FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 January  2008

Message from the President

Be A Fan

Happy New Year! On behalf of all the staff I want to wish you much joy and good health in 2008…and the opportunity to not only be successful in what you do from day-to-day, but even more importantly, to be significant in the lives of those we care about. It doesn’t get any more significant than through your support and involvement as a volunteer or donor with Special Olympics Montana. Be a fan! Get involved! Make a difference!

Repositioning for More Growth…

We begin the New Year positioning ourselves to serve more eligible athletes with several key organization and staff changes.

Changes actually began in late October 2006 when SOMT purchased an office building to accommodate the burgeoning services provided by staff and volunteers. With generous funding from Murdock Charitable Trust, Bresnan Communications and Century Gaming, in the 4th quarter of 2007 we hired an Outreach Director, Tim Quigley, who is responsible for building capacity with Area Management Teams to serve more athletes in the Flathead Valley (Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and surrounding areas), the Five Valleys (Missoula area) and Tri-County (Helena area).

With Board of Directors approval, we now launch into our next phase of growth. In our effort to prepare for long term growth – specific to resources to serve more athletes – President/CEO Bob Norbie will take on a more focused role with annual and long-range fund develop, board development, and strategic planning, while continuing to cheerlead the organization into action. All day-to-day operations will become the responsibility of our new Chief Operating Officer, Vicki Dunham. Vicki’s tenure, skill and credibility with this volunteer-driven organization will help position us for new growth. The position Vicki leaves as Vice President of Field Service is currently being advertised. The Special Events Directors, responsible for our highly successful Bresnan Communications/Chevy Raffle, Breakfast With Champions and World of Winners On-Line Auction, is also vacant and being advertised.

Given the growing complexity of budgets, area accounting and financial oversight, we are eliminating the Vice President of Operations position and moving Kim Wombolt into a dedicated role as the Vice President of Finance. Through consolidation of roles and realignment of duties in our accounting department, Shanny Murphy will move from her current job as Bookkeeper and assume the new role of Development Assistant to the Development Director, Law Enforcement Torch Run Coordinator and Special Events Director. Given Shanny’s longevity, her diverse set of skills and familiarity with donors and sponsors, she will be an enormous asset to expansion of our fund development activity. Jerry Zahller, our Area Account Bookkeeper, will assume new duties as our Donor Accounts Assistant and a new Accounting Clerk will be hired to support the Finance Department.

A recently awarded Special Olympics Inc grant will permit SOMT to hire a part-time Healthy Athletes Coordinator. This position will be responsible for developing and organizing area and state level Healthy Athletes events with clinicians to enhance a culture of wellness.

Pending the hire of a VP of Field Service, Special Events Director, Accounting Clerk and Healthy Athletes Coordinator, we should have all positions filled within 30 days.

All the above changes reflect our deliberate effort to reposition SOMT for more growth. Rearrangement of positions and duties accompanied by shifting personnel and new hires will create some challenges as seasoned staff let go of old jobs while embracing new assignments and while new hires find their way with help from our tenured staff and you – our athletes, families, volunteers, coaches, donors, Area Management Teams, Games Management Team, and corporate partners. With your continued support and patience we anticipate a relatively smooth transition.

We have a dynamic, progressive mission and a staff who seek other like-minded talented individuals to become part of our work family. If you know of qualified candidates for our vacancies, please invite them to consider applying for employment with Special Olympics Montana by visiting the Job Opportunities page for complete job descriptions.

Bob Norbie
President/CEO
Special Olympics Montana
PO Box 3507, Great Falls MT 59403
fax (406) 454-9043