Tourism Advisory Council

 Alicia Harvey, Chair (Bozeman)

406.994.2652

Background of life and work in Montana: I was born in Cut Bank and spent most weekends and summers at our family cabin near Essex. I earned a business degree in hotel & restaurant administration and a minor in business management from Washington State University. From there, I had the pleasure of working at resorts and luxury guest ranches in Scottsdale, Page, and Greer, Arizona. In 2003, I moved back to Montana to be the Director of Sales, Marketing, and Business Relations for Glacier Park, Inc. In 2012, I became Delaware North's Director of Sales & Marketing for West Yellowstone, Whitefish, and the following national parks: Yellowstone, Olympic, and Grand Canyon. In June 2016, I became the Director of Marketing at Museum of the Rockies. Outside of work, I love to downhill ski, X-country ski, mountain bike, golf, play tennis, hike, swim with sharks, and rocking out on my Pearl drum set. I am a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters, a volunteer for Huffing for Stuffing, and a member of Montana State University's Hospitality Management & Culinary Arts Industry Advisory Board.

Favorite Montana place or activity you would recommend to someone visiting Montana: When you take the time to visit the 14 museums along the Montana Dinosaur Trail, you will experience authentic Montana hospitality and breathtaking scenery. You will view hundreds of fossil specimens, and discover what life was like in our state 65+ million years ago. The vast array of dinosaurs on display, the wide-open spaces, scenic high plains, unique waterways, and the breathtaking night skies of Central Montana, Missouri River Country, & Southeast Montana will have you falling in love with the unique geography and people who live and work there. Remember to purchase your Montana Dinosaur Trail Passport to earn a reward after getting it stamped in each museum and enjoy your travels around Montana!

Consider a few days in Yellowstone Country, along the Bear Tooth Highway, around Yellowstone National Park, and alongside the area's magnificent rivers while visiting Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman. A Smithsonian Affiliate and accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum is world-renowned for displaying an extensive collection of dinosaur fossils, including Montana's T. rex! A trip up to the Glacier Country's Flathead Lake and Glacier National Park is a must, so dip back into the NW corner of Central Montana along your way for two truly unique dinosaur museums located on the stunningly rugged Rocky Mountain front. 

Which of the three Montana tourism brand pillars do you most closely associate with: I have spent most of my career in the hotel and restaurant industry in and around our western US national parks, so I most associate with "Breathtaking experiences by day, and relaxing hospitality at night." However, I have also worked closely with the businesses, chambers, and CVB's in these park's gateway communities, so I also closely associate with "Vibrant and charming small towns that serve as gateways to our natural wonders." 

---

Mike Johnson, Vice-Chair (Butte)

406.490.9556

Background of life and work in Montana: Montana has been my life-long home. My professional experiences include time in the utility industry, higher education, and hospitality management. I am the President of a hotel management company responsible for the operations of 11 Montana hotel properties. The geographic dispersion of these hotels includes Anaconda, Butte, Kalispell, Missoula, Polson, Shelby, and Sidney. Butte is my home where my wife Kami, a hotel General Manager, and I have raised our two young-adult sons and proudly watch them pursue their dreams through an education at Montana Tech. 

Favorite Montana place or activity you would recommend to someone visiting Montana: Although Montana has multiple places and venues that are spectacular, I believe the finest place in Montana is Flathead Lake. Whether you are exploring the quaint community of Bigfork, tourism the touring the routes around the lake by car, eating in Lakeside, hiking the nearby trails, exploring the wonders of Polson, or just parked by the side of the road admiring the wildlife—it does not get much better than Flathead Lake!

What direction would you like to see our tourism products/strategies expand in the future: Our tourism products and strategies need to be expanded to include a broader look as the Hi-Line and eastern Montana opportunities for recreation, hunting, fishing, and exploring. These regions of our state have so much to offer and are seldom celebrated. It is time to start the celebration. 

---

Haylie Shipp (Glasgow)

406.652.8100

Background of life and work in Montana: Born and raised on a cow/calf operation north of Glasgow, Haylie did a tour of eastern Montana for college and started her professional career in agricultural radio upon graduation from MSU Billings in 2008. With roots deep in rural Montana, she found her way back home in 2014. 

She now manages communications and outreach for the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance, a rancher-founded nonprofit dedicated to ranching, conservation, and communities. Actively trying to get back into a more hands-on role on the family ranch, she currently handles the books. In 2016, she opened a small, boutique-style store in Glasgow. Seven years later, Shippwrecked is still going strong under her guidance. In her spare time, she does contract radio work for two agricultural communications networks and can be heard in eleven different states.

She was recently named to the Montana Agritourism Fellows Program and, through that role, looks forward to helping farms and ranches across the state explore the opportunities of adding an agritourism enterprise to their current practices.

What direction would you like to see our tourism products/strategies expand in the future: As a state, Montana has a lot of “gimmes” when it comes to tourism. Gorgeous peaks. Crystal clear waters. Huge open skies. Tourism needs to run deeper. As you start peeling the layers, there is a culture often missed. 

I want Montana tourism to start connecting to the people alongside the landscape. How many volunteers does it take to run a small-town rodeo for 100+ years? What are our ranchers doing to maintain a healthy, open landscape? Why are people still here fighting for their communities and their neighbors? 

Rather than observe, I want tourists to start diving in. Pull the gate at a mutton busting. Give the funny-smelling ranch dog a good scratch behind the ears. Grab a chair next to someone at a small town café. The coffee is cheap, but the conversations are rich.

 

---

Joan E. Kronebusch (Conrad)

406.565.0489

Please provide a brief background of your life and work in Montana: My autobiography could be entitled “From Carhop to the Corporate Office”.  Since my short-lived career at the Conrad, MT Tastee Freeze in 1977, every job I have had has been in the tourism industry – one aspect or another.  At 15 I enjoyed telling people where to go and how to get there, and still do.  I have held tourism sales and marketing positions in Great Falls, West Yellowstone, Butte, Billings and back home to Conrad, where I reside today.  I am currently in Sales and Marketing for Town Pump Hotel Group.Being named Sales and Marketing Person of the Year by the Montana Lodging and Hospitality Association in 2016 is just slightly above being selected Miss Congeniality at the Pondera County Junior Miss Pageant in 1979 – both awards are on display in the office. I love the Montana State Bobcats, the NY Met’s and traveling the red roads!

Favorite Montana place or activity you would recommend to someone visiting Montana:  Open the map and take a "red road" to any small town in Montana. Have lunch on main street where the muddy pickups are parked and save room for pie.  Stay for the parade where the horses outnumber the politicians, where everyone salutes the flag and knows to the Grand Marshall.  Catch the rodeo, whether it be stick horse or rough stock and be sure to cheer for the mutton busters.   Peruse the shops, donate to the local fundraiser, admire the tractors,  visit the museum and make plans to return next year.

What was your most incredible Montana experience and why:  Other than growing up on a Farm and learning how to work hard and play hard, I’d say the 3^rd of July Fireworks display in Butte!  Spectacular!

Which of the three Montana tourism brand pillars do you most closely associate with: "Vibrant and charming small towns that serve as gateways to our natural wonders."  Having grown up in a small/rural town near Glacier Park. I saw early on impact the Park had on our community.  Visitors stopped to or from the Park. 

---

 Nathan St. Goddard (Browning)

360.318.4863

Background of life and work in Montana: I was born and raised in Montana, and I am an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. I graduated from Browning High School and earned my undergraduate and law degree from the University of Montana. I am a practicing attorney licensed in WA and MT. In 1950, my grandparents established the oldest family owned business on the Reservation, Johnson's of St. Mary, right outside of Glacier National Park. After my mother passed away from cancer in 2016, I resigned from my position as the Attorney General of the Blackfeet Nation and took over the family business. 

Favorite Montana place or activity you would recommend to someone visiting Montana: Recreating in and around Glacier National Park is a must, especially the Eastside. Glacier, including the Blackfeet Reservation has so much to offer that visitors will not be disappointed. The Eastside of Glacier is not overly commercialized, which affords visitors with and authentic Montana experience. I recommend visitors eat and stay at Johnson's of St. Mary, where everything is homemade and the views from the campground are spectacular.

What direction would you like to see our tourism products/strategies expand in the future: Efforts should be made to focus on, promote and stabilize small businesses. These businesses are the lifeblood of Montana's economy. Over the past several years, businesses have experienced closures and staff shortages. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our small businesses have been dealt a knock-out blow, closing their doors forever. Help is needed for businesses to survive. Stimulating tourism in Montana begins with supporting its small businesses.

 

---

Paul Makarechian (Bozeman)

702.885.9355

Paul Makarechian is the Founder/CEO of Auric Road Management, LLC. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara and began his career on Wall Street before returning to California to support his family’s business. In 2001, he formed Makar Properties, LLC combining his expertise in finance and commercial real estate with his passion for unique properties. He has acquired, entitled and redeveloped over $2 billion in real estate projects, including the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, CA, Pacific City in Huntington Beach, CA and the renovation of the Hilton Anaheim, California’s largest convention center hotel. In 2015, Paul formed a new experiential hospitality brand called Auric Road. It currently has new 5 resorts underway including: Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, MT, Hotel Joaquin in Laguna Beach, CA, Korakia Pensione in Palm Springs, CA, Sonoma Coast Villa in Sonoma County, CA and Rex Ranch near Tuscan, AZ. Paul has served by Presidential Appointment on the Small Business Administration, has served as a Board Member of MiOcean Foundation, the Board of Governors of Chapman University and is a longstanding member of the Young Presidents Organization. Paul currently serves as the Founder and National Chairman of Alder (previously known as Gen Next). In 2021 he was appointed by Governor Gianforte to serve on Montana’s Tourism Advisory Council. He was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the Rockies, as well as to the National Advisory Board of Warriors and Quiet Waters. He has a passion for travel, ancient history, wine, snowboarding, horseback riding, fly fishing, scuba diving, and back country adventures (and of course bourbon and whiskey). He, his wife Anna and their three young children reside in Bozeman, Montana.

---

 

Sabre Moore (Ekalaka)

406.775.6886

Background of life and work in Montana: I am the Executive Director for the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka, MT, home of the Annual Dino Shindig. My work focuses on developing collaborative partnerships for educational projects with Carter County Public Schools, Museum of the Rockies and Montana State Parks. I received a Bachelor's in History at Montana State University and a Master’s in Museum Studies and Nonprofit Management from Johns Hopkins University. Born and raised on a ranch in Wyoming, I am intimately familiar with small communities and her work with groups across Montana gives her a special insight into the ways museums can impact Montanans. 

Favorite Montana place or activity you would recommend to someone visiting Montana: I would recommend that travelers include Southeast Montana and Medicine Rocks State Park on the "must-see" list. Calls "as fantastically beautiful a place as I have ever seen" by Theodore Roosevelt, the park is a place where history and wonder meet. The sandstone monoliths date back millions of years and are carved with inscriptions. Much of Montana's wildlife can be seen within the park and the night skies are full of start.

Which of the three Montana tourism brand pillars do you most closely associate with: The brand pillar I most closely associate with is "Vibrant and charming small towns that serve as gateways to our natural wonders". LIving in Ekalaka, I have learned that small communities are purveyors of Montana's iconic hospitality, deep history and stories that stick. Locals know the shortcuts and memorable sites, serving as excellent guides to adventure and the best places to have a snack along the rest of your way. 

 406.862.1955 

Matthew Gebo is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Whitefish Mountain Resort in northwest Montana. He relocated to Whitefish 2 seasons ago, taking the helm of the sales and marketing departments from current President and CEO, Nick Polumbus. Matt has spent over two decades in the ski and tourism industries, serving in leadership roles at several world-class ski and snowboard resorts as well as serving on multiple DMO Boards in resort communities. Currently, he serves as a board member of the Whitefish CVB, as well as sits on the organization’s marketing committee. Matt’s passion for outdoor recreation led him to the ski and snowboard industry, and that same passion drives how he spends his free time. When not working, you’ll find him skiing down Big Mountain, hiking the trails in and around the Flathead, or on the water kayaking.