Meant For This: A Heart for Service Leads Clarence Sitter from Mary to Medora to Lead the Theodore Roosevelt Foundation

A Heart for Service Leads Clarence Sitter from Mary to Medora to Lead the Theodore Roosevelt Foundation

Clarence Sitter, ’01, ’03, is a familiar face at the Medora Musical, bussing trays at the Pitchfork Fondue, serving popcorn and running the till, even parking cars. He shows up three or four times a week, conversing with guests and greeting employees and volunteers by name. 

Sitter’s love for Medora and his 13 years’ experience as the chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation (TRMF) have led him to the well-deserved honor and responsibility of his new role as the chief executive officer. In this position, as he has everywhere, Sitter treasures the Benedictine values that have come to characterize his work.

"I think God created this place to be shared."

FAMILY TIES

It’s no accident that Sitter ended up at Mary — or Medora. His mom attended Mary College and was good friends with Sister Thomas Welder and Sister Janet Zander, so he grew up seeing them at family functions. When it came time for college, the choice was clear. 

“There was a sense of community, a sense of God telling me, ‘Hey, this is where you should go,’” he said. 

Sitter majored in accounting and was invited to join the inaugural Harold Schafer Leadership Program, which introduced him to TRMF founders Harold and Sheila Schafer, former governor Ed Schafer, and now-retired CEO Randy Hatzenbuhler. He completed his bachelor’s in accounting and earned his master’s degree in business administration before joining Eide Bailly for more than a decade. 

Providentially, he wound up consulting for TRMF, and Hatzenbuhler approached him with an intriguing offer: move to Medora to become the foundation’s chief financial officer.

Sitter had fond memories of visiting his grandparents in Dickinson. They would go out to hike through the Painted Canyon and wander the streets of Medora to the ice cream shop, where his grandfather would always make sure to scoop up a maple nut ice cream cone. He and his wife Jennifer prayed about the opportunity and decided to leave Fargo to raise their children in a small town — “there can’t be a better place than Medora to do that.”

FULLY INVESTED

Of course, they didn’t just move to Medora. They immersed themselves in the community: Jennifer teaches for Billings County School District, Clarence serves on the city council and the local chamber of commerce, and the family helps take care of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, ensuring that Mass is available for all who live or vacation in Medora.

Sitter credits his predecessors, Schafer, Hatzenbuhler, and Rod Tjaden, for the culture of servant leadership that pervades the foundation, and TRMF board chair Levi Andrist is confident their new leader will continue the tradition.

“Clarence had that ethos from the beginning,” said Andrist. “The Benedictine values are so complementary to what we do in Medora to welcome, educate, and entertain the traveling public in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.”

THE LEGACY CONTINUES

Sitter will need everything he’s gained — values, education, and experience — to shepherd the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation as Medora undergoes remarkable transformation, including $60 million in facilities expansions in the next few years.

The foundation announced Sitter as CEO last spring at the University of Mary’s Harold Schafer Leadership Center — a full-circle moment that brought him back to the campus he loves.

“The alignment that we’ve had between these two organizations [Mary and TRMF] over the years — to continue that relationship and have that special moment meant the world to me,” he said.

“I’m just a small-town North Dakota kid that gets to do something really cool for one of the crown jewels in our state, preserving Medora for all the generations that have been here and all the generations that are going to come…I think God created this place to be shared.”