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Sanderson Stewart is one of those businesses most people never directly interact with, but your life would be VERY different without the work they do. Michael Sanderson, CEO, joined us on this week's podcast to talk about what they do, property development in Billings, and to talk about some of the exciting changes happening at Sanderson Stewart. Learn More: * Sanderson Stewart website (https://sandersonstewart.com/)* If you want to learn more about land use and zoning, check out our interview with Representative and Senator Zolnikov on zoning reform bills from the previous MT Legislative Session: The Montana Miracle: Celebrating State Legislature Wins (https://blubrry.com/chambercast/116617884/the-montana-miracle-celebrating-state-legislature-wins/).

Listeners of this podcast know how important insurance is to your everyday life and how important Marsh McLennan Agency is to Billings. In this member spotlight, you'll hear from Brett Arnold and Brian Daubert from MMA about insurance, other ways to mitigate risk, and MMA's involvement in the community.

It's January, and at the Billings Chamber of Commerce that means it's agriculture month! Our Ag Celebration Week and the Ag Celebration Banquet is coming up during the last week of January, and we wouldn't be able to do any of this without our title sponsor, Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative. In this episode, we preview what you can expect from all of our upcoming ag-related programming, but also shine a spotlight on a business that is extremely important to Yellowstone County and beyond!Learn More:* Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative (https://www.yvec.com/)* Ag Celebration Week (https://www.billingschamber.com/events/ag-celebration/)* Ag Celebration Banquet (https://business.billingschamber.com/events/details/2024-ag-celebration-banquet-5102528)* Last year's episode with YVEC, very creatively named "Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative (https://blubrry.com/chambercast/93335086/yellowstone-valley-electric-cooperative/)"

2023 was a very eventful year at the Billings Chamber of Commerce! We bet it has been a busy year for you too! Thank you for listening throughout 2023 and enjoy this look back at the previous year with the Chamber's management team!

Mental health impacts every part of our lives, including the workplace. Jennifer Reiser, the Chief Operations Officer for the Billings Chamber, and Melanie Schwarz with Upstream Strategy Partners joined us this episode to talk about management strategies, suicide prevention, Seasonal Affective Disorder, and more.Learn more:* Melanie's book - Lifejackets: A Mother's Journey Through Her Child's Addiction (https://a.co/d/fZfagQV)* To learn more about mental health first aid trainings, contact [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]).* Our episode on the Mobile Crisis Unit: A New Way to Help People in Crisis (https://blubrry.com/chambercast/94161388/a-new-way-to-help-people-in-crisis/)Suicide Prevention Resources* Shifting Sands (https://www.shiftingsands4health.com/)* NAMI Billings (https://www.namibillings.org/)* Chinook Horses (https://www.chinookhorses.org/)* Riverstone Health - Suicide Prevention (Riverstone%20Health%20-%20Suicide%20Prevention)* Montana 211.org (https://montana211.org/about.php)* Redefining Love Boundaries and Trauma Coaching (http://redefine-love.com)* Emerge from Within (www.emergebreathwork.com)

People spend a LOT of money around the holiday season, which means that it can be a very important time of year for our favorite local businesses. This episode focuses on two local shops that opened within the last year, what they provide, why the owners started their own business, and how things have been going for them so far. We also preview one of the things the Billings Chamber does to support these small businesses, Keep the Cheer Here, and the Keep the Cheer Here Tour. Enjoy this interview with Sara Creeden, owner of Arts Paper and Paints, and Katie Moldenahuer, owner of Giddy UP, co-hosted by Austrin Martens, Marketing and Events Manager for the Billings Chamber.Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast!Learn More: * Art's Paper & Paint (https://artspaperpaint.com/)* Giddy Up Coffee Bar & Boutique (https://giddyupmt.com/)* Keep the Cheer Here Game Board (https://www.billingschamber.com/events/keepthecheerhere/)* Keep the Cheer Here Trolley Tour (https://business.billingschamber.com/events/details/2023-keep-the-cheer-here-trolley-tour-5102525)

The Billings Air Service Committee, comprised of Billings Airport, Billings Chamber, Big Sky Economic Development, and Visit Billings, has been hard at work promoting air service to/from Billings! Their recent efforts resulted in bringing Sun Country Airlines to Billings, which will provide another direct flight to Minneapolis beginning this summer. They also secured essential air service to key towns in Montana and secured a federal air service grant, which will help us attract direct service to Southern California. The CEO of the Billings Chamber, John Brewer; and Director of Aviation and Transit for the City of Billings, Jeff Roach joined us to provide an update on everything happening with this critical part of our economy. Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast!

Veteran's Day is this month! We wanted to shine a spotlight on two local businesses who are helping Montana's Veterans and our local businesses. Please welcome Mike McManus of Veterans Navigation Network and Dave Nordel of MaxFab Consulting!Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast! Learn More* Veteran's Navigation Network (https://www.veteransnavigation.org/)* MaxFab Consulting (https://maxfabconsulting.com/)

If the parks/trails/recreation bond that is on this November's ballot passes, it will mean big things for Billings! Commensurately, this is a big episode. Billings City Administrator Chris Kukulski, and Julie Seedhouse, Chair of Play it Forward Billings (the Vote-Yes campaign for the parks bond) walked us through every detail of this historic potential investment in our parks & recreation infrastructure. Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast!LEARN MORE* Play it Forward Billings campaign website (https://playitforwardbillings.com/)* City of Billings Parks Bond Information Page (https://www.billingsmt.gov/3125/Parks-Bond-2023)* Voter Information (https://www.yellowstonecountymt.gov/elections/)* Our 2021 Episode on the Recreation Center (https://blubrry.com/chambercast/83340886/sports-tourism-in-south-billings/)

We sat down with Michelle Harkins and Leah Clark, the leading ladies of the EBIRD and NILE respectively, to talk about all of the opportunities Billings residents will have to learn more about and celebrate Montana's western heritage later this month. To learn more, visit: NILE Website (https://thenile.org/)EBIRD Website (https://www.billingsbird.com/)Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast!

Every year, the Billings Chamber gives out one of its highest honors at our annual meeting—the Legacy Award. On September 14—to uproarious applause—we presented that award to Mike Nelson, owner of the fabulous Northern Hotel in beautiful downtown Billings.Learn more about Mike and the Legacy award here (https://www.billingschamber.com/2023-legacy-award-recipient/).Thank you so much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://www.marshmma.com/us/locations/montana/billings.html) for sponsoring ChamberCast!

Our wonderful title sponsor, PayneWest Insurance is going through some changes for the better! A big part of that is a name change to Marsh McLennan Agency. We talked with our guests Abbey Wink and Dena Johnson about that and much more!Thank you very much to Marsh McLennan Agency (https://paynewest.com/) for sponsoring ChamberCast!More from Marsh McLenan Agency, formerly PayneWest insurance at:* Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/PaynewestInsurance/)* LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/paynewest-insurance)Learn more:* 2023 Chamber Annual Meeting: ReDISCOVER BILLINGS (https://business.billingschamber.com/events/details/2023-chamber-annual-meeting-rediscover-billings-5102509)* Business After Hours - Marsh McLennan Agency, formerly PayneWest Insurance (https://business.billingschamber.com/events/details/business-after-hours-marsh-mclennan-agency-formerly-paynewest-insurance-5102513)