Anchored by Flathead Lake and its famed cherry orchards, Northwest Montana’s forward-thinking communities are deeply connected to the outdoors - and work as hard as they play as the third largest cluster of tech companies in the state.

By Martina Pansze

Help us capture your communities’ flavor, amenities, and business environment by sending suggestions to martina.pansze[at]mthightech.org. We’ll write about cities in alphabetical order and update these articles in the future.

Framed by the Mission Mountain Range and Glacier National Park stretching Northeast to the Canadian border, glacial movement during the Ice Age carved the iconic natural landscapes of northwest Montana’s Flathead Valley.

The Flathead region houses clusters of small towns including Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Lakeside, Polson, Ronan, Saint Ignatius, and Whitefish. With a population of 23,241, Kalispell is the retail and business hub, with resort town Whitefish and ‘Gateway to Glacier National Park’ Columbia Falls to the north housing 7,714 and 5,429 people respectively as the second and third most populous towns. The total population between Flathead and Lake Counties was estimated to be 140,000 in 2019.

“Kalispel” is a Salish word meaning “flat land above the lake.”

Population: 23,241 in 2018 (Kalispell)

Nickname: “Hub of the Valley”

Founded: 1891

Area: 12.5 square miles

Median Rent: $664 (1 Bedroom)

Median Home Value: $299,000 (Learn more through the NW MT Association of Realtors)

Unemployment Rate: 5.3% in December 2020

The Valley’s 197-square mile Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Missouri River in the contiguous United States. The nearly 2000-square mile Flathead Indian Reservation contains the southern portion of the Valley. The Reservation is home to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), which includes the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreilles tribes.

The Valley’s economy is uniquely diverse with clusters including health, manufacturing, agriculture, equipment manufacturing, forestry, and value-added wood products. Whitefish-based venture capital firm Two Bear Capital opened in 2018 and invests in bioscience and AI companies poised to scale. Hospitality, leisure, and recreation industries are also vital; with Kalispell as the regional trade center and largest workforce community in northwest Montana, neighboring communities like Lakeside, Whitefish, and Bigfork are still very heavily rooted in tourism.

The region has a close-knit entrepreneurial community and locals are known for their love for the outdoors and the natural landscape of northwest Montana.

Doing Business in Kalispell

According to Census data, Kalispell has been the third fastest-growing micropolitan area for three years in a row, and Montana’s third largest tech hub after Bozeman and Missoula. 

The valley saw sustained growth well above the national average before the pandemic hit the United States in early 2020. 

“The culture of the Flathead is one of great respect and appreciation for the outdoor environment that we have to live and work in,” said Vice President for Business Development at Glacier Bank Joe Unterriener, who lives in Kalispell. “There's a growing appreciation for just everything that we have here. We're spread out and we have distinct communities ... so you have an environment of high growth and great outdoor recreation in an environment that has the feel of a very rural culture.”

Significant Businesses

Applied Materials is a global semiconductor and display equipment company with a facility in Kalispell. At over 625 employees, most of which are manufacturing and engineering positions, Applied Materials is one of the valley’s largest employers. 

“We make the equipment that is used to produce virtually every chip and advanced display in the world. Our systems are used to manufacture all kinds of semiconductor chips, including memory chips, processors, sensors, and other components used in computers, smartphones, consumer electronics, servers, and automobiles,” said Brian Aegerter, GM Applied Materials in Montana.

Aegerter grew up in Shelby, MT and attended the University of Montana before starting at Semitool as a process engineer in 1997. Semitool was acquired by Santa Clara, CA-based Applied Materials in 2009, and Aegerter became General Manager of the Kalispell site two years ago.

The Kalispell offices have about 100 positions currently open, which the company is trying to hire as locally as possible.

“Over the past several years, we've seen a dramatic rise in a number of products that use semiconductor chips,” said Aegerter. Historically, personal computers and mobile phones drove the majority of the chip industry. But now we're in the early stages of the biggest inflection yet, which is artificial intelligence, big data, and what Aegerter calls the ‘Internet of Things.’

“The Internet of Things is the ability to look at my doorbell, adjust the temperature of my home, or start my car from my phone. Everything's getting smarter, from our phones, to our cars, to our homes. And we're seeing that more chips are required in these products that we use every day,” he said.

As Applied Materials grows, Aegerter said that the team aims to be cognizant of the company’s impact in the valley’s constricted labor pool. 

“It's important that from a leadership position, we're thinking about how [employee pay structures and hiring practices] impact the overall ecosystem of the valley and the other businesses,” he said.

Glacier Bank and it’s publicly-traded holding company Glacier Bancorp, Inc. are both headquartered in Kalispell. Since its 1955 founding, Glacier Bank has expanded into eight states across the Rocky Mountains, and was No. 3 on Forbes Best Banks 2021 list.

Vice President for Business Development at Glacier Bank Joe Unterriener moved to the Flathead in 1996 with his wife—who grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch in Belt, MT—to become the CEO of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce. He remained in that role for 24 years before recently transitioning to Glacier Bank.

“We are minutes from some of the most iconic recreational areas in North America,” said Unterriener. “From where I sit in downtown Kalispell, I can be skiing in 40 minutes [at Whitefish Mountain Resort]. It's about the same distance to the west entrance of Glacier National Park, and 7 miles to Flathead Lake. So, we have just a tremendous environment, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, skiing, hiking, and rafting on wild and scenic river systems. Just all of the things that I think make for a great, great quality of life. And, at the same time, you have all the components for a good business environment including high-speed broadband, growing air service, and strong healthcare and educational systems.”

Venture Capital

Two Bear Capital was founded in Whitefish in 2019 by Managing Partner Michael Goguen. Goguen spent two decades at Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital, where he led 54 company investments to a total market value exceeding $64 billion.

Goguen is keen on investing in the biotech, bioinformatics, healthcare IT, and machine learning sectors. 

In addition to a new office completed last month for Two Bear Capital’s 13 employees, Goguen also has plans for a Life Science Innovation Center to be built on a 30-acre piece of land in Whitefish. The center will have offices for some of Two Bear’s portfolio companies, lab and research space, and incubation acceleration programming.

Whitefish-based bioinformatics company Truwl secured seed funding from Two Bear Capital in 2017. Truwl develops software to share genomic research data analysis and won a National Human Genome Research Institute STTR grant in 2019.

Liz Marchi is the Head of Community Engagement at Two Bear Capital, and she founded and led Montana-based investment group Frontier Angels for 12 years, seeding more than $20 million in early-stage capital. Marchi moved to Montana 21 years ago and splits her time between Whitefish during the week and her ranch west of Polson on weekends.

“Most people don't realize we have some world class science assets in the state,” said Marchi, highlighting the McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Rocky Mountain Labs, GlaxoSmithKline’s Hamilton facility, and funded research at MSU and UM. 

“There are plenty of companies, but there's never been any equity capital indigenous to Montana. Anybody who wanted to raise money in life sciences had to go somewhere else: Denver, Seattle, the Bay Area,” she said. “Two Bear Capital will be transformative in the development of the life sciences in Montana. We already have been. And the ecosystem will grow geometrically, because we've got a world class team of scientists in neurology, structural biology, and bioinformatics.”

Two Bear is the first top-tier biotech fund launched in a non-traditional market, with equal representation of women within the firm to boot.

Key Industries 

The Flathead Valley has quite a diverse economy with no single dominant sector. Significant industries in the region include software, manufacturing, drone technology, FinTech, and BioScience.

Software & Cloud Services

WaterStreet is an insurance software platform company based in Kalispell with over 80 employees. Founded in 2000, Waterstreet works with property and casualty insurance clients to build custom platforms and manage business services. The company was named a Top 10 Policy Administration Provider in 2019 and this June was dubbed an “Established Player” by Novarica Market Navigators.

Read: Talent and Technology: Kalispell-based insurtech firm WaterStreet supports customers and employees through continuous improvement

Kalispell-based tech consulting company ExcelliMatrix offers custom software development, enterprise class solutions, such as managed IT services, and security assessments. Founder and CEO Leland Johnson said that since its 2013 founding, ExcelliMatrix has grown to about 10 employees in Montana and approximately 20 workers in India and the Czech Republic.

The financial technology sector is led by NXGEN. Based in Whitefish, NXGEN is a payment processing company that has grown to have a global footprint in 30 countries. Software company Fidano is a spinoff venture from NXGEN, also based in Whitefish, that creates custom online payment solutions for clients.

The ZayneRay Group is a software design and development agency specializing in ecommerce platforms for outdoor gear retailers including Yeti, Carhartt, Patagonia, Osprey, Black Diamond, Evo, and Orvis.

Public agency software firm GL Solutions, which stands for Government Licensing, moved the company headquarters to Kalispell from Bend, OR in spring of 2021. They named favorable business and personal taxes, direct flights to tech hubs, and median home price in the criteria for their new location search.

“What really sold us, though, was the friendly, welcoming, and hopeful people,” said CEO Bill Moseley, “When I asked why people wanted economic growth, a local business leader said, ‘I want my children to have a better future in their hometown.’ Businesspeople encourage one another. Their commitment to community building was apparent.” 

Biotech

Biotech has a growing presence in the Valley. Bigfork’s Swan Valley Medical develops suprapubic catheters for medical patients that eliminate infections, urethral catheter placement injuries, urosepsis, and related mortality. Swan Valley Medical has been issued 32 patents for its T-SPeC® and related technologies. Both Swan Valley Medical and Whitefish’s Truwl were featured in the MHTBA’s Biotech Companies to Watch in 2020 list.

Neuro-ID is a Whitefish-based software company focused on providing behavioral meaning to digital interactions. Neuro-ID analyzes website data with proprietary technology to identify fraud or gain insight into CX optimization.

Advanced Manufacturing

Columbia Falls’ SmartLam produces an engineered wood product made of laminated sawn lumber layers sourced within 200 miles of their facility. SmartLam is the first commercial manufacturer of cross-laminated timber—which is dimensionally stable and reduces construction CO2 emissions—in the country. Last year, the company opened a 145,000 sq-foot production plant that quadrupled output.

ViZn Energy Systems is a flow battery storage company. Also headquartered in Columbia Falls, ViZn develops renewable energy storage systems that reduce diesel consumption by 75%. 

Read: ViZn Energy Growing Fast in Columbia Falls, Added 45 Employees in Two Years: Q&A with Paul Siblerud, VP Product Management

Nomad Global Communication Services (Nomad GCS) in Columbia Falls develops custom emergency vehicles for firefighting and other government sectors equipped with advanced communication systems. 

Drone tech is well-established in the region. The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Big Sky Chapter is headquartered in Kalispell by president Edward Meier. Based in Columbia Falls, Quadrocopter develops drone and aerial solutions and opened a secondary office in Las Vegas in 2017.

Firearm manufacturer Proof Research, based in Columbia Falls, develops high-quality barrels and rifle equipment that leads the industry in accuracy, weight, and durability.

Read: PROOF Research: Kalispell Gun Maker Achieves 1,000 Percent Growth by Investing in Innovation and Employees

There are a number of tribal-owned businesses vital to the economy of the Valley. S&K Technologies is a St. Ignatius-based professional services firm established in 1999 as part of an CSKT economic development plan. The family of companies include aerospace services, IT, and engineering and security solutions.

Another enterprise owned by the tribe is the S&K Electronic Company, which manufactures electronic assembly products that have military and commercial use. Based in Ronan, the company employs 95 people on their 42,000 square foot campus spanning three buildings. S&K Electronic clients include Boeing, the United States Department of Defense, Microlab, and Raytheon. 

Transportation

Flathead Lake, Glacier National Park, Whitefish Ski Resort, and the surrounding National Forests bring in visitors that are a main driver of the Valley’s economy. As a world-renowned tourism destination, the region has robust transportation infrastructure despite the closest interstate highway, I-90, being over two hours away from Kalispell.

Amtrak’s northern “Empire Builder” route has an access point in Whitefish that connects to Seattle to the west and Minneapolis and Chicago to the east. Greyhound bus stations are located in Pablo, Polson, Lakeside, Kalispell, and Whitefish. Glacier Park International Airport is seven miles outside of Kalispell serving eight major airlines and connecting to the main hubs of Seattle, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Denver, and Las Vegas in addition to direct flights to other locations seasonally. The region also has a number of smaller public and private airports across the Valley.

Infrastructure

With Kalispell as a hub, the region’s water and sewer systems are planned out for a century of development and growth. Utilities in Flathead County are 20% lower than the national average cost, and the natural water supply is a particularly unique asset for manufacturing needs.

The region also has strong broadband infrastructure relative to the state as a whole. While Kalispell and Columbia Falls have the most robust fiber access, there are five or six ISPs serving almost the entirety of the north end of the Valley, and three to four provider options south of Flathead Lake. Upload speeds are reported as among the highest in Montana.

Lorraine Clarno began her new job as the President and CEO of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce in October after 26 years of chamber management in Oregon.

“Kalispell is right on the cusp of some really dramatic and positive change and growth,” said Clarno. “And really, the work that's been done over the last 10 or 15 years in terms of infrastructure - the community is poised for some amazing transformation in the next couple of years.”

Community members in the Valley have proven to be forward-thinking in their city planning. After 15 years of planning, three large grain and propane properties in downtown Kalispell were cleaned and sold as mixed-use developments. 

The railroad tracks bordering the downtown properties will also be relocated east of the city to make further use of the downtown space thanks to a $10 million Department of Transportation grant project led by Montana West Economic Development. Dubbed “Rails to Trails,” the project includes a pedestrian trail system to wrap through the city.

Education and Workforce

Flathead Valley Community College is located in Kalispell with a secondary campus in Libby. FVCC has strong programs in Engineering, Accounting, Business Administration, Communications Studies, and Economics with occupational trades such as electrical technology and industrial machine technology relevant to manufacturing. The College also has Associate of Applied Science degrees in Information Technology & Security, Programming and Game Development, Web Technology, and Small Business Management, and Certificate of Applied Science programs in Entrepreneurship and Payroll Accounting.

FVCC partners closely with local businesses through a workforce training program that includes customized training, professional development certification, and skill-based academic courses.

Founded in 1977 in Pablo, MT (7 miles South of Polson along Highway 93), Salish Kootenai College has 750 full- and part-time students. SKC’s campus programming and academics are grounded in the cultures of the Séliš, Ksanka and QÍispé people of the Flathead Nation. 

SKC offers tech-related programs in Engineering, Information Technology, Digital Fabrication, and Computer Applications as well as business courses in Business Management, Business Administration, Grant Projects Assistant, Grant Projects Management, Office Assistance, and Bookkeeping & Payroll.

Sixty-eight percent of SKC students are first generation college students and 61% are tribal members with 68 North American Tribes represented in the current student body. The SKC admissions office prides itself on an open enrollment policy, welcoming every student into the College’s close-knit community. The institution is also offering students free summer classes in 2021.

In general, the Flathead Valley workforce is highly educated. The estimate for high school graduates or higher among Flathead County residents is 94.7 percent, compared to the national average of 88.0 percent. The median age does lean four years older than average at 42.2 years.

LC Staffing, Montana’s largest independent staffing agency, has been headquartered in Kalispell since 1985. “We work and staff from the production floor to the c-suite, and everywhere in between” says CEO Kristen Heck. “The Flathead Valley is humming with opportunity, and it should: the balance between work and play is more even in Kalispell than most locations in the western US.” 

Amenities and Fun

In the warmer months, Flathead Lake is an attraction for paddleboarding, boating, wakesurfing, fishing, and sailing. The Mission Mountains and Bob Marshall Wilderness are a favorite for backpackers and hikers, as well as Glacier National Park, which sees three million visitors each year. 

Destination ski resort Whitefish Mountain Resort has solid snowpack and drought resistance in the winters and an Alpine Slide during the summer.

History and Agriculture

Archeologists have found evidence that Native Americans lived in Montana at least 14,000 years ago. The Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille tribes migrated around the Flathead and Bitterroot Valleys seasonally, living off roots, vegetables, fruits, and meat. In 1805, Lewis and Clark encountered Salish people as they moved West.

In 1855, future U.S. president James Garfield forged the signatures on the Treaty of Hellgate, which established the first iteration of the Flathead Reservation and required S&K people to abandon the Bitterroot Valley.

Settlers planted orchards in the north Valley, and eventually expanded to grains and vegetables as well. The government saw the agricultural and forestry potential of the land and allotted over 61,000 acres of the Flathead Indian Reservation - more than half - to white households and farms in the early 1900s. 

To this day vineyards and orchards thrive in the Valley; the world-famous Flathead Cherries are a summertime staple.

MHTBA Board Chair Kelly Schwager works remotely as VP Global Communications for Oracle from Columbia Falls. Schwager said that she loves the central location of Columbia Falls and the ease of access to skiing.

As an avid gardener, Schwager has a vegetable garden and apples, blueberries, and cherries in an orchard. Her family even has an indoor garden to grow during the snowy months.

“The local nursery in Columbia Falls is my absolute favorite,” said Schwager. “We really love the whole farm-to-table aspect and so we go to the farmer’s markets in Columbia Falls, Whitefish, and Kalispell as well. There are incredible local farmers and ranchers that we love to support.”

Eateries and Drinkeries

• In Woods Bay just south of Bigfork are The Sitting Duck and The Raven, two lakeside bars off the highway with full kitchens. 

• Whitefish’s new tequila and wine bar Jolisco Cantina has a weekly Taco Tuesday special.

• Backslope Brewing in Columbia Falls has a kitchen as well as a taproom.

• Montana Coffee Traders has locations in Kalispell, Whitefish, and Columbia Falls. 

• Columbia Falls’ Gunsight Saloon is newly remodeled and often has live music. “It’s a great place on a Friday afternoon to wrap up the week.”

• Windmill Village Bakery in Ravalli is known far and wide for their freshly-baked old-fashioned doughnuts.

Find more places to eat in our guide to planning a trip to Kalispell.

Cultural Events

The Bison Range, formerly known as the National Bison Range, is derived from a free-ranging herd started by Tribal members in the 1800s. In 2020, congress voted to restore the Bison Range to federal trust ownership for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The Tribes will continue to conserve the buffalo, wildlife, and land of the 18,800-acre range south of Pablo. 

The southern portion of the Valley houses a number of Hutterite communities - an ethno-religious sect of Christianity with origins in Germany and Austria. A 2019 University of Montana study found that Hutterite colonies in Montana produce over 2,100 year-round jobs and contribute more than $365 million in annual spending for the state, mostly through agricultural and farming endeavors such as grain, hogs, and eggs.

The town of St. Ignatius is home to the St. Ignatius Mission, a Catholic church from the late 1800s decked with original paintings. The Historic Mission has tours, a museum, and regular church services.

Arlee, the southernmost town in the Valley, has been the home of the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas since 2012. The spiritual site is spread across ten acres of land. Botanic garden, public park, and spiritual site for Buddhists, the monument represents the 1,000 Buddhas that will be born in this age.

A number of annual events such as the Birds and Bears Festival, Standing Arrow Pow Wow, Blues Festival, and Polson Cherry Festival take place annually in the Flathead Valley.

Moving Forward

The Valley’s recent rapid growth has community members thinking about what comes next.

“The idea of responsible growth of both the tech ecosystem and the Flathead Valley in general is super, super important, because we don’t want to lose the reasons why people came here or are coming here,” said Schwager. “And so how do we pace the growth that will happen? How do we make sure that we preserve the charm and all the goodness in the community, while at the same time find opportunities to bring in high-paying jobs that will be good for the economy?”

About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is an nonpartisan nonprofit association of highly-engaged high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.

About the Author: Martina Pansze is the Communications Director for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She graduated from Whitman College in 2018 with a degree in Film and Media Studies.