A Welcome from the NEDA
President, Pat Haverty
On behalf of the NEDA Board of Directors, I am honored to welcome you to the 2018 Nebraska Economic Developers Association Conference. As always, we have an excellent lineup of educational topics to challenge and inspire you while Gothenburg provides a variety of extracurricular opportunities for golf, informational tours and networking activities.
You will not want to miss this year’s keynote speaker – University of Nebraska Volleyball Coach John Cook. Winning a fourth national championship in 2017, Coach Cook will present “Dream Big, Dream like a Champion” on Friday.
I would like to thank the local planning committee and the education committee for all their hard work in putting this event together. This is going to be a great conference and I look forward to seeing you all in Gothenburg!
A Welcome from City of Gothenburg's Mayor, Joyce Hudson
As Mayor of the City of Gothenburg it is my pleasure to welcome you to our community. We hope that your attendance at the Nebraska Economic Developer's Conference is a positive one.
Economic Development is one of the most important tasks we have in our state. Challenges are significant in not having the population needed, the housing required, the skill set that companies' desire, etc., etc. But we do have a population that is willing to work hard, learn, is dependable; and can and will do about anything to improve our state and our livelihood. I believe that all of you attending this conference represent the people in our state by reflecting all of those wonderful qualities and more. For that, I thank you for doing such a wonderful and commendable task.
I have had the pleasure of serving on the local planning committee as well as several other people from our community for this event. It is our sincere hope that this will not only be a valuable learning experience but a fun one too.
For the golfers in the group, we believe you will find that the Wildhorse Golf course is one of the most premier affordable golf courses you can find. The course has many repeat customers from around the state and even beyond. There are many other activities along the way, and we hope those activities will allow you will take the time to network with your fellow developers.
Again, I hope your time is well spent at the conference. We are excited to have been chosen as the host community, and sincerely hope we have done everything possible to make this a worthwhile event
Meet NEDA's Board of Directors
President - Pat Haverty, CEcD, Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development
Vice President - Megan McGown, North Platte Area Chamber and Development
Treasurer - Brook Aken, CEcD, Omaha Public Power District
Secretary - Brian Vasa, Nebraska Public Power District
Past President - Jason Esser, Omaha Public Power District
Board Member - Starr Lehl, City of Scottsbluff
Board Member - Rex Nelson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Kimmel Extension and Research
Board Member - Trevor Lee, Valley County Economic Development
Board Member - Candace Bossard, City of Norfolk
Board Member - Mike Feeken, St. Paul Development Corporation
Board Member - Walker Zulkoski, NGage - Gage Area Growth Enterprise
Ex-Officio - Dave Rippe, Nebraska Department of Economic Development
Meet the NEDA Team
Executive Director - DeEtta Hartman
Webmaster - Nicole Sedlacek, Nebraska Public Power District
Conference Coordinator - Amanda Heistand, Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership
Meet the Local Committee Team
Scott Bartels, Gothenburg Improvement Company
Devin Brundage, Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation
Amber Burge, Gothenburg State Bank
Bruce Clymer, City of Gothenburg
Aaron Coleman, First State Bank
Deb Egenberger, Gothenburg Community Development Office & Gothenburg Improvement Company
Joyce Hudson, Jensen Trucking
Verlin Janssen, Horizon Ag
Jen McKeone, Cozad Development Corporation