Komberec All In

It’s hard to be more invested in training the workforce in Idaho’s five northern counties than Tim Komberec. As the chair of the governor-appointed Idaho Workforce Development Council and tri-chair of the campaign to raise funds for the North Idaho College Career and Technical Education Facility, Komberec is all in.

“It’s for my grandkids,” said Komberec, whose day job is CEO and president of Empire Airlines based in Hayden. “When they get bigger, I don’t want them to have to move out of the area. Whether they choose a technical career or want to become a nuclear engineer, I want them to have the option of staying here.”

The Workforce Development Council was established under the umbrella of the Idaho Department of Labor to provide strategic direction and oversight to the state’s workforce development system. The 26-member board oversees a budget with the foremost mission of creating jobs. A trained workforce is the “best tool” to attract business and manufacturing jobs, Komberec said, leading to exponential benefits.

“Training isn’t only for workers. It’s to help the economic vitality of the entire area,” he said.

Komberec pointed to Empire Airlines as an example of a local company utilizing a locally trained workforce.

“We hire people directly out of the Aerospace program and the career and technical programs at NIC,” Komberec said. “But all of the businesses in the area benefit either directly or indirectly.”

Komberec’s next big project is as the tri-chair of the campaign to complete NIC’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Facility, which is currently being built in Rathdrum with $15 million from college capital funds. The public phase of the Building the Future Campaign – raising $5 million through external funds – kicked off April 11. The 110,960-square-foot facility at 7064 W. Lancaster Road in Rathdrum (next to the Kootenai Technical Education Campus) will create a training center for several programs: Automotive Technology, Collision Repair Technology, Architectural and Mechanical Computer Aided Design Technology, Diesel Technology, Industrial Mechanical/Millwright, Machining and CNC Technology and Welding Technology. Classes at the new CTE Facility will be available this fall.

“To have a state-of-the-art facility under one roof right next to KTEC is really a dream businesses and manufacturers have had for several years,” Komberec said.

Current programs offered in various locations in facilities built 40 years ago do not meet industry standards and do not offer the necessary room for expansion. Over the next decade, the demand for the jobs requiring training in the programs to be housed in the facility will grow between 8 percent and 21 percent in North Idaho and Eastern Washington, according to a 2014 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Komberec believes they are laying the groundwork for the jobs of the future.

For him, it’s personal.

“It’s really going to mean something to the kids in this community for years to come – my grandchildren included,” he said.

To learn more about how you can support the Building the Future Campaign, contact the North Idaho College Foundation at 208.769.5978 or foundation@nic.edu or visit www.nic.edu/buildingthefuture.

Tom Greene is the communications coordinator for North Idaho College.

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