A conversation with Heath Bechler

Heath Bechler is the new chief executive officer at Empac, a Wichita-based provider of employee assistance programs.

Bechler, 43, has forged a career working in social services, starting as a substance abuse counselor. For 10 years he owned a business that provided inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment services.

Through that business, King’s Treatment Center, Bechler became acquainted with Empac CEO Gordon Rogers, who retired earlier this year.

He said one day he realized it had been some time since he had last talked to Rogers. When he pulled up Empac’s website to get Rogers’ phone number, he saw news of Rogers pending retirement and that the organization was looking for a new CEO.

After a competitive interview process, Bechler was hired. He started at Empac Sept. 15.

“After looking at the profile (for the CEO requirements), I couldn’t deny it was right there in my skill set,” Bechler said. “I wasn’t looking for (the job). It literally found me.”

Bechler has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kansas Sate University, a master’s degree in Christian ministry from Friends University, and a master’s degree in business administration from Tabor College.

Tell me what Empac does and how many people it employs, as well as the scope of the companies it serves.

As a benefit to their employees, businesses contract with Empac to provide counseling, financial coaching, training, critical incident stress debriefing. (We are) providing employees with resources to where they can maintain the balance between work and their home life. We serve 165 different companies ranging from two employees to 10,000 (employees). There are just under 50,000 employees we cover. When HR (human resources) departments invest in the health and wellness of their employees, productivity, engagement, retention, all of those things improve.

What were you doing before Empac?

I was the COO (chief operating officer) of Carpenter Place, formerly the Maude Carpenter Children’s Home.

How long were you there?

Just under two years. Their CEO ended up taking a job in Colorado, so I became interim CEO.

What are some of your short- and long-term goals at Empac?

Definitely some of the short-term goals are to modernize our website, our social media marketing, shore up our core services, such as training, and make sure we have enough counselors that can do the work with with the addition of our new companies. Long term, I want Empac to be the premier provider of EAP (Employee Assistance Programs) services to all business in Kansas. Another one is to be competitive with other national EAPs.”

Talk a little about your business, King’s Treatment Center, which you sold to Preferred Family Healthcare in 2012. What did the business do?

It provided substance abuse treatment to adults and adolescents. We had inpatient treatment in Winfield, outpatient locations here in Wichita, and then youth homes in Goddard and Oberlin.

When did you start King’s?

2002. That was the longest job I ever had. Kind of hard not to stick with something you started, right?

Why did you start it?

Primarily because I saw there was a need to do things a little bit differently in the treatment field. To do that I needed to have the autonomy that a business owner enjoys.

Why did you sell King’s?

Preferred Family Healthcare had approached us probably three years prior to selling to them. I got to know their leadership, the quality of services they provide, their culture, and I knew it was the right fit very quickly. They were going to be able to take King’s Treatment Center to where I had envisioned it to be a lot quicker than I could do it on my own, and a lot better than I could do on my own. It’s difficult to deny a win-win situation like that.

What were you doing before you started King’s?

I had been a substance abuse counselor for Mirror Inc. in Hutchinson and (later) director of Options Youth Services.

What are some things that you learned as a small business owner?

Your people are the most valuable thing you’ve got going for you. A business owner can have a vision for what the business does and how the business does it, but they are completely reliant on people to carry it out – especially good people who aren’t just talented but invested in the work they’re doing for you. My gosh, there’s no more greater truth in business than that. The other thing I learned as a small business owner, know your numbers, especially us social services guys … those numbers can get away from you very quickly and they are very, very hard to get reeled back in.

What from that experience as a business owner can you apply to your new job at Empac?

Having a good understanding between the balance of human capital and economic capital, that you can’t be all one or all the other. There’s got to be a good balance struck. Empac speaks to that balance: work life and home life. We’ve got a great team here that understands that balance. That’s what they do for their careers.

What are the major differences between being a CEO of a company and being the owner of one?

The first thing I would probably say is having a board of directors. We don’t have a typical board of directors. Our board is made up of officers of companies we serve, our customers. That puts things in a different perspective. I’m much more careful with other people’s money. As a business owner you have things you want to try and that’s out of your own pocketbook. It’s your risk. With a board of directors, people are very interested in your decisions. You are the steward of an organization.

What is one thing most of your colleagues don’t know about you?

Before I graduated college at K-State, I was a private investigator. I did undercover investigations, employee theft investigations. Kansas City was my primary office location. Then I was promoted and transferred to head up the Denver office. I literally spent two, two-and-a-half weeks in Bozeman, Mont., doing information gathering for a gold mine. The client was a gold mine. Not figuratively (a gold mine). Literally, a gold mining company.

This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 1:12 PM with the headline "A conversation with Heath Bechler."