ABOUT OUR PROGRAMS

Our program is open to all professional sectors of Montana and is designed to enhance leadership skills of those in various stages of their career. To date, Leadership Montana has nearly 700 graduates, including alumni who are leading Montana in a number of ways. With an increased awareness and a commitment to service, our alumni shape Montana’s future with enhanced leadership skills and a deepened knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing Montana.

We meet for seven sessions over eight months, September through April, with graduation in June. Each cohort visits different communities across the state for three days of intensive study.

There is an application fee of $250. If you are accepted to the program, tuition is an additional $3000 which includes all program materials and most meals during the program. You are responsible for your lodging and travel costs and usually for any alcoholic beverages. Leadership Montana sets aside a room block in each community when possible.

Leadership Montana’s unique curriculum weaves work by modern thought leaders and experts like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown, Daniel Goldman, Steven Covey, Patricia Hughes, and others with Carl Jung’s Theories of Psychological Types to create a deep and meaningful learning experience.

We incorporate hands-on learning activities in small groups and full-class discussion. Setting up activities often involves pre-assigned reading and short in-class lectures and videos.

Each session includes lessons from Gracious Space: Working Better Together, a collaborative leadership model that is the foundation of our work together. Gracious Space is a core body of work developed by the Center for Ethical Leadership which has helped over 15,000 people in 30 states and 45 countries to work better together around critical issues. The Center has created and used Gracious Space in many sectors, including health care, business, government, community, nonprofit, and education.

Our homegrown curriculum, Leading in Montana, utilizes the Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI) to explore how our individual behaviors influence how we lead. With this knowledge and understanding of who we are, leaders can most effectively understand how to lead in various situations like these main themes of our work together:

• Leading Organizations
• Leading Teams
• Communication and Conflict
• Leading Through Change
• Building Coalitions
• Leading Montana into the Future

This work must remain flexible to adapt to the changing times and the needs of your class, so what you see here may shift slightly. You help us shape where this journey goes. There is no doubt that we will dig in deeply around how to navigate this pandemic and societal change.

Our curriculum trainers, Dr. Gerald Evans and Carmen McSpadden, both have been a part of Leadership Montana since 2003 as two of the original steering committee members and have served as our primary training team together since 2014. Carmen has been a trainer with us since 2007 while Jerry served on the Board of Governors during that time. Chantel Schieffer is certified by Brené Brown to teach the Dare to Lead™ curriculum. All team members (Anna, Chantel, Jerry, and Carmen) are certified to facilitate Gracious Space.

Dr. Gerald Evans – Trainer

Gerald Evans was born in Great Falls and graduated high school in Bigfork.  His undergraduate degree is from the University of Great Falls, where he earned two master’s degrees from Montana State University.  Dr. Evans earned his Ph.D. from The Claremont Graduate University in the area of information processing and systems.  He has served on the faculty of the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and The University of Nevada, Reno.

He joined the University of Montana School of Business Administration faculty in 1988, and has devoted most of his teaching, research, and publication activities to the areas of business information systems, business ethics, and organizational leadership.  Additionally, Dr. Evans has consulted in businesses throughout the U.S. on topics such as negotiation, leadership, team building, conflict resolution, and quality management in service organizations. Jerry has served as a member of the board of directors of various corporations and foundations including the Montana Chamber of Commerce and their Foundation, the Organizing Committee, and the Board of Governors of Leadership Montana.

Carmen McSpadden – Trainer

Carmen, a Class of 2006 graduate, served on Leadership Montana’s Organizing Committee, and has been a leadership trainer since 2007.

Currently directing Montana State University’s Leadership Institute, Carmen served five years as director of the Leadership Fellows program and five years as adjunct faculty in management for the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship (JJCBE). She is a founding member of Leadership MSU and Developing Excellence in Academic Leadership. Carmen co-owned a successful adventure travel company with twenty-five employees and trips throughout the West and the world. The company is now owned by Xanterra Parks & Resorts.

Carmen received the Community Mediation Center’s Peacemaker Award and 3 Chamber of Commerce/MSU Alumni Association’s Awards for Excellence.  She was Bozeman Daily Chronicle’s 2008 Woman of the Year and Prospera & JJCBE 2012 Mentor of the Year.  In 2015, she received Leadership Montana’s Service Award and was a finalist for the 2015 Athena Women’s Leadership Award, which she later won in 2016. Carmen and her husband live in Bozeman and have two grown sons.

Applications are closed for the Class of 2024

If you’re interested in Leadership Montana’s Class of 2025 (Starting September of 2024, ending June of 2025), please click this link to fill out the interest form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z3D5FZM

Please select the following FAQ Co24 to read about the most commonly asked questions.

Please email our Program Director, Anna Berg (anna@leadershipmontana.org), if you have any further questions.

Thank you for your interest in Leadership Montana!

After the application process closes our selection committee will review all applications with a final decision to be made in May. You will be notified of your status in the program during the first week of June. If you are accepted, you will be asked to sign a participation commitment form that outlines our expectations. The tuition of $3000 is due by July 31. Before each class, you will receive additional information about what to expect in that session.

If you are selected and are unable to participate,  you may defer your spot for one year and join the next cohort.

Full participation in all sessions is expected, and attendance at the orientation and retreat at Big Sky is mandatory. Any participant missing more than one session for any reason may be asked to withdraw from the program with no portion of the tuition refunded. Missing any session or portion of a session will detract from the experience for both you and your classmates. For this reason, we also ask that participants strictly limit the use of cell phones during all sessions.

We also expect that participants, upon graduation, will become involved in our alumni organization and remain a dues-paying member. Dues are $100 per year.

Our class size is limited to 40-44 members to ensure optimal relationship building among the participants. We select class members with an eye on ensuring the highest possible diversity in gender, geography, ethnicity, and work experience, as well as demonstrated investment in leadership and the betterment of Montana. We receive more applications than we can accept into the class in a given year, and if you are not selected, you may wish to be considered the following year. A representative will contact you in January when the next application period opens.