Concordia Magazine

Creating a Firm Foundation

By Sarah McCurdy Hinnenkamp

Through his time navigating the business and giving worlds, Steve Ough ’80 has found many ways to be an example – how he conducts business, how he treats employees and what he does with the money he makes.

“It’s something you should do. I think the concept of going to church and putting some dollars in the plate – it certainly doesn’t do much for me,” Ough says. “It’s not really actively living out what you say you believe.”

Ough is an entrepreneur who has surfed the ups and downs of a variety of businesses and eventually decided he wanted to be his own boss. Fresh out of Concordia, Ough first worked with computers in a large company and then a small company. He decided he liked the culture of small companies a bit better.

The idea of doing something on his own had been swirling in his head when he started Paranet, a networking services company that handled design, installation and managing computer networks for companies. All along, his plan was to grow the company to just the right size and then sell it.

Ough says he was fortunate, having started Paranet in 1990 and selling it to Sprint just seven years later.

“It was good timing,” he says. “It was a good time to sell, and we got a good price for the company.” 

With profits from the sale, Ough and his wife founded the Cora Foundation. The private family foundation funds Christian organizations and ministries. It receives about 450 grant applications each year and awards about 10 grants annually, most in the $10,000-$20,000 range. To date, the Cora Foundation has awarded grants in excess of $3.7 million.

 “I’ve always wanted to give back,” Ough says. “I’m a middle class kind of guy by heart – I don’t need a lot.”

While Ough has been generous with his money, he believes more in giving his time – saying that’s where the real impact occurs. Ough serves on the boards of Mars Hill Productions, a Texas-based video production company that produces Christian films, and Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC), a model for churches of different denominations to work together to serve those with needs in the community.

What draws Ough to Love INC is that it’s not about money, it’s about time. Ough explains the focus passionately: A volunteer spends as long as 45 minutes with an individual, gauging their needs and rallying other volunteers from various Love INC partner churches, each assisting with time and talents. The volunteers meet immediate needs, in addition to teaching money management, mentoring and instructing on job skills.

Serving with Love INC keeps Ough the busiest these days, as the nonprofit has undergone a complete restructuring in the last three years under his direction. But the restructuring plan will be finishing up in mid-2014 and Ough plans to phase out his involvement. He will still volunteer but not at the level at which he has been.

“I think we’re called to do that. We’re called to love the Lord and love our neighbor and I think that’s part of how you do that,” Ough says. “It’s just part of the great commission and great commandment – I don’t think there’s anything more profound than that.”

Even as he cuts back on his involvement with Love INC, Ough will not quit looking for needs to be met.

Ough is the type of entrepreneur who finds a niche that needs some attention and fills it by starting and nurturing a company. His passion is starting things and building solid foundations. Once the company is out of the development stage, Ough plugs in other talented business people to handle day-to-day operations. The company he most recently started and invests in is Foundant Technologies,
a Web-based avenue for submitting grant applications. The company started because of a need Ough identified and filled on his own, though now there are other products also in the marketplace.

Today, Ough and his wife of nearly 34 years, Linda, split their time between Montana and Texas. They enjoy the hiking, fishing and skiing that Bozeman provides; when they get tired of the cold, they escape to Texas.

Whether you have a business or not, Ough says we are all called to give back.

“I think everybody should be doing something,” Ough says. “If you want to live out your faith, how do you do that?” 

Photo: Submitted
McCurdy Hinnenkamp ’03 is a writer based in Fargo, N.D.

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