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Howard Dahl (MA ’77)

TEDS 2008 Alumnus of the Year

Amity Technology is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of sugar beet equipment in the world. Newspaper and magazine articles have been written about Howard Dahl, founder and CEO. He has received several awards for his business acumen and is frequently invited to speak to various groups, but if you only read the newspaper articles about him, you will miss a great deal about Howard Dahl’s success.

Howard was born in Gwinner, N.D., and graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1971 with a BS in Business Administration. Upon graduation, he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Georgia where he met and married his wife, Ann, in 1972. He and Ann then led the ministry at the University of Florida for three years.

During this time, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States was ongoing; Marxist philosophy and the mandate for atheism behind the Iron Curtain were obstacles to the gospel. Bill Bright was challenging people to find creative access roles via business or education into the Marxist world.

During the summer of 1974, Howard and Ann lived in Vienna and traveled into Hungary as part of a joint business venture through a company owned by Howard’s father. Howard began to realize how many doors could be opened through such efforts. That year, the Dahls also spent time with Bud Hinkson, an influential voice in the efforts to reach behind the Iron Curtain into Eastern Europe. Through these pivotal experiences, they were developing a deep interest in ministering within that area. However, the time had not yet come; Trinity Evangelical Divinity School was the next step.

Howard began his MA (Philosophy of Religion) with questions piled up from the years of campus evangelism and discipling college students. These two years at Trinity—time set aside to form solid theological and historical frameworks—later proved integral for the work Howard would be doing. He foresaw this, though he did not yet know the shape of things to come. Today, he recommends that others take the time for such formation, whether their goal is business, ministry, or elsewhere.

Business Success

After graduation Howard and his brother, Brian, started their own company called Concord, Inc., with the dream of developing a tractor for those in the developing world—an inexpensive machine that would plow furrows through poverty and famine. But after two years they determined the project was not feasible and shifted their attention to building planting and seeding equipment.

After a few tough years, their company began to grow; they became market leaders in pneumatic seeding by the ’90s. When they sold Concord in 1996, they retained the rights to certain product lines, including sugar beet harvesters, and Amity Technology was born.

Howard’s first sale to Russia occurred in 1991 after perestroika opened up the nation for trade. Through the next decade, amidst economic turmoil in Russia and the surrounding nations, he continued to grow his business there. Since 1991, Concord and then Amity have made more than $150 million in sales to this region; Amity is now a worldwide leader in sugar beet harvesting equipment. In 2005, Amity was named the Fargo Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year, and in 2006 it became the first North Dakota company to be named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Region VII Exporter of the Year.

In an interview with Inc. Magazine (April, 2007), Howard said, “The most gratifying thing about doing business over there, however, has been the reaction I have received from the people who work on these large farms. They offer me bear hugs and warm toasts over dinner, and tell me that seeding and tilling used to be the hardest part of their job and now it’s the easiest part thanks to my equipment. So my original motive, to make machinery that helps people climb out of poverty, has in a sense been fulfilled. That has been a great joy to me.”

Howard and Ann have been married for thirty-six years and have three children: Jonathan (MA ’07), thirty, married to Sarah with a daughter, Annabel, eighteen months; Stephanie, twenty-eight; and Andrew, twenty-four. They are grateful that their children are walking in the Lord and were impacted by mission trips as teenagers. Andrew just returned from six months in Australia and Indonesia. Howard and Ann are founding members of Salem Evangelical Free Church and are close friends with Trinity professor, Greg Scharf, their pastor for nineteen years.

A Christian Business?

How does Howard relate business to Christianity? For him, it begins with a worldview in which there is no sacred/secular dichotomy. All of life is sacred, so everything matters; God touches every aspect of our existence. This commitment can be seen in his approach to the dignity of all employees and the stewardship of personal and business resources. The typical division between blue- and white-collar employees has been minimized—all employees receive quarterly reports and other communications about the company. Amity regularly holds breakfasts and lunches for employees, regardless of their type of responsibility. Howard seeks to act out his faith in his actions toward all employees and speaks about it at appropriate times; through the years he has held Bible studies with those who are interested. He encourages a style of leading at Amity that integrates the wisdom of the Scriptures, and every year he invites business executives from other companies to a weekend retreat in order to ponder how they might live out their faith. Also, under the auspices of business, Howard has been able to give missionaries an identity within closed countries when no other option was available.

Cultural Engagement

Every year Howard reads a book on Russian history. Understanding the people with whom he does business is important, but it is more than that. Howard still senses a call to make an impact in Russia, not solely through farm equipment that has assisted, and will continue to assist, them economically. One aspect of this commitment is his work on the board of the Russian-American Christian University, the first Christian, liberal arts university in Moscow. Through this school, Howard hopes that liberal arts and Christian education come together to develop a new generation of Russian leaders.

Back in America, Howard engages American culture with the same resolve that there is no sacred/secular divide. Besides reading about the broader culture and those who are influencing it for Christ, Howard has served as President of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association and Foundation and served as chair of the North Dakota Arts Council.

Though not all success is quite so visible to others, many have seen the particular success that God’s grace and Howard’s commitment have brought about. Due to the public nature of his accomplishments, he has been invited to speak to various groups: evangelistic meetings, forums on corporate social justice, discussions on global, agricultural equipment issues, and classes on job creation through entrepreneurship. Howard lays out a strong case for the merits of capitalism, coordinated with the restrictions placed on a Christian within the capitalist framework.

Howard and Ann have been faithful supporters of Trinity through the years. Howard is a member of the Board of Regents and was cochair of the committee that studied the feasibility of the Capital Campaign currently underway. When asked why he supports Trinity, Howard said, “All of us have a stewardship responsibility to invest in places that will have significant kingdom impacts. We believe both the college and seminary are doing a wonderful job of training students in kingdom thinking with the idea of really making a difference. There is a sense of engaging the culture—we really like that ethos of Trinity.”

Howard once said that he does not fit neatly into either of his two worlds; not many business people want to discuss theology, and vice versa. But this unique combination has proven to be a powerful nexus for impacting the world for Christ.