Court of Honor

The Court of Honor, established in 1988, is one of the Foundation’s most prestigious awards. The recognition is given annually to individuals who have excelled in one of the following categories: Agriculture, Arts, Business and Industry, Community Service, Education, Philanthropy, Professions, Public Service, Sports or Youth.

Father and daughter, David and Rachel Jacobson will be inducted into the 2021 Aksarben Court of Honor in the category of Arts. David was the former Chairman of Kutak Rock LLP, and the founding Chair of the Board for Film Streams. Rachel is the President for the nonprofit Heritage Services. She is Founder and served as Executive Director of Film Streams from 2005-2020.

David was an attorney at Kutak Rock for 41 years. Over half of those years he served the firm as its Chairman. During his tenure as Chair, Kutak Rock grew from 230 lawyers in nine cities to more than 500 lawyers in 18 cities. He was also known to be a champion for diversity and inclusion. Under his leadership the firm earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. The firm was consistently recognized as a “Ceiling Smasher” for women, with the second highest percentage of women equity partners in the country for law firms with over 300 lawyers. David graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Law and was an attorney for Legal Aid prior to joining Kutak Rock. David passed away on July 4, 2018.

David was passionate about community service. He served on the board of directors of Partnership 4 Kids for 20 years and was also a member of numerous other boards and committees. He served on the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the African American Achievement Council, and the UNO College of Community Service. Along with his wife Nancy, David was the Co-Founder and a Member of the Omaha Black/Jewish dialogue. David was also integral in creating the Omaha Central High School Foundation. He was inducted into the Omaha Central Hall of Fame in 2014.

David and his wife Nancy have four children: Rachel (spouse Stephen), Sara, Ben (spouse Natalie) and Justin. Rachel was an Omaha Symphony Ball Debutante in 1996 and an Aksarben Princess in 1999. Ben was an Omaha Symphony Ball Escort in 2000 and an Aksarben Escort in 2003. Nancy, a lifelong child advocate, was elected to the Learning Community Council and served 10 years on the Council. She has also served on the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors as well as Completely Kids Board of Directors. Currently, she serves on the Learning Community Foundation Board and the Anti-Defamation League Board.

David’s legacy of community service lives through his daughter Rachel, who founded and was the first Executive Director of Film Streams. Founded in 2005, Film Streams is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to enhancing the cultural environment of the Metro Omaha area through the presentation and discussion of film as an art form. Under Rachel’s guidance, Film Streams opened the Ruth Sokolof Theater in 2007, and more recently the renovated Dundee Theater. Since its beginning Film Streams has presented hundreds of first-run American independent, international and documentary films along with more than 1,000 classics through its repertory program. Film Streams has staged over 200 collaborative screenings with fellow nonprofits and community groups and provides a Daytime Education Program of film education-based field trip that before the pandemic served thousands of local students annually.

In addition to her work with Film Streams, and now Heritage Services, Rachel serves on the Board of Directors for the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands and is a Trustee for the Creighton University Business Ethics Alliance. She also remains involved with Film Streams and continues to serve on the Film Streams Board. Rachel formerly served on the boards of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, Nebraskans for the Arts, the Opera Omaha Advisory Board, the Omaha Chamber’s Young Professional Council, City of Omaha’s Urban Design Review Board and the Omaha Central Alumni Association. She was also a founding board member for Omaha Girls Rock. Rachel is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign.

Rachel is married to Stephen Osberg. Rachel and Stephen have daughters Cleo (6) and Ri (2). Nancy and David are also grandparents to Zoii (18) and Zane (7), who are the children of Ben and Natalie.

Ivan Gilreath, former President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of the Midlands, being inducted into the Court of Honor for Service to Youth.

For more than 58 years, the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands has provided a fun, safe and constructive environment for almost 9,000 kids and teens in metro Omaha and Southwest Iowa during out-of-school hours. With 14 Clubs and a summer camp, the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands provides programming tailored to the local community and customized activities for each age group focusing on areas that have the greatest numbers of at-risk youth, many of whom are minorities, economically disadvantaged and live in single-parent households. Programming focuses on academic success, character and leadership, and living a healthy lifestyle. One program, CareerLaunch, prepares teens for the world of careers and work by exploring possible vocations, making sound educational decisions and finding success in the world of work.

Ivan joined the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands as President and CEO in 2011. Under Ivan’s leadership, the Clubs have served almost 2,300 youth daily and provided approximately 360,000 hot meals, free to its members last year. In 2019, 56 scholarships worth $285,000 were awarded to Club members to pursue their college dreams. The pandemic of 2020 provided a unique challenge to Ivan and the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands. COVID-19 forced the doors of all the Clubs to close. However, Ivan and his team ensured that all programming was still made available to Club members virtually. Ivan and his team started the Virtual Programming or VOICE (Virtual Online Interactive Club Experience) which allows members to participate in art, STEM, fitness, nutrition and more through Zoom videos. He and his team also guaranteed that all Club members, including their parents, received free evening meals. With schools turning to e-learning, Ivan did not want any Club member to fall behind in school so the team worked to  make sure a laptop was available to any Club member who needed it.

Ivan has previously been a member of a number of non-profit and education boards, including the University of Nebraska Foundation, the College of St. Mary’s, the Jesuit Academy and the Omaha Sport’s Authority. He is also a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Ivan formerly served on the boards of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and the Urban League of Nebraska. In 1990, Ivan cofounded the Midwest Trailblazers Youth Program, a non-profit youth program providing academic support, healthy relationships, mentoring, healthy competition, counseling, cultural enrichment and physical activity to its participants. Midwest Trailblazer continues to serve youth in the Omaha area today.

Ivan is a 1982 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and obtained an MBA from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 1989. In 2002, Ivan was inducted into UNO’s College of Business of Distinguished Alumni. Ivan is the past recipient of the  Gallup “Can Do” Award, the Wilbert Ellis Award by the Great Plains Black Museum, the Whitney M. Young Leadership Award from the Urban League of Nebraska and the City of Omaha Living the Dream Award.

Ivan and his wife Rita have two children, Jerome and Mia, and three grandsons.

Henry Davis, CEO of Greater Omaha Packing Co., being inducted into the Court of Honor for Business and Industry.

The Greater Omaha Packing Co., founded in 1920 by Herman Cohen, Henry Davis’ grandfather, after returning from World War I. Henry joined the family business after graduating from the University of Denver in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, taking over as president and CEO in 1987.

Under Henry’s leadership, Greater Omaha Packing Co. has grown tremendously, tripling their processing capacity, expanding product lines and shipping worldwide while remaining true to its dedication of providing the highest quality product to customers and consumers.

Exporting to over 75 countries, Greater Omaha Packing Co. is the sole provider of US beef to many across the world. The company shares its success by providing college and trade scholarships to  dependents of employees. The company has also been named one of the “Best Places to Work” by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

Henry also has a passion for helping underserved youth in the greater Omaha community, having served on the boards of Partnership for Kids, Avenue Scholars, and Project Harmony, to name a few.

With Henry’s support and leadership, in 2010 Project Harmony opened the Henry Davis Campus allowing over 200 professionals and eight supporting agencies to work collaboratively under one roof.  More recently, the Henry Davis Bryan Middle School Boys & Girls Club was opened to provide students a STEAM Innovation Center and quality athletic programming.

Other organizations Henry supports include the Joslyn Art Museum and Kaneko. He has also served on the boards of Bellevue University, the Omaha Community Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Catholic Charities and the North American Meat Institute. Davis is also a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Henry is the former recipient of a number of Humanitarian of the Year awards; from the City of Omaha, the Jewish Federation of Omaha and the Conference for Inclusive Communities. Henry has two children, Lauren and Cameron.