Tommy Ahlquist

John Thomas Ahlquist III (born January 25, 1968) is an American businessman, commercial real-estate developer, and retired physician from Idaho.

He is the CEO of the development firm, Ball Ventures Ahlquist (BVA) and founder and medical director of MN Solutions.

Prior to that, he was the COO of the Gardner Company where he helped develop projects like the Eighth & Main building and City Center Plaza in downtown Boise.

Ahlquist was born on January 25, 1968, in Hunter, Utah, (now West Valley City, Utah) and grew up on a small family farm.

Both of Ahlquist's grandfathers worked for Kennecott Copper.

His father, Tom, worked as a journeyman electrician when he was young and later as a construction manager for large commercial projects.

His mother, Sandra, has owned her own preschool for nearly forty years.

At the age of thirteen, Ahlquist earned his Eagle Scout Award, and then drew national attention by becoming one of only a few Scouts in the history of the Boy Scouts of America program to earn all 121 merit badges.

Ahlquist was honored with a commendation from then-Utah Governor, Scott M. Matheson.

Ahlquist attended Cyprus High School in Magna, Utah where he participated in athletics and student government.

He earned several awards for academic excellence and leadership and graduated in 1986.

After high school, Ahlquist moved to Rexburg, Idaho to attend Ricks College (now Brigham Young University–Idaho) where he played basketball and studied pre-med.

After a year at Ricks College, he left to serve as an LDS missionary in Brazil.

Upon his return in 1989, he enrolled in the University of Utah, where he managed the Pediatric Intensive Care Research Laboratory at the university while attending school.

He graduated from the University of Utah with a BA degree in biology and a minor in chemistry in 1992.

Ahlquist continued to study medicine at the University of Utah, graduating as a Doctor of Medicine in 1996.

Ahlquist completed an emergency medicine residency at the University of Arizona in 1999.

While there, he served as the chief resident and earned the award for Resident of the Year.

He is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.

After residency, Ahlquist began working as an attending physician in Boise, Idaho for St. Luke's Health System and has worked in emergency rooms across the state of Idaho for over 15 years.

He was the head of the Emergency Department at St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center in Meridian, Idaho and worked the night shift there for six years.

In 2001, Ahlquist co-founded a public access defibrillator service company called Stat Pads.

The company sells defibrillators and offers training to medical personnel.

In his role as a developer, Ahlquist has also helped build numerous health care-related facilities in and around Boise, including The Portico and Unity Health Center in Meridian and several ongoing projects with the Saltzer Health, a Nampa-based health system.

In 2005 and 2006, Ahlquist convinced 18 residents to sell their properties on the land that would become The Portico.

Multiple joint venture projects followed in the Treasure Valley area including St. Luke's Medical Plaza in Nampa and Eagle Island Crossing in Eagle.

In 2006, Ahlquist founded Ahlquist Development and began developing commercial real estate.

After developing several smaller buildings, Ahlquist Development partnered with Gardner Company.

Their first major joint development was The Portico at Meridian, a 7-building, 328,000 square-foot, mixed-use project in Meridian, Idaho.

In 2010, Ahlquist Development merged with Gardner Company and the new entity retained the Gardner Company name.

Ahlquist became COO of the company at the time of the merger.

One of the most prominent projects Ahlquist worked on as COO of the Gardner Company was the property on Eighth & Main in Boise.

Known colloquially as the "Boise Hole" because it had sat vacant for 25 years, the property was purchased by the Gardner Company in July 2011.

Ahlquist retired from full-time work as an emergency room physician in 2014.

He was a candidate for the Republican Party nomination for Governor of Idaho in the 2018 Idaho gubernatorial election.

Ahlquist acquired Saltzer Health through his Ball Ventures Ahlquist (BVA) development company in January 2019.

In 2019 started PIVOT Health, a primary care clinic targeting wellness and healthy lifestyle changes.

In response to pandemic, Ahlquist founded CTCI to assist Idahoans with COVID Testing and vaccinations.

Ahlquist Sold Saltzer Health to Intermountain Health on October 1, 2020.

Ahlquist founded MN in 2020.