multinational clients on significant cross-border M&A and corporate structuring.

DiFronzo, who was formerly a partner with McDermott, Will & Emery and formerly with Deloitte’s national tax office, is a frequent speaker and author on international tax issues. He is a graduate of Montana State University (B.S.), The University of Montana School of Law (J.D.), and the New York University School of Law (LL.M., Taxation).

Courtesy of PricewaterhouseCoopers

About PwC PwC (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders.

More than 163,000 people in 151 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice.

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alumni & friends Bracken Business Communications Clinic (BBCC) Expansion Allows for More Student Services

Through successful collaborations between the provide one-on-one coaching assistance to busiuniversity, the business community and friends, ness students and those taking business classes to the College of Business (CoB)’s Bracken Business help improve their written and oral presentation Communications Clinic skills. The Clinic quickly (BBCC) moved its physibecame a useful resource cal location and expanded for students; most who its services. These colscheduled an appointlaborations also proment with BBCC coaches vided gently used office came back again for furniture to help improve additional training. CoB the BBCC’s professional graduates who used the appearance, additional BBCC’s services throughwork space for students, out their undergraduate and a state-of-the-art proyears experienced sigjector and screening room nificant improvements in that accommodates larger their business writing and groups and offers privacy oral presentation skills. during oral presentation “Business communicacritiques. tion is very different from “We are so thrilled other forms of communiwith the new space, the cation and requires very professional setting, and concise, organized meththe additional services ods to communicate ideas we can provide to busiquickly and effectively, ness students and others whether through writing throughout the Univeror speaking,” explains sity,” said Lisa Daniels, Daniels. “The BBCC Director of the BBCC. coaches draw from years BBCC coaches work one-on-one with students.

“We are grateful for the of communications expericontinued support from ence in the business world Dotty Bracken and the Bracken family, the Bank to help students identify and implement strategies to of Bozeman, and KR Interiors for helping make improve their business communication skills.” this move possible.”

As word spread from faculty and student recomThe BBCC first opened its doors on the mendations, the number of student appointments third floor of Reid Hall in 2005 to help continued to grow rapidly, and the original BBCC address the troubling trend of poor written office soon became inadequate. BBCC coaches communication in the U. S. workforce, and students made due with the small space for “We are so specifically amongst recent college gradumore than five years, implementing staggered thrilled with the ates. As part of the Bracken Center for work schedules to make the work environment Excellence in Undergraduate Business more manageable. Additional space became availnew space, the Education—named after the Bracken able in Reid Hall in the summer of 2010, when professional family for their generous support—the renovations to another building on campus were BBCC was initially housed in a small completed. The CoB successfully negotiated the setting, and the office with no windows or outside ventilawonderful new space that now houses the BBCC, additional services tion. Using cubicle dividers, four small on the fourth floor of Reid Hall. work spaces were created for students and In addition to dramatically increasing the we can provide to coaches to meet; not an ideal environment BBCC’s physical space, the college’s vision was to business students conducive to student learning and profesprovide students with a clean and welcoming work sionalism, but the small space served as a space and professional atmosphere when they used and others starting point, at a time when space was in the BBCC’s services. This vision soon became a throughout the very short supply. reality when Phil Bratton, president of Bank of The BBCC is staffed by business Bozeman, received a tour of Reid Hall. After seeing University.” communications professionals with at the BBCC’s cramped office, with its mismatched Lisa Daniels least 10 years of business experience who furniture and small cubicles, and then touring its

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“It is amazing to see what new location, Bratton can be done when a group offered his assistance in of donors share the same providing an in-kind gift vision,” states Jackie Sather, of modular furniture to Director of Development help outfit the BBCC. for the CoB. “Students “As we rearranged our now have a space that space at the bank, we allows them to perform stored some of the extra and achieve skills that will office furniture that was further help them succeed. not needed,” Bratton It is due to the collaborasaid. “Rather than holdtive effort of several donors ing onto this surplus, we that made this new space were pleased to provide possible.” a service that enhanced The BBCC has been the image of the writing BBCC coach Sydney Rimpau (R) with accounting student Mariko Shimada. operating in its newly clinic as well as providing renovated location for four faculty and the students months, and the old, cramped space is a distant memory. they serve with a more effective work space.

Students make use of the student work stations to complete KR Interiors was also instrumental in making this vision assignments and edit their papers, coaches enjoy natural a reality, donating labor towards the renovation of the new light from a bank of windows adjacent to their offices while space to accommodate plans for coaching areas, a student waiting area, student work stations, and a conference room meeting with students, and the conference room is in high demand by groups practicing oral presentations or working that also serves as a practice space for presentations. In on group papers. With the continued support of the business addition, the MSU Equipment Fee Allocation Committee community and friends of the CoB, the BBCC hopes to ex(EFAC) provided grant money for new instructional pand its hours of operation, and further develop its services computers and a projector, and the CoB committed a small to meet the changing needs of business students as they amount of state funds towards completing the necessary prepare to enter the workforce. modular furniture and office equipment for the BBCC. From left to right: Viviana Haff and Rajeev Modi at the BBCC.

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alumni & friends Celebrating a 25-year Partnership: Creation of the D.A. Davidson Silver Fund

Students in the FIN 409, Student Investment Program at D.A. Davidson.

In October 2010, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Student Investment Program with D.A. Davidson. We are proud that Montana State University’s College of Business (CoB) was the first college that initiated this successful program, providing the groundwork for others to join the hands-on learning experience for students. Today, there are 20 universities offering this experiential education.

In commemoration of this milestone, associates and friends of D.A. Davidson joined in a collaborative effort to develop an endowment, the D.A. Davidson Silver Fund.

Funds from the endowment will be used in support of the Dean’s Fund for Excellence, allowing the dean of the CoB the flexibility to assist a wider array of initiatives and the greatest needs of the college.

Financial resources from the D.A. Davidson Silver Fund may: • expand learning opportunities and build relationship management skills for tomorrow’s investment professional; • provide support for faculty research, personnel and curriculum development; • provide support for student participation in professional development activities (e.g. trips to conferences and events, study abroad, executive coaching opportunities through our Professional Advantage program, student club activities and projects, etc.); • provide guest lectures and presentations; • provide enhancements for business education and learning such as stock market reader boards, news broadcasts etc.; • provide support to enhance classroom settings and up-to-date technology; • support the intent to provide a financial learning laboratory for investment (The laboratory would serve as the focal point for finance and investment-related teaching, research and community outreach in the CoB. More specifically, the space will serve students as a lab for data access and analysis.); • provide financial support to high performing students through scholarships.

This 25-year partnership has roots with many alumni.

Several current and retired associates of D.A. Davidson participated in the Student Investment Program (now listed as FIN 409, Intro to Applied Investing) while they were attending college. Brian Brown, ’95, was a CoB student, then taught the course for two years. Others assisted with the development of the endowment. Chad Lippert, ’99, was the main volunteer as we began to solicit funding for the endowment, and worked with his colleagues in Billings.

Jim Barfknecht, ’74, assisted with fundraising in the Helena office; Mike Kubas, ’99, in Great Falls; and Brian Brown ’95, and Jamie Wieferich, ’05, in Bozeman. The response to the initial fundraising effort was strong and more than 24 people have contributed to the endowment.

The Ian Davidson Challenge Following the tradition of developing programs and incentives that create a legacy at the CoB, and in the true spirit of entrepreneurship, Mr. Ian Davidson has agreed to match individual donations up to $100,000 from associates and friends. Together, associates, friends and Mr. Davidson have the potential to positively impact students at the CoB for many years to come.

Efforts to build this endowment continue. If you wish more information please contact Jackie Sather, Director of Development for the CoB at 406-994-6766 or jsather@ montana.edu.

Neil Sexton, adjunct instructor for the Student Investment Program, coaching a student in the class.

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Memoriam In

Captain Jeremiah ‘jerry’ Sipes (1977-2011) B.S. business management 2006

Len Eric Albright (1969-2010) B.S. business management 2009

continued from p.47 One class in particular stands out to some of the test takers—Financial Statement Analysis—taught by Greg Durham, associate professor of finance. Barge said that at some point during the Level I exam, he could envision Durham pointing at invisible financial statements in the air.

Frank Kerins, associate professor of finance, has earned the CFA designation and is a great resource and mentor in the CoB for guiding prospective test-takers.

Kerins helps interested students to better understand the necessary commitments and he spends time with students, helping them to prepare for the exams. He also helps to connect interested students with CoB graduates who have already taken at least the Level I exam. Kerins has been able to secure scholarship opportunities that pay for over $1,000 of the registration and examination fees for MSU students. In addition, he has arranged for additional scholarships from the CFA Society of Spokane. Kerins says that he continues to be impressed with the effort put forth by the students and graduates working through the program. “These candidates will study 30 to 40 hours a week in addition to their work or class load. MSU’s incredible success in the CFA program is due primarily to the talent and work ethic of the candidates in the program.”

Kendra Baranko, 2003 finance alumna, achieved the CFA designation in 2009 and now works as a research analyst with Canterbury Consulting in Newport Beach, California. Baranko appreciates these recent accomplishments by her fellow CoB graduates and also expresses similar sentiment regarding her experience with the CFA Program: “During my final semester of college, both the CoB curriculum and encouragement from my classmates were instrumental in my decision to prepare for, and take, the Level I test offered that June. I subsequently worked very hard to pass all three levels of the exam, so I understand the efforts that these current candidates are putting forth.”

Baranko suggests that the hard work pays off: “After I completed the program, the CFA charter was a tremendous asset, not only in making a successful transition in my career, but in building a network of peers within the financial industry. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised at how often I find myself utilizing the CFA Program curriculum materials as references in my work.”

The various successes on these exams are testaments to careful mentoring and curriculum design by CoB faculty, and speak even more strongly to the tenacious spirit of CoB finance students and graduates.

The Montana State University (MSU) College of Business (CoB) is accredited by AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Only 15% of all business programs worldwide have earned this distinguished hallmark of excellence in education.

It is the world’s most widely-recognized and most sought-after endorsement. It tells prospective students, faculty and employers that as an AASCB accredited school, the CoB produces graduates who are prepared to succeed in the business world.

honor roll of donors

59 Individuals Every effort has been made to ensure that all names are listed correctly. This list represents donations given in 2010. If your name has been inadvertently omitted or misspelled, please contact Jackie Sather at 406.994.6766 or jsather@montana.edu.

A Mr. Frank & Mrs. Bonnie Ahl Mr. James & Mrs. Connie Alderson Mr. Kent & Mrs. Claudia Aldrich Mrs. Jenifer & Mr. Bill Alger Mr. Michael Altringer Mr. Tim & Mrs. Stacey Alzheimer Mr. John & Ms. Angela Ammann Mr. Jon Anderson Mrs. Erika & Mr. Jason Armistead Mrs. Margie Arnst, CPA & Mr. Michael Arnst Mr. Ronald & Mrs. Celeste Askin Mr. Edwin & Mrs. Esther Atherton Mr. Tory Atkins & Mrs. Torrian Dean-Atkins Mrs. Ruth & Mr. William Ausmus Mrs. Christine & Mr. Les Austin

B Mr. Ralph Bachmeier Mr. Mark & Ms. Anne Bacigalupo Mr. Philip Bailey, CPA & Mrs. Priscilla Bailey Mrs. Carolyn & Mr. David Bakker Mrs. Bette Ballbach Mr. Ted Bangert Mr. Jim & Mrs. Marcia Barfknecht Mr. Dan Villa & Ms. Brandie Barkell Mr. Scott & Mrs. Rosalie Barndt Mr. Gary & Mrs. Nina Bartolett Mr. Earl & Mrs. Connie Bartram Mr. Michael & Mrs. Shauna Basile Mrs. Shirley Baskett Mr. Michael Baugh Mr. John & Mrs. Shihoko Beagle Mr. Jack Beals Jr. & Mrs. Sara Beals Ms. Susan Beavers, CPA & Mr. Brandon Beavers Mr. Chad & Ms. Kristen Becker Col. Thomas & Mrs. Donna Bedient Mr. Stephen Bennett

Mrs. Denise & Mr. Carl Benson Mr. Bradley Berg, CPA & Mrs. Molly Berg Mrs. Suzanne Berglund, CPA & Mr. Michael Berglund Mr. Gary & Mrs. Sylvia Berkram Mr. Francis & Ms. Marlene Berres Mr. Lyle & Mrs. Peggy Biekert Mr. Richard & Mrs. Susan Bierwagen Mrs. JoDean & Mr. Douglas Bing Mr. Brian & Mrs. Brittney Bingham Mr. Daniel & Mrs. Karen Birrer Mr. Robert & Mrs. Annette Bjelland Ms. Kelly Blake Mrs. Sherry & Mr. Todd Blass Mrs. Julie Blockey Ms. Debra Blossom Mr. Phillip & Mrs. Linda Boggio Mr. Budge Parker & Ms. Sharon Bonogofsky-Parker Mr. Jason & Ms. Julie Boswell Ms. Meg Boswell Mr. Frank Boucher Jr. & Mrs. Cheryl Boucher Mr. Duane & Mrs. Darlene Bowen Mr. John & Mrs. Sessaly Boyd Ms. Ann Bradford & Mr. Scot DeBruler Mr. Robert & Ms. Karee Bradford Mr. William & Mrs. Jean Bradford Mr. Everett & Mrs. Karla Breding Mr. Pete & Mrs. Agnes Brekhus Mrs. Margie Brickley Mr. Ronald Brien Mr. Richard Bronec Mrs. Barbara & Mr. Richard Brown Mr. Brian & Mrs. Shelby Brown Dr. Jarvis Brown & Mrs. Sue Brown Mr. Robert & Mrs. Kathy Brown Mrs. Lynne & Mr. Jay Browne Mr. Craig & Mrs. Susan Bryant Ms. Mary Brydich Mr. Frank & Mrs. Patty Buckley

Mr. Richard & Mrs. Robin Bugni Ms. Danielle Bundy Mr. William & Ms. Jill Bushnell Mrs. Brenda Byrnes, CPA & Mr. Martin Byrnes

C Mrs. Tanya & Dr. David Cameron Casey Carlson & Kathleen Schakel-Carlson Mr. Jim & Mrs. Pat Carlson Mr. Lyn & Mrs. Linda Carlson Mrs. Susan Carstensen & Mr. Larry Haferman Mr. Robert & Mrs. Jeanette Carter Mr. Theodore & Mrs. Virginia Carter Mr. Ray & Mrs. Kim Center Mr. Jim Chadwick 1LT Henry Chandler Ms. Mary & Mr. Don Chapman Mr. Van & Mrs. Mary Charlton Mrs. Dela & Mr. Nathan Chatriand Cynthia Chauner-Niendorf & Dana Niendorf Mr. John & Mrs. Robin Cheetham Mr. Harry & Mrs. Judy Cheff Mr. Bruce & Mrs. Jean Christensen Mr. Brian & Mrs. Marie Clark Mr. Robert & Mrs. Sally Clark Mrs. Mary & Mr. Eugene Cole Ms. Marcia & Mr. Tim Coleman Mr. William & Mrs. Melissa Collins Ms. Kimberly Compton, CPA & Mr. Kelly Compton Mr. Joseph Connors Jr. Mr. Kevin & Mrs. Patricia Cook Mr. Steven & Mrs. Yvonne Cordes Mrs. Karrie & Mr. Charles Crabtree Ms. Ellen Crandell Mrs. Dona & Mr. Monty Cranston Mr. Russell & Mrs. Lora Crawford

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honor roll of donors

Mrs. Jean & Mr. Harold Cress Mr. Stanley & Mrs. Michele Crouse Mr. Guy & Mrs. Betty Crowe Mr. Robert & Mrs. Mary Jo Culliton Mr. Christopher & Ms. Jennifer Curran

D Mr. Page & Mrs. Cyndi Dabney Mr. Greg & Mrs. Susan Dahinden Mr. Boyd Dailey Mr. Andrew & Mrs. Susan Dana Mr. Ian & Mrs. Nancy Davidson Mrs. Nancy Davidson Mrs. Jan & Mr. Paul Davis Mr. Jeffrey & Mrs. Rona Davison Mr. Peter & Mrs. Suzanne Davison Mrs. Juleanne Dawson Mr. James DeCosse Mr. Gary & Mrs. LeAnne DeFrance Mr. Richard Deming & Ms. Julie Bennett Mr. Donald & Mrs. Marilyn Derks Mr. Terry & Mrs. Elizabeth Desmond Mr. Michael & Mrs. Janet Devous Mr. Bryan & Mrs. Mary Dige Ms. Patricia Doherty Mr. Samuel & Mrs. Kimberly Dole Mr. Robert & Mrs. Stephanie Doud Mrs. Jeane & Mr. Dennis Downing Mr. Paul & Mrs. Sandra Druyvestein Ms. Dee Duffey & Mr. Warren Anderson Ms. Patricia Dunn Mr. Andrew Durkin Mr. Bill Jr. & Mrs. Karen Dutton

E Mrs. Vickie & Mr. Jack Eagle Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Jami Earsley Mr. James Ebert Mr. Daniel & Mrs. Lottie Eggen Mr. Michael & Mrs. Donita Eide Mrs. Bridget & Mr. Matt Ekstrom Mr. Todd & Mrs. Arlene Eliason Mr. Richard & Mrs. Christine Ellerd Mr. David & Mrs. Marty Ellestad Mrs. Brenda & Mr. Shaun Emerick Mr. William & Ms. Kay Epperly Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Diane Erickson Mr. Duane & Ms. Gillian Erlandson Ms. Deborah Ernst Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Judith Estes

Mr. Robert Evans, CPA & Mrs. Jamie Evans Ms. Carol & Mr. Lester Ezrati

F Mr. Kirk & Mrs. Andrea Falcon Mr. Peter & Ms. Tonya Farr Mr. Chad & Mrs. Jane Farrington Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Carrie Faulhaber Mr. Lawrence & Mrs. Frankie Fickler Mr. Andrew & Mrs. Victoria Field Mr. Philip & Mrs. Norma Finch Mr. James & Mrs. Marcy Fisher Mr. Robert Fitzsimmons Mrs. Margaret & Mr. Dave Foster Mr. Don Fraker Mr. Mike Fralick Ms. Stefeni Freese, CPA & Mr. Bradley Freese Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Kathleen Frisby

G Mr. David Gardner Mr. Stephen & Mrs. Jan Gerl Mr. Bruce & Mrs. UDonna Gibson Mr. Gary Giem, CPA & Mrs. Cindy Giem Mr. Robert & Mrs. Sandra Given Mr. Gary Gliko Ms. Kelli Goodian-Delys Mr. Carl & Mrs. Cyndi Graham Mr. Delmar Granmo Mr. Ned Green Mrs. Verna Green Mr. Leif & Ms. Leanne Griffin Mr. Norman & Mrs. Patricia Grosfield Ms. Billie Gunn Mr. Gary Gustafson Mr. Kasey & Ms. Beverly Guyer

H Ms. Kaye Hamby Mr. Allan & Mrs. Molly Hammell Mrs. Teresa & Mr. John Haney Mr. James Hankel, CPA & Mrs. Dawn Hankel Mrs. Teresa & Mr. Stacy Hanser Ms. Kerry Hanson Mr. Michael Hart Mr. William & Mrs. Elizabeth Hart Mr. William Hart Jr. & Mrs. Diana Hart Mr. William & Mrs. Carolyn Hartsog

Mr. Ronald & Mrs. Sandra Haugan Ms. Bobbi Haugen Mr. James Haugen Mrs. Barbara & Mr. Scott Heck Mrs. M. Jean Hein Mr. Paul Hein Mr. Carter Helseth Jr. Mr. Roger & Mrs. Lynne Hendrickson Mr. Robert & Mrs. Deborah Hendrickson Ms. Laura Hermansen Mr. Darryl & Mrs. Karen Hess Mr. David Hill, CPA Mrs. E. Corrine Hoffart Mr. Chris & Mrs. Tracy Hoiness Mrs. Gayle Hokanson Mrs. Shirley Holje Mr. Jeffrey & Mrs. Bleixen Holliday Mr. Scott Holton, CPA & Mrs. Jennie Holton Mrs. Nancy & Mr. James Horn Mr. Peter Horn Mr. Ralph & Mrs. Peggy Horner Mr. Jay Jr. & Mrs. Diane Hould Ms. Gwen & Mr. Matt Hubbard Mr. Mark & Ms. Cindy Huber Mr. Kevin Hubley, CPA & Mrs. Robin Hubley, CPA Mr. Donald & Mrs. Leslie Huffman Mr. Charles & Mrs. Sandra Hull Mrs. Laura & Mr. Eric Humberger Mr. Bill Humenczuk II & Mrs. Margo Humenczuk Mr. Stephen & Ms. Merissa Hunt Mr. William & Mrs. Elizabeth Hupp

I Mr. Walter & Mrs. Betty Imlay Mr. Roger & Mrs. Betsy Indreland Mr. Dwaine Iverson, CPA & Mrs. Barbara Iverson Ms. Kathi Iverson

J Mr. Jacob & Mrs. Annabelle Jabs Mr. Wade & Mrs. Susan Jacobsen Mr. Joseph Janhunen Ms. Jill Jarrett & Mr. Drew Williamson Mr. Tyler & Ms. Kim Jensen Mrs. Barbara & Mr. Greg Jergeson Mrs. Sheri & Mr. Carl Jessen

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Mr. Raymond & Mrs. Heather Johnson, CPA Ms. Swithin Johnson Mr. James & Mrs. Sharon Johnston Mr. William Jr. & Mrs. Andrea Johnstone Mr. Charles Jones Mr. Kenneth & Mrs. Evelyn Jones

K Mr. John Jucius, Jr. & Mrs. Rosaleen Kovash Mr. Jim & Mrs. Catherine Jupka Mr. Alan & Mrs. Jean Kahn Mr. Timothy Kalberg, CPA Mr. James & Ms. Carrie Kato Mrs. Carlen & Mr. Brett Keaster Mrs. Martha Kelsey Ms. Vickie Kemmerer Mr. Robert Kerns Mr. Thomas & Mrs. Lisa Kimmet Mrs. Susan & Mr. Kevin King Mr. Philip & Mrs. Anne Kirk Mrs. Anne Kloppel, CPA & Mr. Steve Kloppel Mr. Scott & Mrs. Alice Klosteman Mr. Donald & Mrs. Lynn Knight Mr. Mark Kohoutek & Ms. Patty MurphyKohoutek Mr. Dennis & Mrs. Wendy Kolb Ms. Teresa & Mr. Tony Kolnik Mr. Curtis & Mrs. Jennifer Konvalin Ms. Raeanne Kooren Mrs. Julie & Mr. Jason Kostelecky Mr. Kurtis & Mrs. Jill Kosty Mrs. Helen & Lt Col. Edward Kritzer Mr. George & Mrs. Mary Kroll Dr. Robert & Mrs. Millie Kruse Mr. Michael & Mrs. Heather Kubas Mr. Joshua & Ms. Betsy Kurcinka

L Mr. Kenneth & Mrs. Carolyn Laddusaw Mr. Donald & Ms. Jami Laird Mrs. Pamela Laird Dr. Duane Lammers & Mrs. Mary Ann Lammers Mr. John Landerdahl Mr. Kenneth Lang & Mrs. Maureen O’Hanlon

Ms. Connie Lange & Mr. William Lange Mr. Brian & Mrs. Mary Larsen Mrs. Cheryl Larson Mrs. LaVille & Dr. Harvey Larson Mr. Carl Leaman Jr. Mr. Robert & Mrs. Shelley Lehrkind Mr. Scott & Mrs. Teresa LeProwse Mr. Ted & Ms. Roxie Lewis Mr. Chip Lippert, CFP & Mrs. Chris Lippert Mrs. Carla Lix Mr. Thomas Lix Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Sharlene Loendorf Ms. Catrina Lofgren Mr. Brian & Mrs. Patricia Loucks Ms. Jeannie & Mr. Steve Luckey Mr. George & Mrs. Shannon Lund Mr. Randal & Mrs. Teri Lund Mr. Dennis & Mrs. Diane Lusin

M Mrs. Marjorie MacClean Mrs. Jean MacLeod Mr. Brian & Mrs. Brenda MacNeill Mr. Jay & Mrs. Susan Madson Mr. John & Mrs. Kristina Makoff Mrs. Barbara Malone Ms. Maureen Maloughney Mrs. Ann Maroney Mr. Craig & Mrs. Janice Marshall Mr. Anthony & Mrs. Christie Martel Mr. Douglas & Mrs. Patricia Martin Mr. Andrew Martzloff Mrs. Karen & Mr. Darren Massey Mr. Ronald Matelich & Ms. Swithin McGrath Mr. A.J. & Mrs. Elizabeth Matosich Mrs. Diana Mattfeldt, CPA & Mr. Jon Mattfeldt Mr. David & Mrs. Suzanne Mattson Mr. Jim & Mrs. Jacqueline Maunder Mrs. Katherine & Mr. John McCaffery Mrs. Edythe McCleary Mrs. Sydney & Mr. Robert McCue Mr. Scott & Mrs. Kathleen McFarland Mr. Jack McGowan, CPA & Mrs. Mary McGowan Mr. Raymond & Ms. Kaaren McIsaac Ms. Sheldon McKamey Mrs. Jennifer & Mr. Todd McKay Mrs. Brandy & Mr. Chad McManus

Mr. Steven & Mrs. Faith McNally Mrs. Susan McRae Mr. Wayne Medendorp Sr. & Mrs. Genevieve Medendorp Dr. Nancy Merritt Mr. Charles Metully Jr. & Mrs. Susie Metully Mr. Larry & Mrs. Lynda Mikkola Mr. Conrad & Mrs. Sharon Miller Mr. Wayne Miller, CPA & Mrs. Carol Miller Mr. Aaron & Mrs. Jeni Millikin Mr. Brett Moats, CPA & Mrs. Elaine Moats Mr. Michael Monaghan Mr. Steven & Mrs. Susan Moore Mr. Terry & Mrs. Tena Moore Mr. Michael & Mrs. Joni Morella Mr. Peter & Mrs. Dana Morgan Mr. Steven & Mrs. Jill Morley Dr. Dan Moshavi & Ms. Sharyn Sears Mr. Justin & Ms. Molly Mosness Mrs. Janet & Mr. Patrick Mullaney Mrs. Michelle Munro, CPA & Dr. William Munro

N Mr. Kent & Mrs. Rebekah Nelson Mr. Kurt & Mrs. Gail Nelson Mrs. Lynnette & Mr. David Nelson Mr. Mark & Mrs. Sandra Nelson Mrs. Patty Nelson, CPA & Mr. Todd Nelson Mr. John & Mrs. Judy Nerison Mrs. Nancy & Mr. Alan Nicholson Mr. Rodger & Ms. Laura Nordahl Mr. Donald & Mrs. Lynda Nottingham Mr. John & Mrs. Kathleen Novak

O Mr. Keith & Mrs. Debbie O’Reilly Mr. James & Mrs. Elizabeth Orser Mr. Larry & Mrs. Joan Ostby

P Mr. James & Mrs. Judy Paffhausen Mr. Thomas & Ms. Lexie Pankratz Mrs. Gwendolyn Paquette Mr. Christopher & Ms. Stephanie Parson Mr. Mark & Mrs. Jessica Paske Mr. William Paterson Mr. Warren & Mrs. Marcia Patrick

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honor roll of donors

Lt Col. Don Patterson & Mrs. Mary Patterson Mr. Harlan & Mrs. Linda Patterson Mr. Robert & Mrs. Mary Peck Mr. Douglas & Mrs. Marcia Peterson Mr. Jim & Mrs. Cindy Peterson Mr. John & Mrs. Lorraine Peterson Mr. Shawn & Mrs. Lisa Peterson Mr. Lowell & Mrs. Deborah Peterson Mr. Richard Peterson Mr. Scott Peterson Mrs. Marilyn & Mr. Bill Pettit Mrs. Joyce & Mr. Thomas Pickard Ms. Lynne & Mr. David Pinnick Mr. Charles & Mrs. Rebecca Pipal Mrs. Lisa Popham-Glenn & Mr. Brian Glenn Mr. Kenneth & Mrs. Donna Potts Mr. James & Mrs. Nancy Powell Mr. Scott Prickett Mr. Richard & Mrs. Norma Pruett

Q Mrs. Amy Quilici, CPA & Mr. Thomas Quilici

R Dr. Ron & Mrs. Jane Rada Ms. Vickie Rauser Dr. Bruce & Mrs. Valerie Raymond Dr. William Redmond Mr. Kevin Reeder Mr. Allen & Mrs. Georgann Reel Mr. Brent & Mrs. Mary Rehm Mr. Rick & Mrs. Carrie Reisig Mr. Ed Rice Mr. Douglas & Mrs. Sarah Richter Mr. Sean & Ms. Andrea Ridl Mr. David Rigg, CPA & Mrs. Nancy Rigg Ms. Marla & Mr. Neal Riley Mr. John & Mrs. Dawn Ripley Mr. Ben & Mrs. DeeDee Rixe Mr. Joseph & Mrs. Susan Roberts Mr. Duane & Mrs. Barbara Robertson Mr. Michael Robson Mrs. Jeanne Roby Ms. Lisa & Mr. Mark Rochin Mrs. Catherine Roen, CPA & Mr. Jonathan Roen Mr. Bill Roscoe, CPA

Mr. Ralph Roscoe Mr. Corbin & Ms. Jody Ross Mrs. Lisa & Mr. Scott Rubino Mr. Joseph & Ms. Melanie Ruby Mr. Daniel Ryan

Mr. Murray & Mrs. Thea Swenson Mr. Robin & Mrs. Carolyn Swenson Mr. Ted & Mrs. Dorothy Swift

S

Mrs. Margaret Taylor Ms. Suzanne & Mr. Scott Taylor Mr. Wyman & Mrs. Dee Taylor Mrs. Carol & Mr. Timothy Tempel Mrs. Laura & Mr. Brian Thomas Ms. Becki Thomas-Vickroy & Mr. Ernesto Vickroy Mr. James & Mrs. Margie Thompson Mr. John & Mrs. Linda Thompson Mr. Timothy & Mrs. Paige Thompson Mr. Timothy Thompson, CPA & Mrs. Cindy Thompson Mr. Jerry & Mrs. Nancy Thuesen Mr. Mr. Jim Tilleman, CPA & Mrs. Miriam Tilleman Mr. Steve Timmerman Mr. Allan & Mrs. Jodie Tooley Mr. Fred & Mrs. Virginia Traeger Mr. Jerry Trainer Mr. Daniel & Ms. Cassie Trost Mr. Paul Tucci, CPA & Mrs. Nicole Tucci

Mr. Fred Sagebaum Mr. Jason & Mrs. Shan Salois Mrs. Kathleen Sanchez Mrs. Jackie & Dr. Thomas Sather Mr. John Savage Mr. James & Ms. Kristin Schaff Mrs. Andrea Schatzka Weule Mr. Gerald & Mrs. Pamela Schmitz Mr. Philip & Mrs. Tanya Schneider Mr. Jason Schramm Mr. John Schuler Mr. Thomas Scott Mr. Ryan Screnar Mrs. Shirley & Mr. Ed Sedivy Mr. Thomas Sedlacek Jr. & Mrs. Arlene Sedlacek Mr. Ira Shaulis Ms. Susan Shyne & Mr. Kirk Dawson Mr. Chad & Mrs. Leslie Simonson Mr. Ross & Ms. Joyce Simser Mr. Robert & Mrs. Pat Sletten Mr. Christopher Smith & Ms. Terese Higbie-Smith Mr. Henry Smith Jr. & Mrs. Mary Smith Mr. Phillip Smith Ms. Jamie Sommers-Menasco & Mr. Michael Menasco Ms. Violetta Sorokina Dr. Stephen & Mrs. Lois Spencer Ms. Donna Spitzer-Ostrovsky & Mr. Jack Ostrovsky Mr. Jeffry & Mrs. Stacy Springer Mrs. Maxine Stamper Mr. Samuel Stevenson Mr. Duncan Stewart Mr. John & Mrs. Sandra Stice Mr. John Stickel Mrs. Ruth Stoffel, CPA & Mr. Wayne Stoffel Frances Strodtman-Royer & Rodney Royer Mr. Dan Sundling Mrs. Nicole & Mr. Clinton Sundt Mrs. Gerry & Mr. Arlo Sutton Mr. Vernon & Mrs. Linda Svensrud

T

U Mr. Ron & Mrs. Susan Ueland Mr. Forrest & Mrs. Linda Ullman Ms. Janet Ulrich Mr. Daniel & Mrs. Donna Upton Mr. Tom Upton

V Mrs. Patricia Valente, CPA & Mr. Thomas Valente Jr. Ms. Kristin Van Luchene, CPA & Mr. Curtis Van Luchene Mrs. Jessica Van Voast Mrs. Bonnie VanDyke & Mr. Chris Gillette Mr. Michael VanDyken & Mrs. Elise Burkart Mr. Robert Vaughn Mr. Peter Vavich Jr. & Mrs. Marilyn Vavich Mr. Cory & Ms. Pam Vellinga Mr. Kyle Viste Mr. Troy Vollertsen, CPA & Mrs. Angela Vollertsen , CPA

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W Mrs. Tamaira & Mr. Jody Wacker Mrs. Lorie Wagner Mr. Richard Wagner Mrs. Nichole & Mr. Jason Walker Mr. Jerry Waller Mr. John & Mrs. Kathleen Walsh Mr. Bill & Mrs. Susan Ward Mr. Michael & Mrs. Linda Ward Mrs. Jeanne Warden Mr. Gary & Mrs. Connie Waylander

Mr. Willard & Mrs. Nancy Weaver Mrs. DeAnne & Mr. Mike Weeks Mr. Jacob Werner Mr. Robert Wheeler, CPA & Mrs. Keri Wheeler Ms. Janice Whetstone Mr. Brett & Mrs. Jeanne White Mr. Brian Wickens & Ms. Callee Nolden Ms. Jamie & Mr. Kyle Wieferich Mr. John Wild Mr. Frank Willett & Ms. Arleen Boyd Mr. Todd & Mrs. Kristen Williamson

Mr. Dallas & Mrs. Mrs. Debra Wivholm, CPA Mr. Gerald Woodahl Mr. Kreg & Mrs. Diane Worrest Mr. David Worstell Ms. Dawn Wrigg

First Interstate Bank Foundation First Security Bank of Bozeman Galusha, Higgins & Galusha General Business Services Great West Engineering Bryan K. Gilbertson,, CPA, PC GlaxoSmithKline Foundation Hamilton Misfeldt and Company Harrington Bottling Company (Pepsi-Cola) Highland Liquors, Inc. dba East Main Liquor J&H Office Equipment, Inc. Joseph Eve, CPA Junkermier Clark Campanella Stevens, P.C. Kenetrek, LLC Knees Butte Farm, Inc. KPMG Foundation KPMG LLP L. A. Hoffman Art Ligocyte Pharmacuticals Lockheed Martin Corporation Microsoft Corporation Montana Bankers Association Montana Chamber of Commerce Montana Community Foundation Montana Rib & Chop House Montana Society of, CPA’s Montana Society of Public Accountants Montana Travel Mountain West Bank MSU Alumni Association

MSU Career, Internship & Student Employment Services MSU President’s Office Murdoch’s Ranch & Supply Museum of the Rockies Old Chicago Olivelle PrintingForLess.com RightNow Technologies Sather Eye Clinic and Optical Sola Café Spirited Holdings, Inc. State Farm Insurance State Farm Insurance; Jim J. Paffahusen Stephen J. Spencer, DDS, PLLC Stockman Bank Sun Microsystems, Inc. Toasty Designs, LLC Theraputika Massage UBS Foundation US Bank-Bozeman Verizon Foundation Washington Group Foundation Wells Fargo Matching Gift Program Janice K. Whetstone Law Firm, PC Wind River Pediatrics Zoot Enterprises

Y Dr. David Yarlott Jr. Mrs. Jill & Mr. Jay Yost Ms. Nina Young & Mr. Bruce Scovill

Organizations 3M Company American Bank American Federal Savings Bank American Furniture Warehouse Anderson ZurMuehlen & CO., P.C. AON Foundation Associated Appraisers B & C Farms Inc. Bank of America Corporate Affairs Bank of Bozeman Benefit Managers Co. Bequet Confections Best Western GranTree Inn Big Sky Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners Big Sky Western Bank Boeing Company Bridger Creek Golf Course Budget Bouquet Cardinal Distributing Carter Construction, Inc. Castronovo Financial Group, Inc. D.A. Davidson & Co. Deloitte & Touche Deloitte Foundation Eagle Self Storage, Inc. Eide Bailly, LLP Elle’s Belles Bakery and Café Fickler Oil Company, Inc. Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund First Interstate Bank

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honor roll of donors Endowments We thank the following individuals and businesses who have honored the College with established endowments. Endowments are a way to match a donor’s interest with Montana State University’s priorities, needs and objectives. Working together, the College of Business and the donor create an endowment that reflects a commonality of goals. Endowment gifts may be set up to offer a scholarship to an exceptional student, support an outstanding professor, award excellence and honor loved ones. Because endowments are held in perpetuity and invested for the long term, these gifts provide one of the most secure sources of future revenue. Thanks!

Alderson Program in Entrepreneurship Anderson ZurMuehlen Accounting Scholarship Mary Frances Bennett Memorial Scholarship John & Lois Blankenhorn Scholarship John W. Blankenhorn Fund for Excellence Mike Bowen Memorial Scholarship Gary K. Bracken Program for Excellence in Undergraduate Business Education Donald W. Bullock Scholarship David & Tanya Cameron Excellence in Business Scholarship Teresa L. Clopton Business Scholarship College of Business Accounting Faculty College of Business Accounting Library College of Business Dean’s Endowment College of Business Faculty Development Gil Crain Memorial Scholarship D.A. Davidson Investor Education D.A. Davidson Scholarship D.A. Davidson Silver Fund Farmer Anderson Memorial Scholarship Financial Institutions Enhanced Endowment

Harold & Reta Haynes Superior Performance Award Harold and Reta Haynes Endowment for Student Mentoring Harold and Reta Haynes Faculty Development Harrington’s Pepsi in Honor of Robert Arrotta Student Mentorship Scholarship Russel B. Hart Endowment Barbara and Scott Heck Business Scholarship Scott and Barbara Heck Faculty Scholar Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West Junkermier, Clark, Campanella, Stevens Scholarship Howard Kelsey Memorial Scholarship Alice Knowles Scholarship Harvey Larson Endowment for Excellence Harvey Larson Scholarship Joe & Sharlene Loendorf Excellence in Teaching Award Michael McCue Memorial Mary Elizabeth McClure Memorial

Norm Millikin Excellence in Outreach & Teaching Award Bettie Eagle Nelson & Peggy Roman Taylor Scholarship Thomas E. Nopper Academic Excellence Orser Endowment for Student Success David W. & Dorothy E. Patterson Scholarship Frank Preston Business Scholarship Grace Rosness Memorial Scholarship Elizabeth Seitz Moyer Memorial Scholarship Robert G. Simkins Memorial Scholarship State Farm Insurance Family Business Program Jerry Trainer Excellence in Business Scholarship Uzurahashi Endowment for International Studies

Thank you to our College of Business Staff The College of Business’s support staff provides vital assistance to our administrative team, faculty and students in a variety of ways. From preparing payroll, drafting budgets, coordinating position searches, to faculty and student support, event planning, and project management and development, they demonstrate hard work and dedication. We would like to express our gratitude and appreciate for their support.

Karen Beach

Lisa Daniels

Rilla Esbjornson

Tamuna Nikabadze

Administrative Associate, Faculty Services

Director of the Bracken Business Communications Clinic

Editorial Assistant, Faculty Services

Administrative Associate, Student Services

Audrey Lee

Brenda Truman

Halina Rickman

Director of Communications and Public Relations

Assistant Director, Student Services

Admistrative Associate to the Dean

Jackie Sather

Alison Todd

Stanette Militello

Linda Ward

Director of Development

Administrative Associate to the Associate Dean for Administration and Finance

Accounting Analyst

Assistant Director, The Bracken Center

Annual Report Online In 2008, the College of Business (CoB) created an online version of the Annual Report as a way to keep you updated on CoB activities and news while striving to manage our financial resources wisely. As we move forward, the CoB hopes to continue to this tradition by linking our homepage to our online interactive Annual Report. Please e-mail collegeofbusiness@montana.edu if you wish to continue to receive a hard copy of the Annual Report.

Thank you for your continued support!

MSU College of Business is now on Facebook facebook.com/MontanaStateCOB

MSU College of Business is now on LinkedIn

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