Board Members
Todd Kaiser, President
Todd Kaiser is a fourth generation Montanan, born and raised in Great Falls, Montana. He attended MSU and graduated in 1981. He then worked in Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Arizona, and Georgia. He returned to Montana in 2000 to work as a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He initially volunteered as a firefighter at Fort Ellis Fire/Rescue, but as his family grew, he moved to the Board and has been the Chair of the Board for 10+ years.
Norbert Hackl, vICE pRESIDENT
Norbert Hackl was born and raised in Vienna, Austria and has lived in Gallatin County since 1990. Norbert met Kim, his wife, on a ski lift at Big Sky in 1992. He attended college at the University of Vienna and Montana State University, studying Environmental and Civil Engineering. He is a Professional Land Surveyor and has been a small business owner of Alpine Surveying & Engineering, Inc. since 2002. He is actively involved in his professional organization, the Montana Association of Registered Land Surveyors (MARLS). Norbert is a public member of the Gallatin County Planning & Zoning Commission. He has lived with his wife on Trail Creek Road in the Fort Ellis Fire District since 1996 and has been a Board member at the Fire District since 2010.
Email: nkhackl@gmail.com
Phone: 1-406-539-0049
Gerald Groggel, Secretary - Treasurer
Gerald C. Groggel, MD, is board certified in internal medicine and nephrology and a graduate of Wayne State University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and nephrology fellowships at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Boston University School of Medicine.
Prior to moving to Bozeman, Gerald was on the faculty at the University of Utah for six years, the University of Vermont for five years and the University of Nebraska for 15 years. At the University of Nebraska Medical Center, he was chief of nephrology and professor of medicine. Gerald joined the Board in 2020.
Graham Goff
Graham Goff is a registered Architect who has lived and worked in the Fort Ellis Fire Service Area since 1998. After graduating from Montana State University, Graham founded Goff Architecture and Construction, Inc., a design firm focusing mainly on residential projects in and around Bozeman.
Prior to joining the Board in 2022, Graham spent eight years volunteer firefighter for Fort Ellis.
With 25+ years of architecture and construction experience, he is looking forward to assisting the department as they work towards constructing a new fire station.
Dan LaFrance
Dan LaFrance is Fort Ellis’ most recent addition to the Board of Directors, but the fire department is not new to him. Dan served as a volunteer firefighter from the fall of 2006 until the fall of 2010, with his last two years as interim chief.
Dan was born and grew up in Bridger, Montana, attended Montana State University, graduating in 1994 in landscape design, and has lived in Bozeman for 40 years, moving into the Fort Ellis Fire Service Area in 2005.
Dan is married to Kay, who works for MSU, and has one son, Ben, who works for the National Park Service.