Governor Announces Appointment of Paul Tuss, Executive Director of Bear Paw Development Corporation, to Board of Regents

Governor Brian Schweitzer today announced the appointment of Paul Tuss to the Board of Regents. Tuss will fill the vacancy on Board of Regents for remainder of Lynn Hamilton’s term, which expires February 1, 2013. Hamilton resigned from the Board last month.

Paul Tuss, Havre, is the executive director of Bear Paw Development Corporation http://www.bearpaw.org/ , a private, non-profit organization that administers regional economic development programs in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservations.

He has a political science degree from the University of Montana and is a native of Anaconda. Tuss has held leadership posts in the Montana Economic Developers Association, the Montana Nonprofit Association, the Northern Montana Hospital and the UM Alumni Association among others. Tuss has been appointed to serve on state boards and commissions, including the Tourism Advisory Council, the Montana Heritage and Development Commission and the Judicial Nomination Commission under Governor Brian Schweitzer and the Economic Development Advisory Council under Governor Judy Martz. In 2009, he served as a Board of Regents’ appointee to the MSU presidential search committee, which led to the hiring of Dr. Waded Cruzado.

Paul Tuss

Paul Tuss currently serves as the Executive Director of Bear Paw Development Corporation in Havre, an Economic Development District in northern Montana that covers 17,665 square miles, five counties and two Indian Reservations with a total population of approximately 35,000 residents. He previously worked for five years as the Executive Director of Glacier County’s economic development organization, an area that includes Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Nation.

He is Past President of the Montana Economic Developers Association, Past Chairman of the Montana State Employers Council and is a member of the Montana Economic Development Advisory Council, Montana Tourism Advisory Council and Judicial Nomination Commission. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Montana Nonprofit Association, Montana Cooperative Development Center and Northern Montana Hospital.

Paul is a member of the President’s Advisory Council for the University of Montana and previously served as an Advisory Board member for the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. He is a member of the Cabinet for the MSU-Northern Foundation’s Capital Campaign and was a member of the Presidential Search Committee for Montana State University that resulted in Dr. Waded Cruzado becoming the President of the MSU System.

Paul has served as Aide to the Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives, Assistant Secretary of the Montana Senate and was a candidate in 2000 for Montana Secretary of State. A native of Anaconda, he is a graduate of the University of Montana, is married to Pamela Hillery and has two children, Dolan, 18; and Caroline, 11.