The search for a new leader for Montana Business Assistance Connection ended quite close to where the organization started a decade ago.

Terry Myhre, manager of Dillard's and a founder of the local economic development authority, was named last week as MBAC's new executive director.

Myhre, 58, helped found the authority, then named Gateway Economic Development Corp., in 1998. He chaired the group's board of directors for its first two years and has remained a board member ever since.

"When we founded Gateway, I met a lot of good people and I enjoyed that aspect of the community very much," he said. "The opportunity came to get back involved in it."

Myhre replaces Sheldon Bartel, who resigned abruptly in September after five years on the job.

MBAC officials interviewed three candidates in November from a pool of 30 applicants, but didn't hire any of them and instead re-advertised the position. Myhre was one of four finalists from the second pool.

"(The first round) focused on the technical components of the job, and it became clear that the staff was well-functioning professionals who have a good handle on their jobs," said Bob Fusie, past president of the board and interim director. "What we needed most was the leadership end of the business."

Myhre, a Kalispell native, has been a department store manager since 1985, first at Joslins in Denver, and since 1992 at Hennessy's and then Dillard's in Helena. (Dillard's bought Hennessy's in 1998.) All told he has been in retail since 1971.

His work at Gateway's founding included consolidation of other economic development entities in the area, gathering advice from other such organizations around the state and negotiating with the city of Helena, Lewis and Clark County and the Small Business Administration to bring grant programs and other services to the nascent organization.

He's long championed marketing Helena as a whole, as opposed to seeing different parts of town and different groups of retailers doing their own thing.

"I've always felt Helena was too divided, and working together can be a powerful economic product, if you will," he said. "That's always been one of my challenges and goals, and this gives me an opportunity to work with everybody and sell the community and not just a segment of it."

Fusie said the MBAC board wasn't concerned that Myhre has less formal economic development training and experience than some other applicants.

"It became clear to me that the staff had matured and grown so that they really didn't need to have a boss that knew more than they did about every aspect of their job," he said.

"Leadership was what's key here," Fusie added. "He was head and shoulders above everyone else in that regard. Sometimes it takes years to build confidence among people you don't know. He already knows all the people. He doesn't have to earn the confidence and respect of the people. He already has it."

Myhre said he hopes to draw on the experience of the Gateway staff.

"My intent is to be at as many meetings with them as they'll allow me to," he said.

MBAC's charge is to create and retain jobs in three counties: Lewis and Clark, Broadwater and Meagher. The group is overseen by a board of directors that includes local business leaders and representatives from both city and county governments.

In addition to providing small business counseling and other services, MBAC administers some $6.8 million in public and private loan funds, of which around $5.5 million is currently loaned out. Some of those funds belong to local governments and are overseen by MBAC; other monies were loaned to the organization by local banks.

MBAC typically loans money to entrepreneurs and small businesses that don't qualify for traditional bank financing.

Fusie declined to provide Myhre's salary, citing it as a personnel matter and saying only that it falls "within the (advertised) range" of $60,000 to $75,000 annually plus bonus opportunities. The previous director started at $50,000 in 2002.

Myhre begins his new job on Jan. 28.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com