The Montana Contractors Association (MCA) is proud to announce Sarah Swanson as our Build Montana Coordinator. Swanson previously was the General Manager and an owner of Farm Equipment Sales, Inc., a multi-location John Deere dealer organization in eastern Montana.

As a small business owner, she experienced first-hand the struggles of building a workforce based on the trades. Sarah believes that strong partnerships with public schools are the key to ensuring Montana employers have the highly-skilled workforce required to Build Montana. After selling her dealerships, Sarah decided to put her knowledge to work in helping several industries address workforce development needs. Swanson has helped grow workforce initiatives with the Montana Equipment Dealers Association (MEDA) and the Montana Restaurant Association, where she chaired the board for ProStart, a high school restaurant management and culinary arts program. She is a past president of MEDA and the Montana Retail Associations, and has served on the boards of directors for the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Women Leading Montana, and Leadership Montana.

Build Montana is the workforce development initiative created by the MCA to deliver the message about the exciting careers in construction that await students and young people. The goal of Build Montana is to foster relationships with schools, educators, students, and their families to ensure construction and the trades is an option when considering a career path. Build Montana ultimately seeks to bring together talented, skilled individuals with contractors across the state. The workforce initiative is directed by the MCA’s Education Foundation, and has partnered with the Montana Equipment Dealers Association to provide a broad scope of career options.

As an independent contractor with a passion for careers in the trades, Swanson is taking the Build Montana initiative statewide to introduce teachers, students, and their families to exciting career possibilities that await them in construction. If you would like to learn more about how you can help young people explore careers in construction, please reach out to Sarah at (406) 263-3677, or at sarah@mtagc.org.

The Montana Contractors Association, a chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), is a trade organization representing commercial, industrial and public works construction firms. The MCA Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) designed to promote and support careers in construction, and help build a diverse, skilled workforce for Montana contractors. Learn more at www.mtagc.org, and www.build-montana.org.