Opening Luncheon & Keynote Address, Noon Thursday, Oct. 11
Co-hosts: MMEC & NorthWestern Energy

Ready for Advances in Marketing Payload Delivery Technology?
Explore how enduring principles of marketing combined with targeted information age tools reach “Homo Digitus” -- the Digital Man in this enlightening and entertaining keynote, aka “How the Cruise Missile in Marketing Outperforms Saturation Bombing.” Keynote speaker Michael D Reilly is considered one of the most humorous and effective professors in the MSU School of Business and by colleagues as “firmly grounded in the real business world.” He will help you explore how New Media and Web 2.0 technology can be adapted to launch more cost effective campaigns to impact and interact with important target markets and those who influence them.

Recently retired, Reilly has been an MSU Professor of Marketing since 1984; he is also 2001 founding executive director of today’s Jacob Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship and principal of Rimfire Investments, LLC. His specialties include B2B marketing analysis and planning, strategic marketing, and market analysis for new technologies.

WELCOME REMARKS with special guest Jay Timmons, who took the helm at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) last year. Timmons will open the conference with brief remarks through a special arrangement with the Montana Chamber of Commerce, a Compete Smart co-sponsor. Timmons promotes a broad-based "Manufacturing Means Jobs!" initiative for maintaining U.S. competitiveness by lifting unnecessary burdens on manufacturing. NAM is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing both small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector.

Networking Social in the Exhibitor Hall  & Dessert Talk (plenty of food & cash bar), Thursday Evening, Oct 11
Dessert Talk: "Next Generation Strategies & the Crucial Role of Manufacturing" with  Roger Kilmer, Director, NIST MEP, followed by James Stephens of Blue Marble Biomaterials
Feature Sponsors: Innovate Montana and S&K Technologies

Britt Fred, Founder & President
Northwest Factory Finishes, Bonner, MT
Hear Britt's story of how a business inspiration [aka/ innovation] for helping local building contractors to obtain a cost effective alternative to on site finishing would not only save them time and still provide a quality finish, but also sky-rocketed a transformation from paint contracting firm, Northwest Paint, into a full-fledged manufacturing firm now located at the historic Stimson lumber mill in Bonner. 

Northwest Factory Finishes has emerged as a leader in the field of pre-finishing building materials in Montana, the Dakotas, Idaho, and Eastern Washington. From fiber cement siding, wood siding, decking and fencing, to composite trims, soffit and fascia, the NWFF factory beautifies and protects over a million feet of building products every year using specialized equipment and exclusive processes.

Linda Miller, Founder & CEO
PDT, Inc. (Paradise Dental Technologies), Missoula, MT
True passion for what you are trying to accomplish and continuing to lead and innovate your marketplace are key to success, according to Linda.  Learn from her how continual innovation in manufacturing methods is keeping jobs in Montana and launched PDT from humble beginnings in a two-car garage to No. 2 for product sales in the US, Canada and the UK. Hear why staying in touch with customers and end users is imperative as PDT now sells to over 40 countries and is targeting continued growth through team excellence. 

PDT, Inc., a family-owned business since 2000, crafts the finest 100% Made in the USA dental instruments in the world. Dental instrument design, evolution, and development has been Miller’s professional life for more than thirty years in clinics all over the world.

Ken Johnson, President
CM Manufacturing Inc., Missoula, MT
It takes a team!  Learn how innovation, teamwork and a committed quality system integrate to stay competitive in the precision world of CNC machining.  Hear from Ken personally on what it takes to run a successful Aerospace Business in Western Montana, and the key factors in today’s business environment.

In business since 1984, CM Manufacturing is a gold-rated vendor for The Boeing Company and the U.S. Department of Defense. Owners, Richard Johnson and Ken Johnson brought the business to Missoula, MT in 1997 where it continues to be a leading supplier of aerospace parts, working daily with extensive non-destructive testing requirements, high strength steel and non-ferrous parts for aircraft manufacturing.