Manufacturing CEO Nilson seeks NIC Board seat
COEUR d'ALENE - There are three main reasons Ron Nilson wants to win a seat on the North Idaho College Board of Trustees.
"It's for our kids. It's for our future, and I would like to see our community more involved in the community college," Nilson said.
Nilson is seeking election to NIC's board Seat A held by Rolly Williams, who is not seeking re-election. His opponent is Coeur d'Alene trial attorney Ken Howard.
The college trustee election, a nonpartisan race, will take place during Idaho's general election Nov. 2.
NIC is governed by a five-member board comprised of trustees from anywhere in Kootenai County. Trustees serve four-year terms, and receive no compensation for their services.
A Coeur d'Alene resident, Nilson is CEO of Ground Force Manufacturing in Post Falls.
"I believe that our educated students will be the future leaders. This country is in desperate need of leaders today and tomorrow," Nilson said. "It all starts with education."
He sees NIC as a key tool in building a dynamic, economic future for the college, its students and their future employers.
"We need to keep our brightest kids here in Kootenai County to help secure their futures here at home, and the future of the county," Nilson said.
He sits on the governing board of the Kootenai Technical Education Center, a new public professional-technical high school that will serve students from the Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland school districts. It is slated to be built on the Rathdrum Prairie within the next three years.
see NILSON, A3
NILSON
from A1
Last month, Nilson helped lead a successful levy election campaign in which voters in all three districts agreed to increased property taxes to finance construction of the high school. People often ask Nilson how the KTEC team was able to gain voter approval for the levies to build a school in this economic climate.
"When you bring people together that care about the community and the kids, and you show them a solution, the people will support it every time," Nilson said. "I think the community college is that same diamond in the rough. We've just got to find a way to engage the community."
He thinks there's a disconnect between NIC and some sections of the county taxing district.
"I believe we need an NIC board that represents a lot of Kootenai County, so as a Post Falls business owner, I bring representation from an area outside the traditional Coeur d'Alene area," Nilson said.
Nilson sits on a variety of nonprofit boards of directors. He is a three-year board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Kootenai County. He chairs the North Idaho Manufacturing Consortium which represents 45 area businesses and their 7,500 employees, and is on the board of the Post Falls Chamber of Commerce.
He has owned the Post Falls manufacturing business, specializing in open pit mining equipment, since 2000. A year after purchasing the company, Nilson and wife, Pam, moved to Kootenai County, and brought the rest of the family along. Now, all five of the couple's grown children, and a grown adopted daughter, live within 20 miles of Post Falls. They have eight grandchildren.
Before relocating to North Idaho, Nilson lived in Seattle, and worked for Northwest Motor Welding from 1971 to 1989. He started at Northwest as an entry-level laborer, working his way up through the ranks to become president of the company, a large remanufacturing business with 14 U.S. and three international factories, and a workforce of 1,100 employees.