Two organizations, based in Steinbach, have joined forces in an effort to build a better community.

Golden West has announced the acquisition of Summit Organizational Development, a local provider of strategy, human resource and leadership team development solutions.

Carter Friesen is Chief Operating Officer for Golden West. He says by helping local businesses grow through a move like this, Golden West can better serve its communities by continuing to fuel business and improve services to its audience, local organizations and charities.

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Golden West COO Carter FriesenFriesen says purchasing Summit will strengthen their ability to provide solutions for businesses in Canadian communities.

"Our missions are aligned," says Friesen. "We've just been so pleased and impressed with the amazing work that the team at Summit has done."

Summit has been successfully offering strategy, leadership development and team development solutions to clients throughout Manitoba and beyond for many years within a wide range of industries. Their clients include small businesses, multi-million-dollar private companies, government, non-profits, financial services and post-secondary institutions.

"We've worked with Summit a lot over the last number of years," adds Friesen. "They've helped us with our strategy. They've helped us with leadership development."

"Summit's solutions have a proven track record to enhance the capacity of leaders and business owners and enable teams to be more productive, which leads to stronger business results," says Steph Wiens, President of Summit. "Together with Golden West, we will be able to offer customers holistic local solutions through one company and one virtual dashboard, so business owners can focus on their business, not vendors."

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Summit President Steph WiensWiens will continue to oversee the group as a part of Golden West's executive team, while Jody Milburn becomes General Manager for Summit. Summit and its employees will continue to operate normally as both groups determine how to expand Summit's product offering across communities that Golden West serves.

Golden West operates 75 radio and digital media brands across locations in 23 Western Canadian communities. As Canada's premier private local media company, Golden West connects local people, businesses, and organizations. Golden West also operates Homefield, a full-stack marketing services division. Golden West and its subsidiaries are based in Steinbach and Altona.

"We thought that some of the services and products that Steph's team provides at Summit would be a perfect fit as we look to continue to grow across the prairies and the centres that Golden West serves," says Friesen.