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Anthony Preite To Retire After Nearly 50 Years Working For Economic Development In Montana

Anthony J. Preite retires as the USDA's state director of rural development.
Courtesy photo
Anthony J. Preite retires as the USDA's state director of rural development.

A man who’s had a big role in growing Montana’s economy for nearly 50 years is stepping down. Anthony Preite has been involved in rural economic development here since 1968, and last week he retired as state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Preite is a Treasure State native.

"Born and raised in Havre, Montana," Preite says.

Preite worked for a number of local, state and federal economic development agencies. He helped a lot of people get home loans, and was instrumental in putting together financing for important projects that people mostly take for granted. Things like local drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. Not the most glamorous work but necessary for towns to grow and thrive, he says.

Preite explains, "If you’re not able to flush the toilette, nobody’s coming to town, you know?"

Preite’s work with USDA has impacted a broad range of economic sectors.

"We do some very large projects, involved in Livingston area, with the $40 million hospital there," Preite says. "On the other hand,  I was in Anaconda the other day celebrating what we call 'pop ups,' small businesses being created in areas of the community that have been abandoned for years. We have four or five pop ups there: a bakery, an Italian restaraunt, an ice cream shop, things like that - Mom and Pop operations. The whole key to the whole thing is you need to form partnerships."

Ten years ago, Preite served as Director of the Montana Department of Commerce, where he helped put together a financing package that he says is one of the highlights of his career.

"DirecTV in Missoula. 12-13-1,400 jobs. All with excellent health insurance benefits." He continues, "One of the biggest beneficiaries of DirecTV in Missoula, very frankly, is the hospital because you have 12 or 13,000 people now who have health insurance that didn't have before. So you know, it spreads."

Preite says he’s seen Montana make good progress in developing its economy since he started his career in 1968, but one of the state’s primary economic challenges then and now remains its geography.

Preite says, "One of the problems, and we’re doing a pretty good job at overcoming it, is getting our product to market and actually doing a value added on our farm products and other things. And we've done a pretty good job on that, but because of the remoteness of Montana and its cost of transporting the finished goods it is a challenge."

"However," he continues, "having said that I think we've taken some giant steps in that area and every day we are creating more and more small business with value added to the products in Montana. What remains a barrier, of course, is investment equity. There isn't a lot of investment money available out there."

"However, having said that there's a lot more now," Preite further explains, "and we're getting much more active and aggressive in that area in attracting entrepreneurs to come and invest in Montana than ever before. And every day we're seeing more and more people outside of the state investing money in Montana. That’s what’ll really keep us going."

That persistent problem of a lack of investment equity in Montana, just having enough money to loan to get businesses and development started, is why the U.S. Department of Agriculture got into the economic development business in the first place. And the agency has loaned or granted billions of dollars to Montana over the years when nobody else would. Eric Whitney asked Preite if he thinks people always remember that.

"It seems like a lot of people are pretty quick to complain about the federal government, or government in general. As someone like yourself, who has devoted your whole career to government service and these agencies," Whitney says, "I just wondered if you ever maybe point to that water tower to remind them that their toilet flushes thanks to a little bit of help from Uncle Sam?"

"Every day," Preite chuckles and continues. "Every time, I should say, that it comes up in the most gentle fashion that I can bring about, I try to point out that well you wouldn't have those water towers and those sewer systems and that job would not have been created without the partnership between the federal government and local government and Main Street."

Anthony Preite retired from 47 years in government service last week. He worked for several local, state and federal agencies, and most recently was Montana state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

Eric Whitney is NPR's Mountain West/Great Plains Bureau Chief, and was the former news director for Montana Public Radio.
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