"Bees themselves aren't scary, but when they’re crawling on your hands, yeah, you should be a little scared.” 

Laef Olson ’90 and his wife Anne ’89 live in Bozeman, Montana, with their four children, on a plateau with running streams and 100 acres of alfalfa. On top of being a beautiful place to live, the Olson home is isolated enough for American honeybee colonies to thrive.

“I’m a hobbyist, and beekeeping is something fun to do,” Laef says. “Originally, I had no idea what I was doing, but the bees basically care for themselves. They are so under attack from viruses and pest control across the country, but up here, the conditions prevent these devastations.”

When he dons business attire in lieu of a beekeeping suit, Laef serves as the senior vice president of Oracle Cloud Operations, a company that provides technical support to clients and handles 30 billion transactions a day.

While Laef finds the mechanics of the technology field fascinating, his role focuses on Oracle’s employees. His average day consists of phone calls and meetings related to mentoring and team building. He sees his daily challenge as “how to scale a growing organization to remain effective.”

In addition to his day job, Laef volunteers in a variety of ministries, pilots small aircraft, and is a member of the music worship team at Trinity Church in Bozeman, where he and his wife are very active.

Beekeeping is a small part of the family’s lives, but they have found it to be an escape and a reminder of God’s handiwork. Laef says, “Seeing God’s perfection even in how they lay down combs makes it worthwhile.”