Meet Our Staff

Heather Karo

Controller

Ms. Karo is an accomplished business professional with over 20 years assisting large and small organizations in moving effectively through process and organizational redesign, information systems implementations, and accounting process development & operating oversight. As a self-employed accountant/consultant as well as a business owner, Heather has substantial experience with the issues faced in small operations. Consulting to clients in a variety of product and service industries, Heather has implemented procedures to revise and reconcile accounting records, then following on with implementing operational processes to achieve management insight into financial performance. Owning her own local business since 2009 employing thirteen people, she is responsible for managing key aspects of the operation including payroll, state and federal tax and regulatory requirements, human resource issues, advertising and sales. Previously, as the Controller for Simms Fishing Products and Moonlight Basin Resort, Heather managed accounting and budgeting, variance analysis, revenue recognition, reporting of earnings, sales and production performance, while articulating the financial implications and key measures of strategic plans and progress. In doing so, she was responsible for financial professionals and staff accountants, as well as the coordination of external audits, and related continuous process-improvement initiatives. Prior to returning to Bozeman, Heather was the Director of Financial Reporting for Swift Foods Company – a multi-billion dollar meat processing company with operations in Australia and the United States. Through her direct oversight of an accounting staff of five, she guided 11 US and Australian Plant Controllers on applicable accounting practices and financial reporting. Heather began her accounting career at KPMG, LLP as an Audit Practice Member, operating in audit and consulting engagements across a variety of industries from high tech software and telecom, to forest products.

Robert F. Toney

Director Operations

Mr. Toney brings operational experience that has been well developed over 15 years in the heavy equipment manufacturing and service industry in the U.S. and abroad. As a mechanical engineer in his 9 years at TowHaul (Smith Equipment USA) he refined his focus on fulfilling customer expectations through the control of manufacturing product quality and development of a service program for mining equipment installations worldwide. Bob uniquely blended his engineering expertise with a natural personnel management acumen to develop operational plans for an international service platform that required the manufacturing of sophisticated part assemblies and instituted the field service protocols to effectively deliver them. He created rapid response teams to minimize disruption to highly profitable customer operations by developing product support programs that met the needs of specific market segments. Within company operations, he developed and implemented cost- and process-controls that reflected customer needs by maximizing product value while bolstering bottom-line profits. He continually lobbied for his customers by enhancing their product experience with product improvements that he promoted through design and manufacturing. In his Project Engineer capacity for Komatsu North America, Bob was part of a select group of engineers that developed aftermarket solutions tailored to individual customer applications. Travelling extensively to customer sites, he was responsible for assessing product application deficiencies and developing product and implementation solutions to resolve them. After graduating from Montana State University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Bob quickly rose to manage product engineering for ImpleMax Equipment Co., where he was tasked with executing a systematic approach to design, procurement, supply-chain management, production scheduling and customer service. Bob contributed products and customer service that took the Company to an OEM position with Caterpillar.

Aurora Z. Toney

Interiors Manager

Ms. Toney was born and raised in Montana, growing up in a family owned farming operation where she developed a respect for hard work, family and the enhancement of the land around her. While working her way up in the restaurant service industry, Aurora funded her own degree in Sociology at Montana State University. She also minored in her Family’s heritage language of Spanish. As a salesperson in Bozeman’s Victoria’s Secret she excelled to be hand-picked to take over as Manager. She immediately realigned the team with corporate programming to provide a culture of excellent customer service. She enhanced the store’s reputation by driving customer loyalty and ultimately an evolution of the brand in the local market through influencing team members’ careful observation of individual customer needs and personalized service. Aurora inherited a store ranking of #945 in the U.S. and took it to #2 overall in U.S. & Canada in under 2 years based on sales results and overall customer experience rating. She diligently executed successful corporate strategies to implement tactical goals through team planning and scheduling and creating action plans based on regular performance analyses. She was responsible for executing all employee recruiting, on-boarding, and mentoring at all staff levels. Local business management duties required the maintenance of legal files for associates and managers, leading the planning for corporate visual executions, while maintaining Company values & ethics. Her management maintained 100% overall customer satisfaction rating for 3 straight years. Aurora is now home raising her children providing ample time to the personal requests of our clients.

Wayne L. Mickelsen

Client Programming

Wayne was born and raised in Bozeman. He graduated from Montana State University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. Wayne grew up playing sports and had a successful amateur hockey career with the local NAHL club before deciding to pursue his degree full-time. Wayne was tapped by us while funding his school as a Verizon Wireless Sales Consultant during which time he serviced our account consistently for over 2 years. We saw that level of commitment as exceptional in an industry of marginal professionalism and asked him to apply his diligence for our firm. When not assisting the Principal in detailed development and tracking of our Clients programmatic preferences, Wayne is an avid reader and enjoys non-fiction, especially autobiographies and historical philosophical works such as Lao Tsu. He enjoys activities that allow him to be hands-on and tackle technical challenges. He spends much of his free time working on technical upgrades to high-performance cars.   Education Montana State University Mechanical Engineering Tech (Currently Enrolled, Senior)   Experience Verizon Sales & Service Restaurant Prep   Professional Attributes Diligent work ethic, Detail-Oriented, Conscientious & Considerate, Carefully Implements Protocols, Situationally Aware, Responsive, Technical Acumen, Research-Minded, Thorough Problem-Solver   Personal Avid Hockey Player, Physical Fitness, Snowboarding, Dedicated Reader

Terry L. Bridges

Senior Project Manager

Mr. Bridges has over 30 years of experience in facility engineering planning, development and operations. He brings critical thinking and anticipation of the physical plant and people obstacles to identify and manage factors that either contribute or detract from achieving Owner’s project goals.

His career has continually required the integration of facility design development and managing construction processes with assembling the personnel and operating protocols to meet operational goals. This extends to complex nutraceutical production plants where his design/build process management included direct mechanical design & designer oversight, project management of budgets, and oversight through the construction phase to completion, commissioning and startup of precision production processes. Large budgets required economic analysis of mechanical equipment plans, subsequent equipment procurement and all aspects of supply chain management to support facility O&M, including all personnel and all resource schedule planning & implementation requirements.

Resource planning and management was at the core of Terry’s role as a member of the Executive Planning Committee for a Five Diamond resort. He managed a large unionized workforce to address top-level corporate requirements in concert with local union bosses through the development and implementation of facility-wide employee policies. His management role required daily hospitality interaction with guests as well as managing all levels and types of commercial vendors in facility O&M as well as large renovation projects.

Terry’s many years of prior marine experience culminated in Captain and Chief Engineer roles on a 400-ton commercial fishing facility. This extreme operating environment required him to plan and ready the ship and personnel for long-term offshore working schedules, providing a 24/7-functioning facility to meet the economic requirements of the company and the health & safety of crew, and address all real-time O&M considerations. He was responsible for management of the business of the ship’s budgets, disbursements, and all aspects of facility scheduling for mechanical & structural retrofits as well as public relations.

Becky L. Carroll

Manager Operations

Ms. Carroll’s experience in the construction industry runs deep through project planning, contract management, accounting and all aspects of operations coordination after 9 years in the heavy equipment rental and excavation segments.

As Manager of a local 80-employee excavation company, Becky acted as the cornerstone of the company, coordinating all aspects of contract implementation from inception forward. Developing logistics and managing operational elements of the company to meet the accounting, equipment and HR needs of all projects were only part of her primary responsibility for the company’s contracts implementation and tracking of work to secure payment. A key to her success in that role was maintaining positive client and vendor relationships to support working through complex project requirements. Organizationally through her tenure, Becky developed and managed the implementation of ongoing process-improvement measures that increased efficiency of the company’s personnel and equipment, ultimately leading to improved responsiveness and client satisfaction.

Becky developed her skills in logistics and planning as Rental Coordinator at T&E CAT Rental store, where she was responsible for managing the equipment inventory in support of all the construction projects throughout Southwest Montana. Developing and maintaining productive supplier/contractor relationships was largely responsible for the success of the CAT store in the region. Those relationships are a tremendous benefit to our work today in our resource-limited market.

While working with her father as a horse trainer on the Sun Prairie Ranch, Becky formed a life-long passion for horses and learned the fundamentals of ranch management. In addition to ranch management and maintenance activities, she spent most of her time training and showing cutting horses.