Jessi Nelson credits much of her professional success to the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce, and now, as the newly elected president of the board, she hopes to continue expanding opportunities for businesses of all stripes in this close-knit community. 

Nelson was sworn in this January, and she brings a broad array of experiences to the position. She is the operations supervisor for the Evergreen branch of Glacier Bank, where she oversees one of the bank’s busiest locations. Before that, she owned her own hair salon.

Nelson was born and raised in Libby and married her junior high sweetheart before moving to Oregon in 1996, where she attended beauty school and learned many of the skills that would serve as the foundation of her salon. But she couldn’t ignore the tug back to Big Sky Country, and in 2006 her family moved to the Flathead Valley.  

In 2010, Nelson opened her own salon in Whitefish and relocated to Kalispell a few years later. It was during this time, as she was building her business, that Nelson first got involved with the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce.  

“Those mom-and-pop businesses, they’re the ones that really need the chamber to help with networking,” she said. “Those little businesses are near and dear to my heart because I was one of them.” 

After 17 years of working in salons, Nelson decided she was ready for a change. In 2019, she applied for a job as a teller with Glacier Bank at the Buffalo Hill branch. A hard worker and eager to learn, Nelson quickly advanced within the company, first as an assistant supervisor and then as an operations supervisor. 

Even as she has worked her way up, Nelson still prioritizes connecting with her customers and staff and spends 95% of her time working with tellers.  

“I'm usually out on that front line with my staff, which is really nice, because then that means I know all of our customers as well,” she said.  

While she was building a career at Glacier Bank, Nelson started to increase her involvement with the Evergreen Chamber. In 2022, she became an ambassador for the chamber, a role she describes as a cheerleader for the chamber. She volunteered with chamber events like the August Show and Shine, the largest car show in the Flathead Valley. She attended the chamber’s monthly High Noon Luncheon and networked at the regular Energizer and Coffee Buzz events.  

As she became more involved, Nelson saw how many invaluable opportunities the chamber provides for local businesses, from education to networking. She also saw how the chamber prioritized investing in the Evergreen community and decided she wanted to contribute to an organization that had given her so much. She first served as vice president of the chamber before being elected president this year. 

As president, Nelson leads a network of 157 Evergreen businesses and spearheads a number of community events, including regular networking events and the annual car show. This year, the chamber has taken over the Spruce Up Evergreen clean up event from the Rotary Club. They also put on a yearly carnival to celebrate the kids of Evergreen and present a “Future Leader of Evergreen” award.  

Nelson is particularly proud of the November pie auction, which raises funds for the Flathead Food Bank and the Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry.  

For those who are willing to show up, the chamber is an incredibly rewarding organization, according to Nelson.  

“The chamber is one of those things where you're going to get out what you put into it,” she said.  “If you show up and you're networking, then you're going to see the benefits from that. A chamber is not going to make you successful on its own. You definitely need to put some of that effort into the networking and getting your name out there.” 

Over the years, the people of Evergreen have motivated Nelson to keep showing up and stay involved in her community.  

“Evergreen is like its own small town where everybody just knows everybody,” she said. “We all come together when there’s something that’s needed.” 

Reporter Elsa Ericksen can be reached at 406-758-4459 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.