20 years ago, four enterprising Montana college friends working as professional river guides had the idea to modify the buses used to haul customers to accommodate firefighters during the fire season. Noticing the lack of modern communication capabilities in the fire camps and field operations, they began to brainstorm how state of the art communication could be implemented by emergency service personnel during disaster.
In 2005, their fledgling company NOMAD Global Communication Solutions produced its first custom unit. In August of that year, it was deployed for use during Hurricane Katrina. By 2014, NOMAD was building 67 vehicles for the National Guard, among many other customers. Today, more than 170 employees in Flathead Valley, Montana build 10 types of vehicles for uses as diverse as mobile mammography and tank training for the army.
Today on Can Do, we'll hear from Will Schmautz — CEO and co-founder of NOMAD. Will is going to share how an idea amongst friends grew into one of those most dynamic and forward-focused technology manufacturers in the state.