Aksarben Foundation Announces 2025 Most Honored Citizen
The Aksarben Foundation is proud to name Joan Squires, President of Omaha Performing Arts (O-PA), as its 2025 Most Honored Citizen, recognizing her visionary leadership and lasting impact on Nebraska’s arts and culture. Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh’s words, “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart,” Squire’s heart […]
Aksarben Foundation Announces the 2025 Aksarben Ball Courts
The Aksarben Foundation proudly announces the members of the 2025 Aksarben Ball Courts: Princesses, Escorts, Standard Bearers, and Pages. These young leaders, representing families from across Nebraska, embody the civic pride, commitment, and legacy that define the Spirit of Aksarben. For 130 years, the Aksarben Ball has been a symbol of tradition and transformation. More […]
The loss of people and jobs to other states slows Nebraska’s economic growth.
Aksarben Foundation releases report it commissioned by DCI Consulting Group OMAHA, Nebraska, September 4, 2025 — The Aksarben Foundation, a statewide Nebraska business organization for over 100 years, has released a report prepared by Development Counsellors International (DCI), a national expert in economic development marketing and strategy. The data shows that the competition for people […]
Nebraska Tech Collaborative Welcomes Tracy Schaefer to Executive Committee
The Nebraska Tech Collaborative proudly welcomes Tracy Schaefer, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Conagra Brands, to our Executive Committee. Tracy brings a wealth of experience and visionary leadership that will strengthen our mission to grow Nebraska’s tech workforce and drive innovation across the state. As Conagra’s CIO, Tracy oversees Global Business Services, […]
Aksarben Announces the 2025 Court of Honor Inductees – Court of Honor to be Celebrated at the Aksarben Ball on Oct. 18, 2025
The Aksarben Foundation is proud to announce the 2025 Aksarben Court of Honor to celebrate individuals and families who have left a profound impact on the state of Nebraska through one of 10 categories that include: agriculture, arts, business and industry, community service, education, philanthropy, professions, public service, sports or service to youth. The Court […]
Norfolk Wins National Recognition for Innovative Projects
The Mid-America Economic Development Council honored Norfolk with two prestigious awards at its annual Economic Development Awards ceremony, held December 4–6 in Columbus, Ohio. The North Fork Riverfront Development Project earned the Placemaking Award for Large Communities. This initiative transformed a three-mile stretch of riverfront near Norfolk’s downtown district into a vibrant, multipurpose community space. […]
Omaha-Based Appsky LLC Owners Recognized as SBA Nebraska Small Business Persons of the Year 2022
After Taylor Korensky graduated from the Information Technology Innovation program at the University of Nebraska Omaha in 2016, it didn’t take him long to realize that the Omaha tech market needed more custom software design and development solutions for local businesses. This led to his creation of Appsky, LLC in November of 2016 – a […]
Measuring Employee Perceptions
By Inclusion Analytics It is impossible to understand the true impact of DEI practices without examining how employees experience the workplace. This blog will cover the measurement of employee perceptions in two parts: perceptions of policies and practices and perceptions of the inclusion culture. Perceptions of policies and practices Any leader or taskforce member can […]
Measuring Demographics
By Inclusion Analytics Organizational diversity has been an area of focus for many large organizations since the enactment of Affirmative Action in the 1960s. Below are answers to four important questions regarding the type of demographic data to collect and what to analyze once data is available to your organization. What types of demographic data […]
Nebraska Has Become More Productive Since 2007
One common refrain that appears to be true is that Nebraska has high labor productivity compared to the rest of the United States. Nebraska (the green line below) is more than 15% more productive than the Midwest, Iowa, and most other regions around the country. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only the west […]
