Governor Greg Gianforte

Who better to lead economic growth in Montana than someone who understands what it means to make payroll and grow a business?  Montanans elected Greg Gianforte as their state’s 25th governor on November 3, 2020. Gianforte received more votes than any candidate for governor in Montana history and won with the largest margin for a first-term governor since 1920.

Gianforte campaigned on getting Montana’s economy going again, getting Montana safely open for business, and getting Montanans back to work in good-paying jobs. He also focused on changing the way Helena and state government do business to better serve Montanans.

After 34 years in the private sector, Gianforte served as Montana’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives from June 2017 to January 2021. In Congress, Gianforte voted to cut taxes for every American taxpayer, roll back unnecessary, anti-jobs regulations, lower health care costs, and protect our Montana way of life, including our public lands.

Greg and Susan Gianforte founded RightNow Technologies two decades ago in their Bozeman home, and they grew it into the town’s largest commercial employer, creating over 500 high-paying Montana jobs.

Gianforte spent his entire career focusing on creating jobs and opportunities. He founded five different startup companies. He’s worked to improve Montana’s economy through the “Better Montana Jobs” project. He also launched scholarship programs to help low-income students and veterans pursue the education and training they need to start a career in Montana.

Married since 1986, Greg and Susan Gianforte raised their four children in Bozeman hunting, fishing, rafting, climbing, skiing, and backpacking on Montana’s public lands.

Some 3,000 feet higher above sea level than the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) familiar brick campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and a six-hour, 2,300 mile plane ride northwest of that point, lies Rocky Mountain Labs, an NIH state-of- the-art biomedical research facility in Hamilton, Montana.  This small but thriving community is nestled between the Bitterroot and Sapphire Mountains and is home to the first NIH facility of its kind to house BSL-2, BSL-3, and BS-4 lab space in one building, along with administrative offices and conference rooms.

Montana is well-known for many things, including its opportunities for workforce development and training. There are a number of flagship programs that provide training for both existing and new employees and businesses:

• Workforce Training Grants: This program encourages the creation of jobs in primary sector businesses and a job training incentive for new businesses to locate in Montana.
• Incumbent Worker Training Program:  A competitive grant program that provides funds for Montana’s small businesses to offer employees skill-based training or certified education for their existing businesses.
• Big Sky Economic Development Program: This program was created in the 2005 Legislature and is funded out of our Coal Tax Severance Trust Fund. It provides grants to business up to $7,500 per NET new employee. Use of the funds is very flexible; many businesses utilize the funds toward capital investments.

Montana is currently making large investments in a variety of creative programs to develop industry workforce pipelines. One initiative is Skill Up Montana, which utilizes University, public-private partnerships, and proficiency-based learning to develop this pipeline.

Another is Accelerate Montana. This program is business-based, and will provide businesses with a talent pool as well as expert training in a variety of industries.