Jyl (Bitker) McIntosh at work
Jyl (Bitker) McIntosh '92 at Accenture

Growing up on a farm near Halstad, Minnesota, a town with a population of just over 600 residents, had alumna Jyl (Bitker) McIntosh 1992 dreaming of bigger and bolder things. She was fascinated by the hospitality industry and loved going to hotels and restaurants, so it made sense she chose the University of Minnesota Crookston, which was close by, as they had the programs perfect for her.

Crookston was like a second hometown for Jyl as her mother grew up there, and she had many family members living there whom she visited often. She recalls being in 4-H as a child and attending events at the Red River Valley Winter Shows building where University horses used to be housed in the building’s barns. So, when it came to deciding whether to live on campus or commute from the family farm for classes, choosing to live in the dorms at U of M Crookston came naturally to her. She especially enjoyed her stay in the “character-filled” McCall Hall.

“I liked the small community on campus with all the amenities available to students,” Jyl described. “Each (University of Minnesota) branch has their own distinguishing features and the (Crookston) campus had that feel that was definitely northwest Minnesota with the heritage (present.) Crookston would not be the town it is if UMC wasn’t there.”

Jyl (Bitker) McIntosh and her family at her daughter's wedding
Jyl and her family at her daughter, Michaela's wedding

Jyl recalls working the grill in food service and participating in labs for the Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management (HRI) program, plus giving presentations in the “epicurean room.”

“If there was a special event on campus, we would be the servers or help set up banquet style,” she added. “It was fun because you’re doing a job, but you get to see from beginning to end; like what it would be like out in the job force.”

Jyl said being able to be exposed to the leaders on campus, like Ken Myers, was “something else” and she felt she gleaned a lot of information which helped navigate certain subjects. Her love for travel was stoked when Myers took McIntosh and other students to a food show at a convention center to see what was new and upcoming.

“My education at UMC was an amazing foundation,” she continued. “I could have been born and raised into a family that owned a hotel, or had a resort or restaurant, but I was not. I went ‘out of scope’ (for education) having grown up in a farming community, and entertainment or hospitality being viewed as a luxury item.”

Jyl graduated from U of M Crookston with an associate’s degree majoring in both hotel/resort management and restaurant management. From there, she traveled to Chicago, Ill., where she worked for years at the corporate property of the hotel company Marriott. Later she realized she wanted to be a little closer to home and moved on to Minneapolis, Minn., where she worked at the Marriott close to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport and the Mall of America.

Jyl and her daughter Michaela at graduation
Jyl and her daughter Michaela at graduation

“It was amazing what I learned in such a short period of time, building off of what I learned at UMC,” Jyl explained. “I worked in customer service, conflict negotiation, conflict resolution, and we’d do a day or two of everyone else’s jobs so we could learn their jobs.”

Getting the itch to be closer to home, Jyl left the nonstop hotel life and came back to the farm where she worked for her father as an office manager getting computers and technology set up for the new age. After some time, she missed the city and decided to go through a staffing agency to find something different. Because her skillset was so high, she was referred to a tech solution consulting firm. Jyl is coming up on 28 years with the same global company, Accenture, where she has held responsibility for facility and services operations, corporate entertainment and communications, as an executive assistant (EA) to the leadership team, client delivery, and operations at the client site for Best Buy. She’s currently a dedicated EA to the global lead of a “mega diamond” retail account and an EA to an experienced new hire for their Reinvention Executive Advisory Council Vice Chair from the New York City Accenture office.

“Accenture went through the dot com boom then bust, and was able to make it out, and are now doing a lot of acquisitions,” Jyl shared. “They were one of the bigger sponsors of the Super Bowl when it was in Minneapolis and, when Minneapolis was selected to host the 2026 Special Olympics, one of the senior managing directors of the local Accenture office is on loan as the president of the organization.”

Jyl says every five years or so she gets “reinvented” within her workforce as the company she works for isn’t about “items”, they’re about servicing their clients in many different industries and markets globally.

“We’ve been doing AI (artificial intelligence) for two years now and we had an Accenture guest speaker for compliance with Best Buy that had maybe 4,000 people on the call,” she continued. “Every 24 hours it gets smarter, and we have to have a ‘red team’ to make sure things are factual.”

Jyl's son Johnny at his graduation
Jyl's son Johnny at his graduation

“Having my hospitality degree has come in handy as I can coordinate speakers, work with facilities to make sure everything is set up, invites going out to the distribution list, and event planning has come easy,” Jyl added. “Being able to experience all of that and learn more has been great.”

Aside from work life, Jyl enjoys spending time traveling with friends and family, also with her 26-year-old daughter and 22-year-old son. Her daughter played fastpitch softball growing up and was asked to play junior varsity at a younger age, which was unheard of at the larger metro area schools. One day in the weight room, an Olympic weightlifting coach approached her and she began training for Team USA. Jyl’s daughter competed each year in high school for the State of Minnesota and then again while she attended the University of Michigan. Following her time as an Olympic weightlifter, she became a clinical psychologist, an occupational therapist assistant, and married a Team USA wrestler. Jyl’s son works for a company that offers drilling services for geotechnical evaluation and mineral exploration.
 


Written for the Winter 2025 Torchlight e-Newsletter


Story Contact: Jess Bengtson - [email protected] - (218) 281-8432