Cue the “Pomp and Circumstance” – a milestone class of Leadership Omaha participants is now a milestone class of Leadership Omaha graduates deeply committed to strengthening and transforming our community.
Over the course of ten months, the members of Class 40 – diverse group of 49 leaders (listed below) – learned about challenges and opportunities in our community, visited multiple organizations and heard from various business and community leaders, educators, and political figures to better understand the work being done and the work that needs to be done to positively impact our community.
“They engaged in meaningful conversations about the community and became motivated to find areas of passion and assume leadership roles in community affairs,” says Liz Kerrigan, the Chamber’s leadership strategist.
Like the almost 1700 Leadership Omaha Alumni before them, members of Class 40 also participated in small group projects, another element of the curriculum that’s designed to have a positive, direct impact on the community.
Some project examples include:
- 40 for 40: A mindfulness campaign that encouraged community members to unplug from all electronic technology for 40 minutes per day for 40 days
- A software platform (in progress) to easily connect willing volunteers to nonprofit organizations and vice versa
- Connect Omaha: An event to introduce community members to and encourage them to use public transportation.
“Leadership Omaha motivates the class members to take an active role in the community,” Kerrigan says.
A program of the Greater Omaha Chamber, Leadership Omaha is one of the longest-running community leadership programs in the nation. Class 40’s graduation was held on Thursday, June 7, at The Venue at Highlander, 2120 N 30th St.
The Graduates of Leadership Omaha Class 40:
| Emily | Anderson | Home Instead, Inc. |
| Drew | Antonio | Enterprise Bank |
| Victor | Beanum | Cox Communications |
| Ryne | Bessmer | Karstens Investment Counsel |
| Catherine | Cano | Jackson Lewis PC |
| Kasey | Cappellano | Kutak Rock LLP |
| Allen | Chaffee | Cornhusker Bank |
| Amy | Cherko | Olsson Associates |
| Vicki | Christ | |
| Kurt | Cisar | Holland Basham Architects |
| Charles | Coley | The Cloudburst Group |
| Matthew | DeBoer | HDR |
| Vanessa | Denney | University of Nebraska Foundation |
| Alex | Epstein | OMNE Partners |
| Joe | Finnegan | Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. |
| Brendan | Flanagan | C3 Brands |
| Suzie | Heffernan | BioTAB Healthcare |
| Luke | Holst | McGrath North Mullin & Kratz, PC LLO |
| Ed | Kaspar | Physicians Mutual |
| Keegan | Korf | Omaha Public Schools |
| Andrew | Lang | Morrissey Engineering |
| Jeremy | Langer | Kiewit Building Group |
| Amy | Lawrenson | Baird Holm LLP |
| Daniel | Lawse | Verdis Group |
| Andy | Liakos | Proxibid |
| Jay | Lund | GreenSlate Development |
| Lauren | Maskin | Children’s Hospital & Medical Center |
| Erin | McArthur | Women’s Fund of Omaha |
| Parker | McKenna | Union Pacific Railroad |
| Nathan | Morgan | The Big Garden |
| Alisa | Parmer | Purdue University |
| Anthony | Pasternak | BKD, LLP |
| Alex | Petrovich | Lockton Companies |
| Joe | Pogge | McNeil Company |
| Mark | Pohl | Omaha Public Power District |
| Diane | Poots | Greater Omaha Chamber |
| Alysia | Radicia | RDG Planning & Design |
| Ben | Ries | LEO A DALY |
| Tara | Slevin | Methodist Jennie Edmundson |
| Bruce | Stec | CQuence Health Group |
| Suzi | Sterba | U.S. Bank |
| Dakotah | Taylor | First National Bank |
| Melissa | Taylor | Mutual of Omaha |
| Christopher | Tooker | Merrill Lynch |
| Sue | Violi | Omaha World-Herald |
| Cornelia | Vremes | Nebraska Medicine |
| Jill | Wallen | University of Nebraska Medical Center |
| Carrie | Weiler | Union Bank & Trust |
| Alex | Wolf | Koley Jessen, P.C., L.L.O. |
The application window for Class 41 has closed. Applications for Class 42 will be available in early 2019. Class members are chosen based on their demonstrated community involvement and vision for the future of Omaha.
For more information about Leadership Omaha, contact Liz Kerrigan, leadership strategist, at 402-978-7913.