First Interstate Bank welcomed more than 130 guests to their downtown branch for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance's reception in Missoula on October 22, 2015. Sue Larew, Vice President at FIB and member of the Alliance Board of Advisors, gave the opening remarks. One third of Alliance member firms are located in the Missoula area.

With Montana’s high-tech and manufacturing sector growing rapidly and increasing its footprint across the state, the Montana University System has been working to meet the needs of the sector via education, service, and research.

Situated on the top floor of the historic Mary Innes School in Dillon is a technology company that does business internationally with Fortune 500 clients, employs local residents, and has grown 45 percent per year since it opened two years ago in the town known for farming, ranching, and blue-ribbon trout streams.

Heading to Kalispell? Check out our recommendations for food, drink, and lodging!

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Check out our recommendations for food, drink, and lodging in Great Falls.

Technology boot camps and training programs are springing up around Montana to address the #1 barrier to growth for the state’s high tech and manufacturing firms: finding skilled technology workers.

Montana High Tech Business Alliance members have a starring role in the summer issue of the Montana Business Quarterly out this month. T

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Employing some 250 people, Zoot Enterprises is a cornerstone of Bozeman, Montana’s high tech sector. Its headquarters, built in 2001, sit on the edge of town in Four Corners with panoramic views of the Bridger, Gallatin, and Madison mountains.

A Montana company with leading edge technology has spent the past two years working on a project involving 2 million students (most of whom are girls) and 30,000 school buses to ensure that these young women have the opportunity to get an education.

When Workiva (WK) had its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2014, Jeff Trom had been there before. The Chief Technology Officer and six members of Workiva’s founding management team took a previous company, Engineering Animation, public in the 1990s.But the second time around, the IPO was easier and less costly thanks to Workiva’s proprietary Wdesk platform, which automated the process of filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Recruiting skilled workers is the #1 barrier to growth for Montana high tech and manufacturing firms. Whether hiring software developers, machinists, or lawyers, Montana employers face similar challenges. Based on conversations with members around the state, here are a dozen ways to attract the best talent.

Last summer, Tom Stergios sat on the deck of Finn and Porter in Missoula with some of his clients, watching people fly fishing on the Clark Fork River and listening to the legendary Paul McCartney who was performing across the river at the University of Montana Washington-Grizzly stadium.

From the shop in rural Lewistown, Allied Steel workers are busily manufacturing structural steel for malls, schools, hospitals, sports arenas, power plants, and other buildings in places as far away as Alaska or Hawaii.

A little over 25 years ago, Tim Robertson, came to Montana on a business trip and “fell in love with Central Montana, Lewistown in particular,” he said. “When the opportunity arose in 2003 to move my family here to Lewistown and take the reins of Century, I took it.”

In December 2014, the Alliance Board met for an extended strategy session to set our mission and goals for 2015. Our mission for Montana's High Tech and Manufacturing companies is summed up in three verbs: Connect. Promote. Accelerate. Here are some of the ways the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is delivering on that mission so far this year.