Hartman announces candidacy for NIC trustee seat

Ronald Hartman, who moved to Kootenai County in September 2020 from Tucson, Ariz., announced this week that he is running for the Zone 1 seat on the North Idaho College Board of Trustees.

Hartman "retired from Caterpillar July 2021 after 45 years in corporate 100 companies," said a news release.

While completing his engineering degree, Hartman was at John Deere for two years. After completing his MBA, he was at Ford Motor Company for 32 years. After retiring from Ford, he went on to work for 11 years at Caterpillar.

"I have been attending every single NIC meeting since March of this year. I also attended all four candidates for president's open forums and Board of Trustees interviews in person, for a total of 12 reviews," Hartman said in the release. "In my 45 years of professional work, I have never seen a worse interview process."

He said the process was different for each of the four candidates.

"The interviews were live on Zoom. Plus, the interviews were then posted on YouTube. The first candidate was at the largest disadvantage. The last candidate had the best advantage. What is clear from watching all four interviews (is there) was no agreement on the interview process or the interview dates upfront between the five Trustees," Hartman said in the release. "You could also see the appointed chair, David Wold, used the bully pulpit to force his will on the two elected trustees. It also became clear the two elected trustees had conflicts at the time of the scheduled interviews. Not having all five trustees at all of the interviews was totally unacceptable."

Hartman's career included product design, development and manufacturing across diverse global engineering management and strategic supply-base management. He is experienced in designing and launching new vehicles, power train systems, components and prototypes and, according to the release, he is known for developing and utilizing collaborative relationships to achieve results and meet budget requirements.

The release also said he is a "seasoned leader, well-versed in developing, coaching, mentoring and motivating high-performance team members."

Hartman holds Master of Business Administration in finance/management and a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering, both degrees from the University of Missouri.

"I am a practicing Catholic that attends Mass every Sunday at St. Thomas The Apostle Catholic Church," Hartman said in the release. "In addition, a Sunday Mass lead usher. Along with being an active member of the Knights of Columbus at St. Thomas."

The Zone 1 seat is currently held by appointed Chair David Wold.