Ground breaks for Gilkey Center

University of Montana officials Friday broke ground for the Gilkey Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Executive Education, a building funded in part by and named for Harold and Priscilla Gilkey.

The Spokane couple donated $1.5 million of the 16,153-square-foot center’s projected $5.1 million cost. Planning and construction is expected to take two years but will not begin until all of the cost is funded. So far, $4.2 million has been raised.

Plans call for an auditorium, two classrooms, a boardroom and other spaces, including offices for visiting lecturers.

Both Gilkeys graduated from UM in 1962; Harold from the School of Business Administration, Priscilla from the College of Arts and Sciences. Harold also received a master’s in business administration from the University of Southern California.

He co-founded and remains chairman of Sterling Financial Corp.

Priscilla was vice president for community relations for Empire Health Services until her retirement in 1997. She is a former trustee of the University of Montana Foundation.

Economist and author Lester Thurow spoke at the groundbreaking, as did Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and UM President George Dennison. Thurow, like Harold is a native of Livingston, Mont. Priscilla was raised in Billings.

Bert Caldwell

Pullman

Company ranks in top 15 in U.S.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday named Decagon Devices Inc., a scientific instruments company in Pullman, one of the top 15 small workplaces in the U.S.

The newspaper’s Top Small Workplaces list, compiled with Winning Workplaces, honors exceptional employers and their commitment to building workplace cultures that benefit workers and build strong companies.

Judges recognized Decagon for its strong family culture. The company shares 20 percent of pretax profit among its 72 employees each quarter; pays all of the premium for employees and their dependents’ health care expenses; and keeps everyone informed at a weekly lunch meeting where managers serve up company news, goals and financials along with a home-cooked lunch.

In a statement Monday, Decagon chief executive Tamsin Jolley said, “The ingenuity, creativity, determination and skill of our employees is the foundation of our success. An investment in human potential is the most productive and fulfilling investment we, as a company, can make.”

Staff report