Ingram's March 2023

Anna Bjerken Oread Rx, Dodge City

Nathan Berg Berg Reinvigorations, Independence

Anna Bjerken, a native of Leoti in far western Kansas, graduated from Dodge City High School and Dodge City Community College, then earned a degree in medical diagnostic imaging from Fort Hays State University, then an MBA from Colorado Tech to boot. In a very real sense, she’s the poster

Working in the oil sector was tough duty, but it didn’t kill him. Neither did a brain tumor. But after living through both, Nathan Berg charted a new course in life. He teamed with his wife to launch Berg Reinvigorations, a sawmill and dry kilning service now based in Independence. That corner of Montgomery

child for what Kansas’ leadership has been pushing with efforts to stop the brain drain of young, highly educated workers who too often end up taking their skills to pursue careers out of state. So it was only natural that she would start her career in … Alaska? True enough. But just a couple of years later, she brought her skills in medical administration back home, working with different health-care providers in Dodge City. Then came a pivot in 2019 to promote business growth and development as president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce there. For the next 3½ years, she worked to bolster economic development and tourism in a city of nearly 28,000. Last fall, her background in medical administration produced the most recent turn of career events when Bjerken joined Oread Rx as director of operations. That’s a perfect use of her skill set, working in a key economic sector that is rife with disruption. Oread Rx is part of that disruption, offering pharmacy benefits services while working with plan sponsors, payers, patients, and pharmacies.

County in southeast Kansas may seem an unlikely place to be turning out specialty timbers from, say, Pacific-grade Douglas Fir, but Berg is making it work, and with an increasingly influential clientele: the owner of the Colorado Rockies ordered up a custom staircase, and Mar-a-Lago Bay Club in Florida has one of Berg’s custom walnut credenzas. Looking for something bigger? Try the city park bridge that had to be delivered—by helicopter—to Bartlesville, Okla. Berg is a native of Independence and a petroleum engineer by training, having earned a degree in it from KU. But after nearly a decade trying to meet the demands of traveling from rig to rig around the country, then surviving a major health scare, he changed directions. “My wife said, ‘What do you want to do?’” he says, and that got him thinking. “My woodshop teacher in high school, who was a Green Beret, was one of my favorites,” Berg says. “He really instilled in me the value of quality woodworking.” He also drew on family experience with his father’s home-building career. The company launched in Oklahoma, but family considerations called him back to Independence, and Montgomery County was there with business incentives and grants to help turn an idled oil-services company site into a mill.

Seth Carter Colby Community College, Colby Calling it one of the “last pure professions,” education still gives great purpose to Seth Carter’s life. Serving as president of Colby Community College, he said, has allowed him to positively impact the lives of others—crafting policies and

Tim Carty EMP Shield, Waverly

Just another case of necessity being the mother of invention: Tim Carty was a ham radio operator as part of the Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System when he discovered he needed electromagnetic pulse protection for his equipment. When he couldn’t find anything to fit his needs, he designed

his own. Soon, others requested the same kind of protection, leading him to start EMP Shield, a technology that can defend your house, business, and even an entire electric grid from a high-altitude EMP threat. Now with 31 issued patents—including seven for EMP protection for the national electric grid and critical infrastructure—he’s ready to take the company even further, with plans to locate a computer chip manufacturing facility in the Coffey County town of Burlington. Producing thousands of chips per week, the $1.9 billion project should create more than 1,200 jobs for the region—quite the accomplishment, he said, from where they started. “Being a hillbilly from Tennessee and not having a track record with EMP protection, we had to work extra hard to prove our worth in the industry,” he says. “We test- ed our products at the very best labs that could certify our products to the military standards. Our test results exceeded the testing standards.” Carty first moved to Kansas in 1994 and has been living in Coffey County since 1996. “We have found the best workers in our rural community,” he said. “They work hard, are very dependable, and do high-quality work.”

educational outcomes to effect change for students and the community. While not a native Kansan, he’s lived in the state for more than 30 years and now feels at home in Colby— “such a special place, he says”—as he steers CCC to be a true economic driver in the region, providing employment, cultural, sports, and educational opportunities. “Colby is a community where individuals are valued, and people are embraced for who they are,” he said. “It is a familial-like environment where there is a genuine concern for community and improving the lives of others. I believe this is evident in local businesses, and it permeates throughout the community, which makes for an outstanding quality of life.” Now with more than 1,900 students, the college is flourishing under Carter’s leadership, recently ranking first in the Best Associate Degrees in Kansas report and achieving the highest graduation rate of all Kansas community colleges last year. “This is what drew my family and me to Colby Community College,” he says, “because we wanted to be part of something much larger than ourselves.”

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