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The Incomparable Flathead Valley- High-Value Businesses and Quality-of-Life Seekers are Making a Living and a Life in Northwest Montana

The incomparable Flathead Valley, home to Glacier
National Park, Flathead Lake and Big Mountain Ski
and Summer Resort is also home to Semitool, an
international firm employing 900 people, that manufactures
capital equipment for the semiconductor industry.

America West Aug. 2004

CEO Ray
Thompson founded Semitool 25 years ago and operates in a
state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing facility in Kalispell.
Thompson, a native Montanan, is an extraordinary
entrepreneur. Why has he grown a technology intense
business in Northwest Montana? Because he wanted to be
in Montana.

When Thompson started Semitool, northwest Montana
was considered by most a remote location in the hinterlands.
Times have changed. The development of telecommunications,
transportation and the notion that “place” matters is
transforming “the last best place.”

Stephen Anderson, a former Fortune 500 executive,
relocated to the Flathead in 2001. He bought a controlling
interest in a small, existing value-added wood products
business. Working with local artists and craftsmen, Artisans
Doors of Montana is producing one-of-a-kind doors,
works of art, and selling into an international market.
Employment at the firm has tripled. Anderson and his
wife, Lei, live in Bigfork and maintain a second home in
Shanghai, China.

Resource Label Group, LLC opened a new 14,500-
square-foot, high-value manufacturing facility in Whitefish
in February. RLG is a premium adhesive label printer.
CEO Don Farris was looking for a place his employees
wanted to live with the necessary telecom and overnight
delivery capacity his national customers require. He is
teleconferenced 24/7 with his two existing southeast
facilities in a beautiful, wooded setting.

Advanced telecom infrastructure — 98% of the Flathead
is DSL accessible, and high-speed bandwidth is readily
available—is supporting business development across all
sectors. Competitive utilities, a skilled and affordable
workforce and a developing entrepreneurial culture are
making northwest Montana a destination for high-value
businesses and quality-of-life seekers.

Glacier Park International Airport offers direct
service to Minneapolis, Seattle, Salt Lake City and now,
Phoenix. More than a million visitors come to the
Flathead Valley annually to enjoy the park and other
amenities. Seventy percent of the tourists to the area
are repeat visitors. There is a lot to like about the
Flathead Valley.

Colorado College’s 2004 State of the Rockies Report
named Flathead County as the most diverse economy in
the Rocky Mountain West. The economic base is driven by
services, construction, health care, manufacturing, technology
and the arts. It’s predominately a small business
economy, that depends on access to outside markets. Most
are here because they choose to be.

The Center for the Rocky Mountain West recently
published Gateway to Glacierwhich places hard numbers
on the economy of being located near a national park.
Flathead County’s population grew 24% from 1990 to
2000 and continues to grow at a steady annual rate of
2% to 3%. By 2000, 980 more firms were doing business
in the Flathead than in 1990, with 15,700 jobs created
during that period. At the beginning of 2003,
more than $1 billion in major construction projects were
underway in the valley.

Montana is underway with a significant cluster development
effort focusing on the opportunities in value- added
wood products, creative arts, aerospace and the life sciences.
Northwest Montana has significant capacity to grow in
these areas. With both the Democratic and Republican
primary winners in the gubernatorial race from Whitefish,
the influence of northwest Montana will undoubtedly be
enhanced in the next administration.

Learn more about relocating or expanding your
business to Northwest Montana, contact

Liz Harris

Jobs
Now, Inc.

http://flatheadport.org/

490 West Reserve Drive

Kalispell, MT 59901

[email protected]

888-870-5440, 406-257-7711.

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