Downtown Missoula Partnership Board of Directors

Charlie Beaton is the founder and CEO of Big Dipper Ice Cream, established in 1995 on Missoula’s Hip Strip. Since its founding, Big Dipper has grown into a widely recognized Montana brand, with multiple retail locations, university kiosks, a mobile truck, and franchises in Helena, Billings, and Great Falls. The company also supplies ice cream to Yellowstone, Glacier, and Death Valley National Parks. A Helena native, Beaton holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Montana. He serves as president of the Missoula Downtown Business Improvement District and is a board member of both the Downtown Missoula Partnership and the Missoula Economic Partnership. Charlie, along with his wife Barbie, has two daughters, both graduates of Gonzaga University in Spokane.

For over 15 years, Libby worked in academia, giving her extensive experience in creating engaging professional development, program development and management, public speaking training, personnel supervision and evaluation, branding and promoting new programs, event organization, solution orientated problem solving and building efficient and effective teams. As a senior consultant with Cascadia Business Development, she reviews, designs and facilitates change management initiatives to create lean, conscious growth through operational and team excellence.  Building organizational capacity helps businesses take the right actions, at the right time for the right reasons. In addition to her commitment to organizational capacity development and design, as well as professional development training, Libby actively volunteers for numerous local non-profit organizations, including the Missoula Downtown Foundation, and is also a member of Leadership Missoula 34.

A native of Billings, Mont., Ashley Larkin started working at First Montana Bank in 2011 and is currently AVP Commercial Loan Officer. She earned a B.S. in Business Finance from the University of Montana and more recently completed the Pacific Coast Banking School program.

Larkin joined the board in 2018 and served as board president in 2021 and has served as a volunteer for Downtown event and committees for several years.  In addition to the MDA, Larkin serves on the Jadyn Fred Foundation and Missoula Chamber Red Coats.

Christine Littig joined the Missoula Downtown Foundation board of directors in April 2018 and served as its chair in 2022.  But her commitment to downtown Missoula began in 1993 when in 1997 she served as president of the Missoula Downtown Association. Littig has a history of successful business ownership having spent 25 years working in the food service industry as a manager, chef-owner, and owner of Missoulaʼs Old Post Pub, RedBird, and Berniceʼs Bakery respectively.  Currently, Littig is the Business Development Director at the Missoula Economic Partnership; a position working in partnership with Missoula’s Business Improvement District to continue outreach, innovation, and resource for businesses in Missoula County seeking new opportunities while evaluating what works and what doesn’t.