Wayne Williams, the former president and CEO of Telect Inc., continues to combine his lifelong passions for faith, the outdoors, life coaching, and business advising. Now he's doing it all on a 700-acre stage in western Montana.

Williams, 60, and Terina Williams, his wife of 40 years, now own and operate Petty Creek Mountain Ranch, a remote working ranch and private guest retreat near Alberton, Montana, about 170 miles east of Spokane.

The Journal last interviewed Williams in 2020, when he was starting up a podcast titled "Grab Another Gear" that shared experiences of leadership, faith, and purpose. While Williams has conducted eight episodes of the podcast, he says he likely will resume the production from the ranch, where 500 acres are connected by 2.5-gigabyte Wi-Fi.

“If you came to Montana and visited the ranch, you would experience the essence of Wayne,” he says. “I’m high-tech and still work on coaching people’s lives.”

The idea for such a ranch first emerged over 25 years ago.

“While I was running Telect back in the 1990s, my wife and I had the vision that we wanted to help individual men and women, married couples, and executive teams in their lives,” he says.

The couple bought property north of Priest River, Idaho, and started to build a central lodge.

“The dot-com bust hit hard, and we just had to stop everything and sold it,” Williams says.

Williams stepped down from Telect, now Amphenol Network Solutions Inc., when the telecommunications-equipment manufacturing company founded by his parents, Bill and Judy, was acquired by Amphenol in 2017. Wayne and Terina's son, Spencer, is the current general manager at Amphenol.

After the acquisition, Wayne and Terina Williams began looking for another property that would be within a few hours' travel time for their children and grandkids and found the distressed Montana property, which had nearly a century of ranching history.

Then came the pandemic, which reinvigorated their earlier vision to create a place of retreat “to help people restore their lives and focus on their destiny,” he says.

With the help of close friends Kevin and Teresa Cook, they went about restoring structures on the site.

“As developers of this distressed property and ranch, it was a real gift not to have to build all these buildings,” he says.

The ranch currently has five restored luxury cabins of varying sizes that can accommodate a total of 17 couples or 34 individuals.

Petty Creek Mountain Ranch also currently has about 20 head of Scottish Highland cattle. The distinctive breed has a sturdy build, double coat of hair, and horns that can spread well over 3 feet from tip to tip.

“They’re a gentle, fun breed—and they taste good,” Williams says. “They have one-third the cholesterol of angus beef, but they still have good flavor, while being lean.”

Williams says the FDA-certified beef will be served during events at the ranch. “We will probably sell it to people who come to the ranch and to close family and friends,” he says.

With the potential future exception of an Airbnb or Vrbo listing for the next planned cabin, the lodging isn’t up for independent rental.

“The ranch isn’t a business,” Williams says. “The work we’re doing is where we’re feeling called to assist others in their growth."

For the personal and spiritual side, Williams, who is a member of the Elder Board at Valley Real Life Ministries, says he coaches couples and individuals to find meaning and purpose in their lives.

Many people are focused on outward appearances and not on their passion and destiny, he says, adding, “We’re focused on allowing you to stop, breathe, and work on your inner self."

For business coaching, Williams says he helps owners of family-run businesses with succession and transition planning.

He also works with entrepreneurs and advisers on preparing businesses for sale.

“Entrepreneurs and anyone leading an organization are in a lonely spot if they don’t have the protection of a team or group of people outside of their board to help keep them centered in a space that’s safe and confidential,” he says.

Williams says the ranch is now the couple’s primary home.

“We moved our residency to Montana a year ago,” he says. “We still have the place at Liberty Lake, but I’m up there 60% to 75% of the time."