Business Newsmakers

Grant supports Montana Youth Diabetes Alliance  

Montana Youth Diabetes Alliance has received a $25,000 Blue Impact grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana to expand support for Montana children and families living with Type 1 diabetes. 

The funding will help reduce financial barriers to MYDA programs and services, including: camp scholarships that enable children with T1D to attend Camp MYDA, where they gain diabetes management skills, peer support, and mentorship; financial assistance for families participating in MYDA’s Family Retreat; support through MYDA’s Out-of-Pocket Assistance Program, which helps families afford diabetes supplies and related medical expenses; and community outreach initiatives, including low-treatment totes for students with T1D and family support events across Montana. 

MYDA’s programs provide youth and families with education and practical tools to manage Type 1 diabetes, including nutrition and carbohydrate counting, insulin management, physical activity, diabetes technology and strategies for building confidence and independence in daily care. 

Intermountain Health names new president  

Intermountain Health has selected Scott Peek as the new region president to oversee business and clinical operations across the enterprise’s markets in Colorado, Montana, Eastern Wyoming, and New Mexico, known as the Peaks Region. 

Most recently Peek has served as the operational lead for the region and as the market president for the Colorado Front Range. 

In addition to overseeing the business and clinical operations, Peek will serve as the strategic leader responsible for Intermountain’s Catholic assets. In this role he will serve on the Enterprise Leadership Team and System Operations Council, lead the Peaks Region Executive Team, support the Catholic mission in partnership with Leaven Ministries, and act as the board liaison to support governance across the region. Peek will also represent Intermountain Health on the board for the recently announced joint venture with AdventHealth in Colorado’s Front Range. 

Spencer joins First Interstate Bank  

Whitney Spencer has joined First Interstate Bank as senior community branch manager in Bigfork. In this role, Spencer will focus on building and strengthening client relationships while helping individuals, families, and businesses achieve their financial goals through the full range of the Bank’s products and services. 

Spencer brings a strong background in relationship management and community engagement following a successful 17-year career in the media industry. 

A proud Bigfork resident, Spencer lives in the community with her husband and three children. She is deeply involved in the Bigfork and Lakeside areas, volunteering alongside her family at local events and the Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre. 

Red Cross names new head of disaster response 

The American Red Cross of Idaho, Montana and East Oregon has named Jennifer Bivert as its new regional disaster program officer. Bivert, who lives in Payette, Idaho, will oversee disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts across the region. 

Bivert’s Red Cross journey began as a teenager when she volunteered on disaster responses throughout Northern California. She later became a disaster action team volunteer, helping neighbors affected by home fires and other emergencies before joining the Red Cross staff as a disaster program manager. 

Bivert also brings more than 20 years of experience in health information management, having worked with health care organizations including Northwestern Medicine, Mayo Clinic and Sutter Health. 

As regional disaster officer, Bivert will lead a disaster workforce of paid staff and volunteers dedicated to helping communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies throughout the region. 

Commerce awards grant to Ronan 

The city of Ronan has received $347,630 of grant funding through the Montana Department of Commerce's Community Development Block Grant Economic Development Program. The grant will be used for exterior renovations of the Friends of the Children – Western Montana clubhouse in Ronan. 

CDBG-ED grants can assist businesses by awarding funding to local governments and making fixed-rate financing available to them at low-interest rates. Payment deferrals, lower first-year payments and interest-only payments can also be offered.  

Girls on the Run Western Montana names executive director 

Girls on the Run Western Montana has named Gerda Reeb as its new executive director.  

Reeb brings a rich background in leading high-impact initiatives, grant administration, and community advocacy. She previously served as Dean for Student Success at Whatcom Community College, where she directed pre-college and youth initiatives — including TRIO Upward Bound — and oversaw complex state and federal grant portfolios. Prior to that, Reeb spent over two decades at Flathead Valley Community College, as the Director of Global Programs and Adjunct Professor, Global Literature and Honors Seminars, where she established deep, trust-based relationships with local K-12 school administrators, counselors, and families across Western Montana. 

As a lifelong runner and proven nonprofit champion, Reeb’s personal passion directly mirrors the core mission of Girls on the Run: inspiring girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident. Her expertise as a Principal Investigator (PI) on competitive grant proposals, combined with her deep local network and history of collaborative fundraising, equips her to immediately scale the organization's site locations, volunteer networks, and participant reach. 

Oklahoma partners with GL Solutions 

The Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training recently awarded GL Solutions, a leading provider of regulatory software, a contract to modernize their licensing systems.  

Both GL Solutions and the State of Oklahoma partner with GovRAMP to establish a common cybersecurity standard. On January 19, GovRAMP awarded GL Suite, regulatory software from GL Solutions, GovRAMP Ready status—the first licensing solution to achieve the security standard. 

The Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training joins a growing list of Oklahoma agencies partnering with GL Solutions to modernize regulatory operations with their GL Suite software. 

North Fork Preservation Association honors award recipients 

The North Fork Preservation Association held its annual meeting where they honored Davis R. Paul as the 2026 recipient of the Loren Kreck – Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship.  

The scholarship supports graduate students at Montana institutions who are dedicated to the advocacy and preservation of wilderness through public policy, science, journalism, or the arts. 

Paul, a current 2L at the University of Montana School of Law, was selected for his commitment to environmental law and public policy. Currently a legal intern at the Flathead Lake Biological Station, Davis focuses on transboundary water law and policy. His academic and professional work, including his research on the Elk-Kootenai Watershed, aligns with the scholarship's mission to protect the wild places of Montana. Davis is the Vice President of the Student Bar Association, Treasurer of the Environmental Law Group, and a member of the Rural Advocacy League. His leadership on the One Brave Pack campaign directly contributed to the first successful Kalispell high school levy in 18 years.  

NFPA also honored Amy Secrest and Matt Kennedy with the 2026 Glacier Park Stewardship Awards, who are both longtime dedicated Glacier National Park employees who recently retired. 

Town Pump pushes grants for volunteer firefighters to $1.2 million 

The Town Pump Charitable Foundation has provided grants totaling nearly $1.2 million to 81 volunteer firefighting groups across Montana this summer, including three serving the Kalispell area. 

The total was about $425,000 more than the foundation originally planned to provide, but following overwhelming response to the grant offer, the foundation increased its grant budget. The grants will be used for a variety of life-saving equipment, including turnouts (fire-safety suits), SCBAs (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus), rescue equipment, pumps, and automated external defibrillators and training. 

In the Kalispell area, the Smith Valley Fire District received $20,000 for radio equipment, the West Valley Fire Department received $20,000 for radio equipment, and the Rollins Volunteer Fire Department received $17,500 for personal protection equipment.