Flathead foundation hires new director

Tom LePage has been hired as the executive director of the Flathead Community Foundation and started his new job on Tuesday.

LePage came to the Flathead Valley from Minnesota for a family ski vacation in 1966 and returned every year for the next 20 years. His parents instilled both community service and global awareness in all their children, and from an early age he volunteered in the community and studied global hunger and poverty.

LePage earned a degree in economics from Montana State University in Bozeman and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in development and social ethics from Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. He met his wife, Ann Satterlee, of Whitefish, while at MSU. Tom and Ann have been married for 35 years and have three grown children and one grandchild. They have lived in Haiti, Canada, Kenya, Tennessee, and Ethiopia, always returning to the Flathead Valley to get reconnected and grounded.

LePage’s roles leading disaster relief, community development and economic development started in Haiti as a community development worker supported by the Whitefish Presbyterian Church. His last role was as the Africa regional director, leading over 1,200 staff and raising over $59 million a year. Along the way he spent five years as chief operating officer of a university’s Economic Research and Training Center in Tennessee. He has worked in 15 countries in Africa and trained and consulted across the United States.

The LePages are currently building a home near Bigfork.

“Tom’s skills, experience, and leadership will benefit the entire valley and we are thrilled to have him join our team, said Katy Croft, foundation president.

LePage noted in a press release that “community Foundations have been the fastest-growing philanthropic platform for the past 30 years because they build and endow local capacity to meet local needs.

“By design, they are collaborative in nature that provide value to local donors, nonprofits and residents in a sustainable model that will leave a legacy for the community,”he said.

Flathead Community Foundation was established in 2005 to encourage philanthropic giving. This past year the foundation partnered with local nonprofits to raise over $85,000 to provide local funding to meet the needs of the valley.