It's not every day that a corporate executive like Ron Tschetter waltzes into the boss's office and says he's heading to the Peace Corps



"I was surprised but maybe not shocked," said Bill Johnstone, the Davidson Companies CEO. "I've known Ron for 20-some years and I have known about his passion for the Peace Corps. It's something that he has been engaged in and passionate about for a long time." With D.A. Davidson for two years, Tschetter, while responsible for the overall company, has focused on developing its private client business, which deals with retail branches, products and services. "On a day-to-day basis, he's helped us enhance our private client business. There are some real strong manager(s) underneath him. They have gotten better because of his experience and mentoring. He has also improved the quality and depth of the products and services we provide to clients and that's absolutely critical to our future in this business" added Johnstone. Along with experience in the investment industry, Tschetter, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India and more recently, as chairman of the National Peace Corps Association.

It's not every day that a corporate executive like Ron Tschetter waltzes into the boss's office and says he's heading to the Peace Corps

What lies ahead for Davidson?

CEO ponders president's departure and the local company's plans for future

By JAMES E. LARCOMBE Tribune Business Editor

It's not every day that a corporate executive waltzes into the boss's office and says he's heading to the Peace Corps.

But Ron Tschetter, the president of D.A. Davidson & Co., did just that a few months ago. Tschetter, 64, told Bill Johnstone, the Davidson Companies CEO, that he could be nominated to lead the Peace Corps, an agency with 7,810 volunteers and trainees in 75 countries.

The formal nomination from President George W. Bush was announced late last month.

"I was surprised but maybe not shocked," said Johnstone. "I've known Ron for 20-some years and I have known about his passion for the Peace Corps. It's something that he has been engaged in and passionate about for a long time."

Tschetter's nomination must be approved by the U.S. Senate. That body is expected to act on the matter next month.

With D.A. Davidson for two years, Tschetter, while responsible for the overall company, has focused on developing its private client business, which deals with retail branches, products and services. Along with experience in the investment industry, Tschetter, years ago, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India. More recently, he has served as chairman of the National Peace Corps Association.

This past week, Johnstone discussed Tschetter's departure, its impact on D.A. Davidson and the broader future of one of the largest, most visible private employers in Great Falls.

Q: Tell us more about your reaction to Tschetter's departure.

A: In general, we are very happy for him. It not only says a lot about him but we bask in his honor. It reflects positively on this company. I'm a firm believer that you should hire the very best people you can find and the best people are going to be presented with other opportunities from time to time.

Q: Ron has been with D.A. Davidson for two years. What has he contributed in that period?

A: His contributions have been very, very substantial. Ron brought an enormous amount of experience and knowledge of the business to us. He had a lot of experience with a bigger company. He also brought a lot of respect and credibility to our company. He is well- known in the industry and he's helped us attract other people to the Davidson Companies.

On a day-to-day basis, he's helped us enhance our private client business. There are some real strong manager underneath him. They have gotten better because of his experience and mentoring. He has also improved the quality and depth of the products and services we provide to clients and that's absolutely critical to our future in this business. Having quality products is real important because we compete with companies like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Dain Rauscher, A.G. Edwards. They are much larger than we are but we compete with them.

Q: Is it true that you don't plan to replace Ron or name a new president at D.A. Davidson?

A: Immediately, no. By virtue of the fact that he has developed a solid operation, we've got a solid management team. We've got a good plan in place. By not filling the job right away, it also gives us a chance to consider the management strength of the overall organization.

Q: How are the Davidson Companies doing"

A: Overall, the business is doing very well. We are going to finish this fiscal year (at the end of September) up about 14 percent in terms of revenue. We expect profits to be up as well. Our revenues will be an all-time record.

The past several years, we have been focused on growing the businesses and have accepted lower profit margins because of that. One of the advantages of being a private company, we've got the ability to take longer view of the horizon and invest in the business.

We' ve seen significant growth in private client business, which is the largest part of our operation. We've added new offices and about 30 financial consultants. We also acquired Kirkpatrick Pettis, which was part of the Mutual of Omaha companies, at the end of 2004. That's turned out to be a very successful acquisition for us. It's resulted in a quadrupling of our fixed income business. We continue to grow our equity capital markets business. That business is up about 15 percent from last year.

We haven't had as much top-line growth in our money management and trust businesses. I'm not terribly concerned about that. We've made some management changes in those businesses and I expect we will some strong growth there in coming years. We realize that not all of our businesses are going to hit on all eight cylinders at the same time. That's part of the reason we have worked to diversify our business.

Q: The Davidson Companies seem to be seeing most of their growth in operations in other states and other parts of the country. What are the prospects for growth in Great Falls and Montana?

A: Most of our recent growth has occurred outside of Montana. But we still have a very strong presence in this market. We see some opportunities for growth in Montana but we see more growth from outside the state's borders. In the fixed income area, we are doing business almost nationally. The same is true in our equity capital markets operations.

"We've had some growth in Great Falls in employee headcount but it's happening in selected areas. We've added people in operations because this where our back office is. We added people in finance, compliance, legal and human resources. Those support, corporate and accounting functions have grown as the company has grown. That will continue to be the case.

Q: Some people, at least on the outside, wonder if the Davidson Companies will continue to maintain their headquarters in Great Falls in coming years.

A: Our strategic plan says we are going to remain independent and keep our headquarters in Great Falls. I don't see anything on the horizon that would change that.

We've got a lot of invested in Great Falls — mostly in people. We've got a very good workforce here that is very experienced and efficient. I think that's one of the strengths of this enterprise — tapping into the strengths of this workforce.

Q: As the Davidson Companies grows and approach the 1,000-employee mark, is it difficult to maintain the personal culture which is such a big source of pride?

A: We think a lot about that and talk a lot about that. We are not so big that we can't continue to be the quality of organization that people have grown up with.

We share information on the financial operations of the company to all of our shareholder employees as if it was a public company. We have nearly 50 offices and I have promised to visit every office once per year. We've got 4 1/2 months to go and I've got 12 left to visit.

We asked our employees what we are doing right and doing wrong. More than 450 employees responded with a long list of things. We will have to make changes as we grow in size but we still think we can maintain these core values. But you still have to work at it.

We still give birthday cards and flowers to all the employees. More than anything, it's a statement that some remembered and cared. I think we all respond to that.

Originally published August 20, 2006

When this story was posted in August 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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