Steve Held is the founder of Last Best Voice, a platform rooted in the belief that leadership should be guided by empathy, humility, and a commitment to listening—especially in a time when so many feel unheard.

Born and raised in Broadus, Montana, Steve is a fourth-generation rancher and small business owner who grew up helping run his family’s motels and working livestock across the Powder River Basin. His deep respect for the land and the people who live close to it has shaped a life defined by service, hard work, and a desire to bring people together across difference.

Before returning home in 2005, Steve made a living as a professional actor in Hollywood and served on the National Board of Directors for the Screen Actors Guild. A trained storyteller with a pilot’s license and a deep Montana drawl, he’s also a certified scuba diver, CDL driver, and—more than once—he’s jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

Steve now leads several family businesses in Broadus, including the Buckskin Inn, Quarter Horse Motor Inn, C-J Motel, and Twin Hearts Smiling Horses ranch. He also works to amplify community voices and advance local leadership through Last Best Voice — an effort to reconnect people with one another and the places they love through honest conversation, shared stories, and a sense of purpose.

He’s the proud father of twins. His daughter, Rikki, is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Kenya and was one of the youth plaintiffs in Held v. Montana, a case that made national headlines defending the constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. His son, Jaeger, is a military historian working with the U.S. Department of the Interior. His late mother, Jean Hough, was honored as Woman of the Year by the Montana United Church of Christ, and his father, Cap Hough, served as mayor of Broadus.

Steve has visited all 50 states, but Montana remains his compass. His work is guided by a belief in community over partisanship, in rolling up your sleeves before raising your voice, and in the idea that real progress comes when we talk less about sides—and more about solutions. Through Last Best Voice, he’s helping create space for those conversations to take root.