It works.

Promoters of Montana as a great place to do business quite often achieve great success in convincing entrepreneurs to move their businesses to Big Sky Country. It certainly worked in convincing Peter Johnson to move his businesses – Archway Defense and Deep Attic to Billings from Minnesota.

A ribbon cutting last month at Big Sky Economic Development welcomed Johnson to offices at Rock31 in downtown Billings.

The businesses of this US Airforce veteran and former Federal Air Marshal are quite unique. Archway Defense, which Johnson founded in 2014, is a training program that provides training to local and federal law enforcement, as well as serving a vast array of corporate clients regarding workplace violence and active shooter mitigation training – all of which requires travel all over the county. The training is often provided at no cost to local governments because of sponsors and contributors who support the training. In fact, the Billings SWAT team has already benefited from such sponsor generosity.

In 2019, Johnson co- founded a tech startup called Deep Attic, which uses immersive, generative training, which is “augmented virtual and mixed reality” that is used in training to build skill sets faster “with an infinitely scalable business model in the deployment of VR AR technology.”

According to Johnson he really hadn’t thought much about moving his business until he encountered a cadre of Montana promoters (including the Governor) at the world’s biggest gun and outdoor gear show – the Shot Show in Las Vegas. He approached the Montana Chamber of Commerce booth and got invited to a reception for Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

Johnson said that the Governor spent 20 minutes telling him all about Montana’s pro business climate. The Governor and others at the event convinced Johnson that Montana was the place to be. He spent much of 2024 moving and opened for business in October.

According to BSEDA, Johnson served five years as Federal Air Marshal (FAM) International Team Leader conducting counter-terror missions and surveillance around the globe. During his time with the FAMS, Peter achieved “Top Gun” at the Federal Air Marshal Academy in 2010. Prior to FAMS, Peter served six years in the USAF Air Base Defense deploying internationally for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

Johnson’s experience included designated marksmen, clearing ordinance, conducting reconnaissance, and gathering intelligence with local nomads. CONUS Peter served as a pre-deployment trainer, combat arms instructor, and assisted the Inspector General’s Office in testing base defense vulnerabilities. Academically, Johnson achieved a B.A. in Criminal Justice with a heavy emphasis on Counter-Terrorism. His undergrad culminated with his capstone research focused on the Radicalization of Somali Youth in Minneapolis.

Rock31 is a program of BSED. It offers co-working space with a range of customizable membership tiers, amenities and resources for any business and at every stage of career development. In addition to being part of a entrepreneurial community at Rock31, members have easy access to all of the resources Big Sky Economic Development provides to the community.