Minot, North Dakota may not seem like a huge city, but its population of 50,000 (est.) makes up six percent of the state that Borgi Beeler, MBA’06, calls home. And it was there that she found her calling. Beginning her internship at Kalix the same week that she graduated with her BS in 1985 from Minot State University, little did she know she would one day become President/CEO or how much she would affect others’ lives.

Beeler chose the Naveen Jindal School of Management at The University of Texas at Dallas for her Executive MBA with a concentration in information management, receiving her degree in 2006.

“It was completely online and allowed me that flexibility I needed while working at Kalix,” said Beeler, who also served as an adjunct professor at Minot State University from 2008 to 2011, teaching the online classes Elements of Accounting and Managerial Accounting. “I learned a lot and it was fun. I got to know a lot of the other students, even though it was online, and I felt supported by the university. Just as one standout, I got a great deal out of an organizational behavior class I took. I also found the school having a good emphasis on projects was both challenging and helpful. I chose the school not just because I could do it online, but because of its competitive admissions criteria, technical emphasis and affordability.”

Completing a master’s degree was a requirement of the position, and Beeler landed the role of President and CEO in 2007.

Kalix provides support services to adults who have cognitive and/or physical disabilities, Beeler said.

“We help set people up in living situations,” she said. “It’s everything from group homes to serving people who live mostly independently where it’s not our location, and our staff will go to their home on an intermittent basis.”

Kalix offers employment opportunities with their organization and assists with job placements outside the organization.

I chose the school not just because I could do it online, but because of its competitive admissions criteria, technical emphasis and affordability. – Borgi Beeler

“As just two examples, we have a person we placed at a UPS Store and another who is a custodian in a bank and it’s now where he goes in and cleans by himself,” said Beeler, who also held the roles of staff accountant, controller and chief financial officer at Kalix. “We have a team of employment consultants who look for businesses who are interested in partnering with us. We do a lot of job carving. It could be a situation where they have a specific job that has 20 different tasks and we have someone who is well-suited for five of them. It may lead to creating a job with limited hours where they come into work to do those five tasks of the job and we work with the business as far as how to set that up.”

Despite challenges over the years, including a catastrophic flood that took out some of the town, including Kalix’s headquarters, Beeler pushed on. “My job is a great mix of having a focus on people and analyzing information,” she said. “Being Being able to see the results of my work, where people’s lives are improving, where I see everyone working together in this way, it’s a very gratifying way to make a living.”