Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte joins Ex-Guard for Kalispell ribbon-cutting

“We needed access to the West Coast and Canadian markets, and Montana was a very attractive place to move part of our company to expand the business,” Ex-Guard manager Ryan Holt told the Daily Montanan. 

Holt said the reception from the local government, as well as Montana’s overarching focus on reducing governmental barriers in business and continual reductions in income taxes, made the state an appealing place to set up shop. 

The Ex-Guard facility is located at the Glacier Rail Park, a 44-acre property that has been a decade-long focus of Kalispell’s core area redevelopment project. The company purchased its lot in 2025, and Holt said they bought an adjacent lot this spring for future expansion. 

Ex-Guard’s high-tensile steel grille guards are “built to take the hit, keep trucks moving, and reduce downtime,” according to the company. Ex-Guard’s website is rife with testimonials from truck drivers that hit animals on the highway, but came away with vehicles intact. 

Montana is one of the leading states when it comes to wildlife collisions on the roadways, according to the state Department of Transportation. More than 6,000 carcasses are collected by maintenance crews from the state’s roadways annually, and the Highway Patrol responds to more than 3,200 wildlife-related collisions each year. 

The event was the latest in a series of high-profile business openings Gianforte has attended in recent months. 

“This investment means more investment in our communities and opportunities for Montanans across the state, especially right here in the Flathead,” Gianforte said in prepared remarks. “I often say Montana is open for business, and my job with the government … is to stay out of your way so that you can do your business and prosper.”

Gianforte was a businessman before he became a politician and often refers to himself as Montana’s CEO. A priority of his tenure in office has been bolstering the state’s business-friendly environment. 

“If you want jobs, you need employers, and government doesn’t create jobs,” Gianforte told the Daily Montanan. “We have employees, and they do very important work, but they don’t grow the economy. We need private sector businesses like Ex-Guard in our communities to provide livelihoods.”

Gianforte pointed out that the new facility — which will have around 40 employees at full capacity — also created jobs in construction and landscaping, which are key parts of a growing economy. 

The Governor’s Office in recent weeks has announced Montana is among the top five states with the fastest-growing economies, and that the state ranks second in annual hourly wage growth.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2024 to 2025, the average hourly wage in Montana increased 4.7%, to $29.27.

“Because of our policies, basically letting people keep more of what they earn, getting rid of excessive regulations, we’re one of only two states where wage growth has actually exceeded inflation over the last five years,” Gianforte said.

The increase in wages isn’t enough to make up for high housing prices in Montana, especially in areas like the Flathead Valley and Bozeman, but Gianforte said he’s working on bringing down the cost of housing too.

He said his administration has cut regulations on new buildings, which account for a high portion of the cost of housing.

“You want wages to go up faster than inflation, but I don’t want to minimize at all the affordability issues,” Gianforte said.