Bodnar's former chief of staff departs University of Montana to join his campaign

A former top aide to former University of Montana president Seth Bodnar has left her high-level job on campus to join his U.S. Senate campaign.

Kelly Webster was the chief of staff for Bodnar at UM for about six years. In 2022, she also gained the title of associate vice president for strategic planning and implementation. Then, in 2025 she gained a third title, that of vice president for strategy and community relations. All three titles were held simultaneously.

Her last day at the university was April 2. As of July 2023, a university document showed that she was making about $140,000 a year.

Webster is now working as director of operations for Bodnar's political operation, a campaign spokesperson said.

Bodnar stepped down from his role at UM in January and in March officially filed to run for U.S. Senate as an independent candidate, to try to fill the seat being vacated by Steve Daines.

UM didn't have a chief of staff position until Bodnar specifically created the job in the spring of 2018 and Webster was the applicant that was hired. Before that, there was an "assistant to the president" role that was held by Rebecca Power, who left the job to attend graduate school.

Prior to being promoted, Webster was the director of the Writing and Public Speaking Center at UM.

Webster spoke to the media back then.

“Chief of staff is someone who should serve the entire institution by helping the president use his time wisely and acting as a bridge to the rest of the campus and the community,” Webster told the Montana Kaimin newspaper in 2018. “I see this as another new kind of avenue to have that kind of positive impact and to amplify President Bodnar’s ability to listen to students.”

The Missoulian reported in 2018 that the chief of staff position was advertised with a salary of $75,000 that year.

Webster has been a public face for UM many times. In 2022, she was a speaker alongside late mayor John Engen at the "State of the Community" presentation hosted by the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce.

When Bodnar posted his resignation on LinkedIn, Webster linked to it with her own post:

"Real progress isn’t magic," Webster wrote. "Loads of gratitude for a guy who couples a willingness to get proximate to the people he serves with inspired vision. It was a gift to partner with someone whose optimism lives side-by-side with relentless effort."

In the first four weeks of Bodnar's campaign, he's raised a little over $1.38 million. In a press release, his campaign noted that's more than the total of any independent candidate in Montana history.

The Federal Elections Commission report on fundraising for all candidates will be released next week.

The Missoulian asked Bodnar's campaign whether Webster was recruited or was one of a number of candidates who applied for an open job. The campaign did not provide a response to that question.

The Missoulian also asked if the fundraising haul thus far has allowed Bodnar to significantly expand the campaign's staff.

A spokesperson for Bodnar's campaign, Roy Loewenstein, provided this response:

“In its first five weeks, Seth’s campaign to be Montana’s independent voice in the Senate has received overwhelming support from every corner of the state," the statement said. "Because of that support, we are building a campaign that is going to work relentlessly to earn the vote of Montanans of all political stripes, that won’t answer to national party bosses or DC insiders, and that will always put Montana first.”

Dave Kuntz, a spokesperson at UM, said the next president will decide whether to fill Webster's old roles and what the responsibilities will be.