Rooted in Agriculture
Wheat Wind Farms (WWF) was founded in 1940 by my grandparents Carl and Marie Norgaard. The original homestead was located approximately 22 miles south of Flaxville, Montana in the northeastern corner of the State. This property is still owned by our family today. Carl immigrated from Denmark in 1923 and was later married to Marie in 1930. Ironically, Carl was sponsored to America by Marie’s family even though the two would not meet until many years after Carl arrived in America. Marie’s family immigrated to Montana in the early 1900s to become dry land grain farmers.
After arriving in the US and working many hard labor jobs, including being a hired hand on several farms in Montana, Carl realized that being a farmer was his calling.
Carl purchased the original homestead after the great depression and during WWII, when grain prices were high and there were “bumper” crops. This allowed him to expand WWF, at one point farming over 10,000 acres. This was a HUGE operation in the 1950s and 1960s. The Norgaard’s were entrepreneurs, always looking to grow and expand.
This same region of Montana, 100 years later, is full of modern-day entrepreneurs, chasing the riches of the Bakken oil rush.
Raising
Crops and
a Family
As Carl and Marie’s second youngest grandson, the lessons I learned on the farm burn inside me to this day. Our family lived by simple values. These values were always on full display on the farm. Kindness, hard work, community, honesty, and curiosity. Little did I know that these values would help shape both my work life and my personal life.
Not only did Carl and Marie raise great wheat crops, they also raised two great children and helped raise seven grandchildren. In addition, they managed to travel the world during the LONG Montana winters.
Stories Take Root
My bio is below. What you will see is many, many leadership positions in businesses that have spanned the globe. I have had the opportunity to live in Latin America, the Middle East and have traveled extensively elsewhere including Asia and Europe.
I am convinced that my love for travel is rooted in my grandparents telling me stories about places they visited far, far away from Montana. Travel has been a gift.
So, what is Wheat Wind Farms? We invest in the future.
I guess you could say, we’ve been doing this for over a century. It seems to me some things are timeless.
About Our
CEO
Craig is a seasoned entrepreneur with a 30-year track record of building successful businesses with strong leadership teams. Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 in the Houston and Gulf Coast Area, he was inducted into the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame that same year.
Most recently Craig co-founded Local Bounti, a sustainable agriculture business with a vision to bring Non-GMO, longer-lasting, delicious leafy greens to local consumers. The company went public under the stock ticker LOCL through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Leo Holdings III Corp. in a transaction that valued the company at $1.1 billion. Craig currently serves as Co-CEO at Local Bounti with his co-founder Travis Joyner.
Previously, Craig served as Managing Partner and Co-Founder at BrightMark Partners, a growth equity and management firm providing capital and resources to venture, growth phase and middle market businesses. He was President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of TAS Energy – the leading provider of high efficiency and modular cooling and energy systems for the data center, commercial, industrial and power generation markets. During Craig’s leadership at TAS, the company shipped more than 2,000 modules to over 30 countries worldwide. TAS was sold to publicly traded Comfort Systems (FIX) in April of 2020.
Current Chairman of the Board at Clearas Water Recovery – which uses patented, sustainable and proprietary technology to solve high nutrient municipal and industrial wastewater challenges – Craig has also held leadership roles at GE, North American Energy Services, Pratt & Whitney P2 Energy Power Systems, and PIC Energy Group.
As General Manager of Global Sales for GE’s Contractual Services (GECS), he was integral in expanding the business from a “start-up” to more than $7 billion in backlog in just 24 months. Leading the team that pioneered the LTSA (long term service agreements) product line for GE’s gas turbine technology, he grew the global sales team from 15 to more than 150 employees.
Craig has also sat on over 15 company Boards, including: Prostar Geocorp, a leader in geospatial intelligence technology in the energy and transportation markets; ATR SmartProcedures, a pioneer in SaaS cloud-based digital transformation; and Loenbro, Inc., a diversified energy services and construction company. He earned a BS in Finance from San Diego State University and an MBA from California State University – Long Beach.
