TEN

Get to know your hosts of TEN (Tech. Entrepreneurs. Nebraska.) as they chat about their backgrounds into tech, and how this podcast came to be! Brian Poppe is Senior Vice President of Income and Wealth Planning at Mutual of Omaha. He provides strategic direction, ensures growth and profitability, manages risk as well as return, and manages the end-to-end customer experience for the Income and Weal...

Join us for this Tech Culture subseries s the NTC continues to work to support efforts to raise Nebraska’s tech profile by sharing company culture takeaways people can put into action right away!

Nezzie Hardges is the Community Director of Elevator, a co-warehousing company that offers small and medium businesses with physical goods the space, logistics support and community they need to scale and thrive. She is a veteran of the United States Air Force, which molded her to become a dynamic leader in customer experience, a connector amongst businesses, and a resource to her local and global...

Corey Spitzer has over 20 years of professional experience in software engineering and has spent the last decade founding or working with startups. In that time, he has led teams of engineers, managed complex projects, and seen a lot of trends come and go in business and technology. Driven by creative ideas and promoting a healthy team culture that achieves great things, he’s currently a fractiona...

Senator McKinney was born and raised in Omaha, but District 11 has always been his home. ​District 11 is located in Historic North Omaha, which has issues that have persisted since his childhood. He is committed to being one with our community such that he has brought the voices of our community with him to Lincoln. Our state legislature had and still needs more young voices, especially from under...

Symphony Workforce specializes in Empowering Kids. It starts with providing access to some of the region’s most dynamic companies and startups while incentivizing young people to look inward to discover a career path that aligns with who they are at their core. At the same time, they provide organizations and communities with valuable, data-driven insights to strategically identify, engage and nur...

John Bunting has over 20 years of experience in technology and has worked for several Fortune 500 companies. He founded several startups and is the founder and CEO of Beeso Studio a startup studio focused on scaling technology startups. John has done work for; Siemens AG, Hyundai, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda, Kia, Electronic Arts, University of Phoenix, Kiewit, Creighton University, Northern Natural Gas,...

CJ Jackson is a wife, mother, mentor, author, thought-leader, status quo challenger, business owner and life-changing coach who is passionate about helping women and youth girls become the Chief Executive Designer & Executors in their own lives! She accomplishes this through two platforms she founded: ConfidentlyMe! Coaching LLC and the Phenomenal Woman Academy. The Phenomenal Woman Academy, i...

Join Todd Murphy, President of Truescope, with host Shonna Dorsey to discuss ways to build and identify your personal brand equity in episode 0 of this mini series

Todd is the President of Truescope in North America, a global media intelligence organization with advanced SaaS technology, highly experienced team and client-centric service. Todd was appointed to this role in 2023, following Truescope’s acquisition of long-standing and successful Omaha-based media intelligence organization, Universal Information Services, where he had been owner and CEO since 2...

Kellee Mikuls is CEO and Founder of Swishboom. Swishboom is changing the childcare game by giving Omaha families access to Swishboom's Verified Network of sitters giving them on-demand childcare support. As a mom of three and working as a commercial real estate broker, Kellee knew the struggles of finding childcare and wanted to be part of the solution. To date, Swishboom has helped families book...

Having predominantly operated in leadership roles since 2005, Mark has specialized in the Advertising, SaaS and Technology sectors since 2007, with both domestic and international experience. Leading sales, account management, support, and advertising teams along the way; Mark has helped with business aspects ranging from sales performance, product go-to-market, & strategic partnerships, as we...

Daragh Mahon is the EVP and CIO of Werner Enterprises, where he leads Werner’s global IT strategy, operations and innovation. Mahon has more than 20 years of IT and strategic leadership experience, previously serving as SVP of Global IT and Business Applications for Vonage. In this role, he led the company's overall IT and applications strategy and was the driving force in moving all Vonage inform...

Kathy Andersen is focused on the feedback loops and networks that lead to thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems and thriving local economies. She is the Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development. Prior to this role she operated as an international consultant, served in a leadership position in the Business Operations Division of Hudl, worked on...

Stefanie is a seasoned startup strategist, community builder, and journalist with a passion for entrepreneurship, equity, and access in STEM fields. She has spent the last 15 years writing about and working with Omaha-based startups. Stefanie was the first-ever entrepreneurship reporter at the Omaha World-Herald where she covered startups and small business in the late 2000s. She wrote about the l...

With a background in sales and finance, Alicia Huntington joined Mutual of Omaha in 2014 as a Wholesaler in the Retirement Plans Division. In 2019 she made her transition to Information Services as an Intern Coordinator and currently leads the I/S Intern Program and supports the I/S Educator Partnerships. She enjoys supporting students in their career journey while finding their passion.

Christina Oldfather is the Workforce Development Director at Rabble Mill, a 501c3 working with Nebraska youth to achieve belonging, purpose, and upward mobility. Christina is building workforce development programs that create opportunity for youth ages 16-22 to either: go to college, get a job, or start a business. These new programs also help build the talent pipeline that Nebraska desperately n...

A human spark plug and world-class connector, he can turn “something good” into “something great” through focusing on what makes you stand out. Scott is the managing principal of NMotion powered by gener8tor and helps startup founders across the state of Nebraska. His career arc includes creating and building companies, raising charitable donations for universities, running a capital campaign cons...

Pawan has a diverse background that spans Technology, Product Development as well as Social and Digital Media Marketing. He currently works for Walmart in Last Mile Delivery as a Staff Product Manager and he is based out of the Bay Area in California. Pawan’s previous experience includes working as a Product Manager for Microsoft, NIKE, Columbia Sportswear, Reliance Mobile and Tencent Technologies...

Co-Founder and Managing Partner of MOVE VC, a pre-seed & seed venture fund focused on investing in tech-enabled software in Nebraska and the Midwest. Co-Founder, President, and Executive Director of the Nebraska Startup Academy, a non-profit with a mission to educate, support, and connect founders, investors, and the community in Nebraska to further stimulate our startup ecosystem.

Joni Cobb is a Director of Creative Planning’s Practice Development Team, which is comprised of experienced executives and leaders from across the country. Driven by her passion for helping others achieve their full potential, Joni connects individuals, families and business owners with the comprehensive wealth management support, professional talent and world-class resources of Creative Planning....

Richard is a lead mobile accessibility software developer. He is also CEO, President, and Founder of People First Industries. Prior to becoming a full-stack mobile and data engineer, he served the NYC area as a Social Work Case Manager for 15+ years specializing in MICA, homeless, veteran, unemployed, and children services. This transformational experience informs his specialization within WCAG Co...

An experienced developer, who transitioned into a Scrum Master, then IT manager, then Project Manager and now to a Business Analyst (Innovation Consultant), over his career Cecil has pulled cables, punched down phone lines, performed manual as well as automated quality assurance, and functioned in Process Improvement and Cultural Improvement roles. He has written code in numerous languages for pro...

Derek is the co-founder and COO of Workshop, an internal communications platform used by many of today's leading brands. Prior to starting Workshop, Derek managed several teams at both LinkedIn and Flywheel before he entered the world of entrepreneurship and co-founded Median, which helped thousands of customer support agents solve customer issues more quickly before it was acquired in 2020. Outsi...

Dusty is a technology entrepreneur located on the Silicon Prairie. Over the past 15 years, he has built a reputation as one of the leading innovators and voices for technology startups in the Midwest. He has started, grown and sold numerous companies, including Flywheel – A premium WordPress hosting company built for designers; Tripleseat – The leading software-as-a-service company selling event m...