In September, Sen. Max Baucus launched an initiative called the “Montana Jobs Economic Engine” and selected the Flathead Valley’s Nomad Global Communication Solutions as his first business to highlight, praising the technology company for being “an economic engine in Flathead County.”
“Nomad is providing a world class product while providing jobs in an area of the state that’s been dealt a harsh blow as a result of the recession,” Baucus said.
Baucus certainly isn’t the only person in Washington D.C. taking notice of Nomad, which is headquartered just outside of Columbia Falls with a satellite office in Chicago.
Over the course of the last year or so, Nomad has secured contracts with the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Veteran Affairs, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Army Aviation Technical Test Center, U.S. Navy and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while finishing up a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The federal contracts range in their requirements, from constructing a huge mobile pharmacy for the VA to working on technology for mobile test centers used in building Apache helicopters at the Army Aviation Technical Test Center.
“Every agency has a slightly different need,” Will Schmautz, Nomad’s president and CEO, said.
Nomad recently delivered the last of its 18 disaster response vehicles to the Corps, though Schmautz said his company will continue working with the agency. Schmautz points to the Corps contract as a defining moment that helped put Nomad on the map for other federal agencies.
“It really propelled us into the next phase of our growth,” Schmautz said. “The federal exposure has been phenomenal.”
For the nine years Nomad has been in existence, it has been known as a respected and innovative company within the valley. But the contracts secured over the last year have catapulted Nomad to a far more prominent status on a national level, and it appears 2012 should be another year of growth, if not diversification, Schmautz said.
“Rather than just raw growth, we want efficient growth,” he said.
Nomad is increasingly looking at opportunities in the private sector to complement its federal and state contracts. While Nomad is known for manufacturing high-tech mobile command centers for emergency disaster response and other uses, Schmautz said the company is branching out into applying its technology in the oil and gas fields, as well as mining, mobile dental, mobile medical and cellular phone applications. Schmautz foresees possibly opening an Anchorage, Alaska office because of the mining activity up there.
“Over the next year one of our primary initiatives is to grow the non-government side of our business by 20 percent,” Schmautz said.
“People are reaching out to us – 2012 will be a year of strategic partnerships,” he added.
Nomad’s story is well known in Flathead business circles. It was started by four friends in their 20s working as raft guides in the Flathead: Schmautz, his brother Seth Schmautz, Clayton Binford and Shane Ackerly. Nine years later the company has grown into a major employer and cutting-edge manufacturer. Schmautz describes himself as the “old guy” of the founders. He’s 36.
The company’s growth has resulted in the addition of numerous jobs, including engineer, production, marketing and sales positions. Schmautz anticipates adding more jobs in 2012 as well.
“We’re as happy with our team right now as I could possibly imagine,” he said.