Our Board of Directors

Joan Bennett, Chair (Great Falls)

A retired officer of Bennett Motors in Great Falls, Joan maintains an office in the family business to carry out the many good works she does for her community and for Montana. In addition to her work for the Foundation, Joan is a director of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center Foundation and an active adviser to the Great Falls-Billings Catholic Diocese. A former mayor and city commissioner of Great Falls, Joan worked with low-income and affordable housing programs for many years, serving on both the Great Falls Housing Authority and the Montana Board of Housing. She also served her community as a director of the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Marie Nopper, Vice Chair (Bozeman)

A Montana native, Marie serves her alma mater as director of research for the Montana State University Foundation. She earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from MSU. She brings extensive experience in organizational structure, policy and procedures to the Foundation. In her own community, Marie is involved in the Gallatin County Community Foundation and provides invaluable volunteer assistance to local nonprofit organizations in the areas of board development, strategic planning, fundraising and prospect management and research. Marie has been involved with the Montana Community Foundation since 1993, first as a regional association member and then as a board member.

Randy Hanson, Secretary (Havre)

Randy brings extensive experience in the field of economic and community development to the Foundation, plus first-hand knowledge of rural Montana economies. He has been the Northcentral Montana Regional Development Officer for the Montana Department of Commerce since 1999. Before that he worked in small business development for 22 rural counties in northcentral and eastern Montana. With one of his sons, Randy still operates the farm he grew up on in southeastern Montana, and he and his wife, Valerie, are active in the Hill County Community Foundation.

Bill Kearns, Treasurer (Townsend)

Bill is a longtime friend of the Foundation, having served as a regional representative before joining the statewide board in 2003. He is also a founder and director of the Broadwater County Community Foundation. Chairman of State Bank of Townsend, founded in 1899 by his grandfather, Bill is an active citizen in his community and state. The Townsend Rotary Club, Townsend Chamber of Commerce and Broadwater County Development Corp., as well as the Foundation, have all benefited from his leadership, vision and generosity.

Bob Bronson, Great Falls

Bob is a CPA and managing shareholder in the Great Falls accounting firm of Hamilton Misfeldt & Co. He has been with the firm since 1977. He has been involved with the CPA profession at every level, including the Great Falls Chapter of CPA’s, which he served as president, and the peer review committees of both the Montana Society of CPA’s and the International Group of Accounting Firms. He has also served his alma mater, the University of Montana, as past president of the Grizzly Athletic Association and an adviser to the accounting program in the UM School of Business Administration.

Carolyn Colman, Bozeman

Former mayor of West Yellowstone, Carolyn has been actively involved in every community she has ever lived in. She worked for 18 years as a marketing and customer service officer for First State Bank in Fort Benton before moving to West Yellowstone, where she served in several leadership positions, including executive officer of the West Yellowstone Community Foundation. She now lives in Bozeman and serves on the State Banking Board as well as the Foundation. Born and raised in rural Carter County, Carolyn knows the rural landscape of Montana intimately and has provided a guiding voice in the Foundation’s community vitality initiatives.

Jack King, Billings

Jack is a longtime Montana resident involved in the oil and gas industry. He has been a partner in Hancock Enterprises since 1983 and is the company’s oil and gas manager. He is also a director and vice president of LIO, Inc., an oil and gas exploration company, and a commissioner on the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. He has been involved in the Billings community as a director of MetraPark, an adviser to both the College of Business, MSU-Billings, and the Miles City office of the Bureau of Land Management, and as chairman of Billings Young Life, a non-denominational Christian youth group.

Cynthia Markle, Glasgow

A longtime resident of Glasgow, Cindy has seen the quality of life in her community improved by several area endowments, including the Valley County Community Foundation, which she has served as founding chair and now as a board member. She also chaired the Missouri River Region of the Montana Community Foundation and the Fort Peck Theatre Foundation. She and her husband, Tom, own Markle’s Hardware in Glasgow. Cindy brings the vitality and can-do attitude of a small northeastern Montana community to our statewide perspective, and reinforces the importance of our work with local community foundations across the state.

BACK TO TOP