Bethel MBA Student on “40 Under 40” List

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal included Bethel graduate student Niel Devasir in its recent “40 Under 40. Devasir is chief information officer at Spire Credit Union, a full-service financial institution with 16 branches across the metro and throughout northern Minnesota. Devasir was one of 500 nominations for the honor this year and was selected for the list of 40 by a panel of judges. Read the Q&A with Devasir in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.

Currently a student in Bethel’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, Devasir is on track to graduate in December and says he has “really enjoyed learning from the experts who practice what they teach in the real world.” His favorite class has been an ethics course taught by Matthew Putz, director of Teaching and Learning Technology at Bethel and an instructor in the Graduate School. “I was a skeptic going into this class about the value this course could add,” recalls Devasir. “But I was a full convert at the end of the class because of the wisdom shared by Dr. Putz during his lectures on worldview and ethics, and Christianity’s role in the secular world’s ethics.”

Originally from Chennai, India, Devasir now lives with his wife in Farmington, Minnesota, and has been in the Twin Cities for eight years. His wife, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law are all Bethel alumni. Devasir says that one of the main reasons he chose to attend Bethel University is because of President Jay Barnes. Devasir and his wife attended Festival of Christmas six years ago and he was very impressed with the strong Christian values he heard coming through in Barnes’ address at the beginning of the concert. “I am glad Bethel consistently delivers a Christ-centered education every day,” he says.