Photo courtesy of Avera Marshall Debbie Streier, Avera Marshall’s new regional president and CEO spoke about her transition into the job with the Independent on Monday. Streier began work in Marshall on Feb. 1, but the longtime Aberdeen resident has been with the Avera health system since 2008.

In her first month on the job, Debbie Streier said she’s been doing a lot of listening and learning. But the new Avera Marshall regional president and CEO said she’s seen that there is a lot to be proud of at Avera’s locations in Marshall, Tyler and Granite Falls.

“The staff have just been phenomenal . . . just as the community has been,” Streier said.

Streier spoke with the Independent on Monday about her transition into the C.E.O. role. She started work on Feb. 1, after a search process that began in late fall.

Streier is originally from Aberdeen, South Dakota. That’s also where she started working in health care administration, although it wasn’t a career path she had always planned for.

“I always thought I was going to be an accountant,” Streier said — her undergraduate degree at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks was in accounting. Instead, she would go on to build 25 years of experience in health care. Streier said some important points in her career have come as a result of encouragement from others, when “someone saw something in me that I didn’t.”

She joined the Avera health system in 2008 as a clinic manager, and became Vice President of Operations at Avera St. Luke’s in Aberdeen in 2014.

In her first weeks in southwest Minnesota, Streier said she has been taking time to meet with city officials in the area, and to get to know area Avera employees.

“I want to take time to listen,” she said. The process has included spending time in Tyler and Granite Falls as well as at Avera Marshall. “There are very talented employees in each of those facilities.” Streier said Avera Marshall also has strong senior administrators, who have been able to answer questions and provide valuable support as she gets acclimated to a new environment.

Streier said the community in Marshall and the surrounding area was another important part of her decision to apply for the job.

“It was important that where we were moving to was welcoming,” she said. When Steier and her husband Steve visited Marshall, they liked what they saw. “There was that sense, that people are just nice to each other.”

The next big task ahead for Streier will be working on strategic planning for the hospital.

Streier said she was looking forward to working together with area Avera employees, as well as the opportunity to help carry out Avera’s mission of service.

“This has truly been a calling for me,” Streier said.