Tim Beatty, now president of Bullen Ultrasonics in Eaton, grew up in Dayton and remembers dreaming of wearing a business suit when he was very young.
“I just saw myself working in business in a high-rise building,” Beatty said. “I was shy and awkward as a little kid until my third-grade teacher put me in charge of the school store.”
Beatty, who was attending Meadowdale Elementary School at the time, naturally took to the role. He loved organizing the store and helping students pick out what they needed.
“I remember realizing even then that I had the potential to be a leader,” he said. “But if you would have known me, you would have never guessed where I’d end up.”
Beatty actively pursued leadership opportunities at Franklin Monroe High School, after his family moved to Darke County when he was in 7th grade.
“I was the worst person on the basketball team but ended up becoming captain,” Beatty said.
In 1992, he graduated high school and went on to attend Anderson University in Indiana. He studied psychology because he always enjoyed helping others. And he continued to develop his leadership skills, speaking at a graduation ceremony a few years later.
“I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do career wise and decided to go for a master’s degree in counseling,” Beatty said. “I was working at a Christian home for teenagers and went from counselor to administrator.”
And it was then Beatty realized that he had a passion for helping people by impacting work culture through leadership.
He met his wife, Heather Brown Beatty, at Anderson University. The couple married and stayed in Anderson while he finished his degree. He graduated in 1999 around the same time their son, Michael, was born.
“Working in a group home is tough for raising a family because you are on call 24/7,” Beatty said.
Back in Ohio, Beatty’s father-in-law, Steve Brown and Mary Bullen, the founder’s daughter, were running Bullen Ultrasonics. Beatty had taken a tour of the facility shortly after his marriage.
“I was thinking about pursuing a PhD at the time but instead I ended up at Bullen,” Beatty said. “We moved to Eaton, and I started in customer service.”
Beatty began an MBA program at the University of Dayton while building the customer service program for the growing manufacturing company, which was founded in 1971.
“I was doing customer service work,” Beatty said. “I managed trade shows and interacted with customers and eventually it led to overseas travel.”
In 2005, the company started a division in China and Beatty was front and center, ready to use his leadership skills, both natural born and developed. His work in China required him to establish the business in an empty warehouse. This represented his first opportunity to create a culture from the ground up.
Beatty led by example, willing to do any job, from sweeping the floor to traveling across the globe. In 2006, the family sold that division to another company and both Beatty and his father-in-law remained to help with the transition.
Beatty and his wife were involved with World Hope International and went on mission trips to Africa.
“We talked about if we could do anything, what would we do,” Beatty said. “My wife said she’d love to work for World Hope full time and I wanted to work for a church.”
The couple and their three children moved to northern Virginia in 2008. Beatty took a job as executive director for a United Methodist Church and was able to preach when the pastor wasn’t available.
“This really made me come alive and I did all the things I cared about in one place,” he said.
Around this time, Steve Brown was planning to retire, and he wanted Beatty to run the company.
“I originally said no but decided to pray about it,” Beatty said. “I felt led to say yes.”
The family moved back to Ohio and settled in Blue Ash in 2014 when Beatty took over the presidency of Bullen.
Beatty received some good advice from a friend who said before you pray in a meeting or start a Bible study, you need to run a good business.
“I see my role as creating a place where people love to work,” Beatty said. “And to leave this place better than I found it to hand down to the next generation.”
With the company being located in a farming community, Beatty ties this back to the development of the company culture.
“You can tell how healthy a field is by how the farmer is taking care of the soil,” Beatty said. “That’s how you live out your faith — creating an environment where people feel truly valued and loved.”
PERSONAL JOURNEY
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