Kirk Beatty

Current Position:  
President and CEO

Company:
DATATECH Information Services, Inc.

What advice do you have for current Belk College students?
Pursue your graduate degree. Not only will you be well rewarded with the class experience and support from the professors, but the overall program and the UNC Charlotte experience is exceptional. 

What was the best part of your Belk College experience?
I really enjoyed the class interactions, the class material for the most part, the team projects, the location and the study abroad trips. I really wanted to soak up everything the MBA program had to offer. I continue to see my MBA professors at various events and they all welcome me as a former student and encourage me to stay engaged with them.

Alumnus
Master of Business Administration
Why did you choose UNC Charlotte for your undergraduate degree?

We had a college day in high school and at that point I had not really given much thought to where I wanted to go and what I would study. A good friend mentioned he was going to UNC Charlotte to study mechanical engineering and suggested we go to UNC Charlotte and room together.

What kinds of opportunities did you have at while at UNC Charlotte?

Sports-wise, football was the only thing I really had a chance to excel at, and in my day football was not an option at UNC Charlotte. Without that option, I looked for other opportunities and obtained a full-time summer positon at Duke Energy’s McGuire Nuclear Station with their reactor group. Later, that opportunity led to a part-time position during the last two years of my undergraduate degree. While pursuing my MBA, I was able to take advantage of the study abroad opportunities available to me and travel to Dubai and Moscow.

What brought you back to UNC Charlotte for your MBA?

Earning my MBA was a personal goal of mine. My influences at the time were limited because we were not a huge company. There was a void of new ideas and concepts and I saw an MBA as an opportunity to get that. I kept a list of fellow students that I’d consider hiring and one came on and helped us with our marketing. The MBA really spurred my interest in growing DATATECH.

Tell us about your company, DATATECH. 

I launched DATATECH in 1996 because my advancement opportunities were limited with my employer at the time and I knew I wanted to do much more. DATATECH provides onsite, onshore and offshore IT solutions in the application space for mainframe to mobile projects, modernization initiatives, staff augmentation, platform and application integration and product support. Our clients range from the $300 million a year privately-owned furniture industry client to the $20 billion publicly-traded food retail client.

What motivated you to serve on the Belk College of Business Alumni Council? 

The council allowed me to give back, contribute to the development of the Belk College and benefit others, particularly younger students and alumni who are trying to establish their career paths and contribute themselves.

Quote: 
Kirk Beatty earned an undergraduate degree in computer science from UNC Charlotte. A decade after launching his own IT consulting company, Beatty returned to UNC Charlotte to earn an MBA and attain the skills that were necessary to grow his business. A member of the Belk College Alumni Council, Beatty was recognized as an Outstanding Alumni Advocate by the college in May 2015.