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VOL. 45 NO. 13
C&A Industries invests in employee recruitment by Richard D. Brown
Great Harvest Bread Co. expands Rockbrook Village location, offerings. – Page 2
40 er d Un 40 Nicky Clark builds career improving diversity, inclusion at Heartland Family Service. – Page 3
t en m on try vir us En Ind
Nebraska sees increase in environmentally conscious consumers. – Page 4
What began in the spring of 1969 in the basement of Larry Courtnage’s Papillion residence with a folding table, Rolodex, a phone hookup and an idea to start a professional recruiting firm aimed at technical positions, has evolved over 50 years into C&A Industries — a family-owned group of multi-faceted companies — which serve a variety of fields and industries, with customers in all 50 states. C&A Industries, with just over 700 employees, operates out of its five-story, 80,000-square-foot national headquarters building at 13609 California St. and plans to grow its Aureus Medical Group affiliate into the burgeoning industry of staffing skilled post-acute care positions. Courtnage, chairman/owner, and President/CEO Scot Thompson — who is in his 18th year with C&A Industries — explained that while Aureus Medical Group had identified the skilled post-acute niche as early as five years ago, Continued on page 7.
From left, President and CEO Scot Thompson, co-owner and Vice Chair Kathy Wolf-Courtnage and co-owner and Chairman Larry Courtnage ... Emphasizing staffing niches as a means for growth in the (Photo by MBJ / Becky McCarville) firm’s 50th anniversary year.
Flywheel introduces Local for Teams, grant program; eyes new headquarters by Michelle Leach
Nebraska’s fastest-growing company on the Inc. 500 list for 2018, Flywheel, continues on an upward trajectory with the recent launch of Local by Flywheel “teams” and Local Dev Fund to inspire developer innovation, as it looks forward to summer 2020 — the anticipated completion date for its new headquarters, which
will anchor a new neighborhood, Millwork Commons, in historic north Downtown. “It’s not just about a building or an office space for us; it’s about transforming a neighborhood, so it’s a much bigger project,” said CEO Dusty Davidson. “We have an ability to make a big dent and revitalize what is a pretty cool part Continued on page 7. Founder and CEO Justin Nabity ... Helping physicians gain financial confidence while raising money to restore sight to people in the U.S. and around the world.
Mission-driven Physicians Thrive on upward path for major growth by Becky McCarville
Co-founder and CEO Dusty Davidson …. The firm anticipates adding around 100 to 200 employees in the next couple of years to its roughly 200-member team.
What started as a mission to help doctors plan for their financial futures as they launch their careers after years of school, residency and as a result, high debt, Physicians Thrive has expanded its mission to help the over 200 million people globally who don’t have access to eyecare. While the consulting group helps physicians address burnout
and the effects of the doctor shortage with its comprehensive financial planning and investment advisory services, they give back through the nonprofit Give Sight Global — as a byproduct of creating financial clarity for their clients, said Justin Nabity, founder and CEO of Physicians Thrive and co-founder of Give Sight Global. Inspired by mission-driven Continued on page 27.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Great Harvest Bread Co. expands Rockbrook Village location, offerings by Savannah Behrends
Don’t let Great Harvest Bread Co.’s franchise status fool you; Omaha owners Marian and Dennis Cihacek make every decision regarding their three locations, down to the last ingredient. “Most franchise agreements say that if it’s not included in the agreement then you can’t do it,” Marian Cihacek said. “Ours
Great Harvest Bread Co. Phone: 402-390-9988 (Rockbrook Village); 402-551-8800 (Dundee); 402-9320288 (West Omaha) Address: Rockbrook Village- 10916 Elm St., Omaha 68144; Dundee- 4910 Underwood Ave, Omaha 68132; West Omaha15623 West Dodge Rd., Omaha 68118 Service: breads, soups and sandwiches made fresh and from scratch; vegan, gluten free and low carb options Website: greatharvestbreadomaha.com
says if it’s not excluded from the agreement then you can do it.” This freedom has allowed the Cihaceks to expand their Rockbrook Village location to include a dining area where up to 50 customers can enjoy the rotating menu of soups, sandwiches and salads. The expansion coincides with the return of Chef Elaine Feekin who worked with the Cihaceks for a number of years before leaving and returning about a year ago. “She has full reign,” Marian Cihacek said. “She makes a dill pickle soup every other Friday and it sounds crazy but it’s so good.” The chef is also behind the successful push to appeal to millenials, whom the business has seen more of in recent years. In addition to adding complex sandwiches like the California Cobb, she’s also introduced
Owners Dennis and Marian Cihacek … Menu additions allow Great Harvest Bread Co. of Omaha to cater to dietary restrictions and individuals looking for something fast and fresh. grain bowls to the menu. up on his family’s wheat farm in Morse The most popular of which is the Bluff, Nebraska. He said the farm-to-table Roasted Carrot and Tahini Grain Bowl, concept is part of what drove the duo to open which has honey and curry roasted carrots, their first location 24 years ago. mixed with greens, chickpeas, cucumbers, As one of three stipulations, Great Hargolden raisins and sliced almonds tossed vest Bread franchisees have to grind their with whole wheat berries, quinoa and its own wheat, which corporate sources and house-made red wine vinaigrette and tahini tests to guarantee quality. The Cihaceks take yogurt dressing. it a step further. “[Millenials] who don’t eat at home for “We try to buy things locally and we lunch are looking for something fast, fresh participate in farmer’s markets almost every and healthy,” Dennis Cihacek said. year,” Dennis Cihacek said. Where the ingredients are sourced is While there has been increasing interest also important to Dennis Cihacek who grew in soups and salads its bread remains the
The Midlands Business Journal's
Business Minute Name: Trey Simpson. Age: 30. Title: Director of finance. Place of employment: Metonic Real Estate Solutions. Hometown: Fairbury, Nebraska. Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. How I got into the business: My first opportunity Simpson within the real estate industry came in 2013, when I accepted the assistant controller position at Seldin Co. in Omaha. I joined the company knowing very little about real estate, let alone property and asset management. Accomplishments or milestones: Fortunately, I have been involved with several successful real estate investments sponsored by the companies I work for — all are a unique experience and success story. First job: My first jobs included a paper route, mowing lawns and detasseling corn.
main act. The Cihaceks started with six breads, the requirement for new franchisees, and has since added at least a dozen that rotate. Of these new breads include some vegan, low-carb and gluten free breads, which were unintentional, like the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread, which is coincidentally vegan. Holidays and seasonal offerings represent another large portion of the menu. For example, St. Patrick’s Day brings Reuben Stuffed Rye, Irish Soda Bread, Blarney Scones and Sauerkraut Rye. With an abundance of ethnic, spiritual and cultural holidays Great Harvest is able to stay busy year-round, even in the summer months when foot traffic slows a bit. The menus are adjusted based on foot traffic at each of the three locations. Rockbrook, the first and biggest location, has the most traffic and was the first location to test the dining area concept. The Cihaceks believe Rockbrook’s traffic is due to its location right off I-80 and the shopping center’s minimal vacancies. Business engagement with customers and the community is another variable. While Marian Cihacek said the most challenging part of running the business is finding employees, she said they’ve been lucky to find those who enjoy the service industry. Take Jerome Hudson for instance, who makes the commute from north Omaha to Rockbrook regularly and is missed by customers when absent. “Customers come in and ask if Jerome is coming to make the coffee,” Marian Cihacek said. “He knows everyone and their grandkids and their dogs.” Great Harvest Bread also donates reguContinued on page 11.
Midlands Business Journal Established in 1975
Trey Simpson, director of finance, Metonic Real Estate Solutions
The toughest part of the job: Managing the balance between the needs of every stakeholder within a real estate investment. It can be easy to accept short-term results at the expense of long-term returns, making the balance difficult to navigate at times. The best advice I have received: “Everyone knows how to spend someone else’s money.” About my family: I am the middle of five children in my family. My parents and nearly all of my siblings are educators, ranging from elementary through high school levels. Something else I’d like to accomplish: Playing a round of golf under par. Book I finished reading recently: “The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Something about me not everyone knows: I have never traveled outside of the continental USA. How my business will change in the next decade: In multifamily real estate, the next decade will be all about the consumer and finding creative ways to meet their
demands. I expect technology to play a huge role in making the renting experience quicker and simpler than ever before. Mentor who has helped the most in my career: Aaron Flaugh has had a large influence on my career. He took the time to introduce me to the industry and trusted me early on to not mess anything up! Outside interests: Sports occupy most of my time outside of my career — especially anything dealing with the Cornhuskers. Pet peeves: The five extra questions I’m asked at the gas pump. Favorite vacation spot: Lake Tahoe. Other careers I would like to try: Coaching. Favorite movie: “Margin Call.” Favorite cause or charity: The Nebraska Humane Society and Children’s Hospital and Medical Center. Favorite app: Twitter. (Editor’s note: To nominate an interesting businessman or woman for the Business Minute, please e-mail information about the person to news@mbj.com.)
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Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Nicky Clark builds career improving diversity, inclusion at Heartland Family Service Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of profiles featuring Midlands Business Journal 40 Under 40 award winners — entrepreneurs, business owners, managers and professionals under 40 years of age.
by Dwain Hebda
From a tender age, Nicky Clark always saw the beauty in diversity and inclusion, but the realities of daily life didn’t always square with that viewpoint. “I grew up in Omaha in a really diverse neighborhood both racially and socio-economically,” she said. “I also grew up in a family that was interracial. I grew up seeing a lot of inequity. I grew up seeing how things were unfair for some people, how things were drastically unfair for certain people and I saw that play out all the time.” Clark said the hard lines in the community — both stated and implied — were reinforced to her as she attended private school. She couldn’t have known then that each of these experiences was shaping her for social work. “I had friends who were middle income, upper income people, so I saw differences all the time,” she said. “I always was curious about why those differences are happening. As I got older, I realized I can do something about this. I didn’t always know I wanted to be a social worker, but I always knew I wanted to help people.” At first, Clark thought that meant a career as a history teacher, later realizing that wasn’t where her passion really was. “I had a very specific idea of what I wanted to do; I just didn’t know the field,” she said.
“By the time I started to learn more about social work and realized that’s what I wanted to do I was almost graduating with my bachelor’s. So I applied to the master’s program [in social work] at UNO.” Clark joined Heartland Family Service in 2011 as coordinator of the Ready in Five program. She was promoted to community education program director three years later and three years after that was promoted to her current position, assistant vice president. In that role, she’s responsible for overseeing current programs, particularly those serving children and families, refugee populations and juvenile justice. She also participates in strategic planning to make sure the organization stays up on community needs. “When we see a gap in the community, we ask what we can do to serve that need, what resources do we need and who needs to be involved and then connect all of that,” she said. “One of the biggest ones right now is our place space initiative. Traditionally in social work, we have a service, we go to the people who need the service and we provide that service. That’s effective, but to be more effective we want to engage the community and give them the power to make those decisions and control those resources.” New thinking not only results in new programs but can also inform the manner in which an organization approaches its work. A good example of this is Heartland Family Service’s adoption of trauma informed care, something Clark called a strength of the organization. “One thing that we do really well here is
Assistant Vice President Nicky Clark community. we have services that are trauma informed so we’re not retraumatizing people by what we’re offering them,” she said. “That’s really a shift in the way people think. “When you’re working with clients, you see behaviors you can’t even imagine and you’re like, ‘Why would you do that? Why would you
… Addressing needs for inclusion in the choose drugs over your child?’ for example. Trauma informed care gives a framework to understand that and shift from what’s wrong with you to what happened to you in your life where it makes sense to choose drugs over your child. It’s a whole new model and we’ve done a good job of shifting our whole agency to it.”
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Environment Industry A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
March 29, 2019
Nebraska sees increase in environmentally conscious consumers by Dwain Hebda
Nebraska may be Big Red country, but according to local businesses and organizations, a love of green isn’t far behind. They say the typical Nebraska consumer today puts a priority on goods and services that are provided in an environmentally sensible manner across a range of industries. “Across all industries, we see an increasing trend toward environmentally conscious products and behaviors,” said Laura Strode, product marketing generalist for Omaha Public Power District. “From a utilities perspective, OPPD truly lives out our mission, which is to provide affordable, reliable and environmentally sensitive energy services to our customers.” Strode said the company’s efforts in this area includes a long list of green, energy efficient practices, the latest of which include a pilot program incentivizing the purchase of electric vehicles and EV home chargers, rolled out last year. The utility has even more ambitious offerings on the horizon, too. “Our upcoming launch of the OPPD Community Solar program is a big focus for us right now,” she said. “We are excited to offer our customers a community solar program that is designed as an effective, affordable way for our customers to promote clean, locally generated electricity. “The community solar array will be located in Fort Calhoun and will be generating electricity in the upcoming months. Customers can enroll in the program early to secure their shares in the program prior to the array going online.” Business owners are also demonstrating a more energy-conscious mindset, right down to the design of their buildings. According to Josh Greenfield, HDR’s director of high performance design, technology has made it possible to engineer building systems to the highest standards of energy efficiency. “HVAC generation and distribution systems are always evolving and improving in the categories of energy performance, maintenance and control,” he said. “HVAC options and system types abound, such as active chilled beams, displacement ventilation, radiant slabs, variable refrigerant flow and under-floor air distribution.” Greenfield said these advancements give engineers the flexibility to create building systems that are fine-tuned to each client’s particular heating and cooling needs, based on a variety of building attributes. “Comparing and contrasting the design parameters of the building helps us integrate [systems] with potential natural ventilation requirements, operable windows, floor-to-floor
Laura Strode, OPPD product marketing generalist. and floor-to-ceiling requirements, floorplate di- benefits specific to a particular set of project mensions and many other parameters,” he said. parameters, and each HVAC system option “Every HVAC system has unique adaptability must be viewed from the same perspective.”
Nebraskans are showing a greater energy consciousness in their daily routines, as evidenced by their adherence to recycling. But, as Megan Jackson, program manager of the Nebraska Recycling Council notes, new materials are presenting challenges to conventional recycling practices. “People want to do the right thing, but knowing what’s right for recycling is increasingly complex and confusing,” she said. “New products are being introduced constantly and we don’t yet know their full impact.” Johnson said textiles are a prime example. She noted new fabrics are being made with synthetic fibers derived from plastics and represent roughly 60 percent of the material in clothes worldwide. “These synthetic materials shed tiny fibers every time they’re washed, adding to the pollution of microplastics that are not only in our oceans, but now being found in most bottled water and tap water around the world, in fish and even in flying insects,” she said. “We’ve seen consumers lead the movement to tackle single-use plastics, such as straws, and while it would be very difficult to eliminate plastics in our culture in the short term, we all need take steps to prevent the plastics problem from getting worse.”
Omaha metro rich with environmental projects by David Kubicek
Many construction projects with environmental features are in progress or have been recently completed in Omaha. The deadline for completing the combined sewer overflow projects is 2037, according to Tom Heinemann, program manager for Clean Solutions for Omaha. There is a combination of projects that will work together to gain the control that’s needed. One facet is sewer separation. “In the older part of the city, the sewer system was designed to carry both sanitary sewage and stormwater,” Heinemann said. “When there’s a little rainfall, those combined sewers become overwhelmed, which results in overflow to rivers and creeks. The more modern way is to build separate pipes for stormwater and sewage.” When the CSO program is finished, the city will have separated about 20 percent of its combined sewer area by either construction of a new sanitary sewer or a storm sewer where the flows are separate. The program also made major improvements to the city’s Missouri River water resource recovery facility so it can handle
and treat higher flows during wet weather as well as to the conveyance systems that feed wastewater to that plant.
Heinemann Crane In late April, construction is scheduled to begin on a high-rate treatment facility that during wet weather will capture, treat and disinfect wastewater for discharge. Also in the CSO plan are a few storage tanks to capture combined sewage to send to the treatment plants, to build a deep tunnel system to convey combined sewage to a high-rate treatment facility, and to implement green infrastructure projects for stormwater management.
Boyd Jones recently completed several projects with environmental elements. “Stewardship and continuous improvement are two values that drive Boyd Jones,” said President Jon Crane. Construction is now complete on the 42acre Baxter West Dodge Pointe dealership campus, with its four buildings totaling 178,000 square feet. Each structure has in-floor radiant heating, which is critical to achieving better energy efficiency in a dealership setting where overhead doors are constantly opening throughout the workday. Other environmental attributes include solar panels on the rooftop of the Subaru dealership and a water detention basin for stormwater runoff for the entire campus. The firm installed about 1,500 solar photovoltaic panels on the rooftops of three UNMC buildings and 55 heat pumps throughout the two-story, 62,000-square-foot Lindsay Corp. headquarters, as well as occupancy sensors that control energy-efficient LED lighting throughout the space. In Bellevue, the firm will build St. Matthew Catholic Church, a 35,000-square-foot, two-stoContinued on next page.
Environment Industry •
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Sustainable strategies create new ways of thinking about business operations by Jasmine Heimgartner
As technology and innovation shed more light on the impact individuals can have on their community and environment, the definition of sustainability has begun to change and grow. Beyond the individual, many businesses are recognizing how their operations may affect not only the bottom line but also the greater good. “The business community in any city, town or village touches the life of every resident in the larger community,” said W. Cecil Steward, president and CEO, Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities. “In a sustainable community, the ideal
relationship to a net zero profile of energy, clean air and water, and maximum efforts to conserve non-renewable resources depends upon all consumers of these resources being individually and collectively conservation stewards of these natural resources.” The challenge businesses face is that they are not all the same. The fact that a small business’s environmental footprint is much different than a large company creates the need for each business to decide what sustainability means to them. “There isn’t a one size fits all,” said Craig Moody, managing partner, Verdis Group. “The challenge is deciding what
Omaha metro rich with environmental projects Continued from preceding page. Principal Todd Mack said. ry, 700-seat structure, using Fox Blocks, which The firm always incorporates the basics of feature interlocking hollow foam pieces that using low water consumption plumbing fixtures. act as concrete forms. When filled “This lessens the water usage with concrete, the foam forms will and the load on wastewater treatoffer added protection against temment plants,” Mack said. “We also perature fluctuations and increased regularly incorporate remote sump wind resistance. systems for our projects which have The Omaha Plumbing Code fluid coolers or cooling towers. A effectively prohibits spilling chemside benefit is that this practice will ically treated water to grade or roof. save the owner money on water If a cooling tower or fluid cooler is treatment and operations and maindrained and spilled, the chemically tenance.” treated water could eventually land Recent projects where DLR has in the storm sewer and ultimately installed geothermal heat pumps Mack into streams and rivers without any include Bennington Anchor Pointe water treatment, which is stormwater pollution. Elementary, Adams Central Elementary School, Although this cooling tower drain restriction Elkhorn North High School, Platteview Central is not found in all model plumbing codes, DLR Junior High Schools and Elkhorn Elementary Group applies it regularly to all of its projects, School No. 12.
makes the most sense for your organization — what is going to resonate with employees and customers, the financial aspect and
Steward Moody environment. Part of making that judgment should be assessing the landscape of what others are doing around them, especially competitors and peers, so they can make a good informed decision.” Sustainability requires balancing the economics and social and environmental impact, as well as technologies available to make changes. “The first step is to investigate your business interests, either new or ongoing, in a context of diminishing natural resources,” Steward said. “How can this business contribute to long-term conservation and be a pillar of the social welfare of the community and be economically profitable? The second step is to develop an operative vision of the future of this enterprise. The third step is to develop a list of sustainability indicators.” These indicators often mean looking ahead instead of at the upfront costs of in-
corporating change, as well as being ready for what may come next. “You have to be on that edge because you know it’s coming, probably sooner than you think,” said Andi Mehner, managing partner, D3Sign Cube. “We are always integrating technology into designs. The good news is it has become smaller and easier to incorporate. Mehner Many see the benefits of the long-term savings.” Whether it’s LED lighting, remote security systems, automated shades, energy-efficient equipment or solar panels, the move to more efficient methods of a building’s operation is becoming the norm. Change within the infrastructure is also an important element of developing a sustainable business. This often starts with business leaders starting conversations, often which may involve recycling. “Recycling is needed, but recycling won’t fix all the problems,” said Brent Crampton, director of partnerships, Hillside Solutions. “The conversation is next headed in how to reduce and reuse.” The move to a zero waste infrastructure requires education and effort from both leadership and employees in treating trash as a resource and moving beyond thinking of recycling as a one-bin break room soluContinued on next page.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Energy audits pay off in long run by Gabby Christensen
Performing routine energy audits on commercial/office buildings not only saves owners on operational costs, but also can improve occupant comfort and productivity. Brad Robinson, branch manager at Acme Dock Specialists, Inc., said the company is typically involved in this process on industrial buildings and offers this service free of charge. “The general energy cost savings to the customer is similar to what you would have in your home, but in a large facility,
Sustainable strategies Continued from preceding page. tion. A dual-stream system helps ensure that material winds up where it needs to be, which includes incorporating composting into the equation. “We take food waste and other compostable materials and turn that into nutrient dense soil for gardens and farms in the community,” Crampton said. “Through composting, we are diverting about 50,000 tons annually from the landfill.” Another strategy gaining momentum in Omaha is incorporating active transportation programs. Their objective is to reduce the number of employees traveling to work by car alone and encouraging the use of transit, car pooling and biking. Beyond the business impact, this type of program reduces the need for parking lots, freeing up space for other uses. Climate resiliency is also a needed conversation for any sustainability strategy. “We know that the climate is changing,” Moody said. “Part of what we are doing is helping businesses think about what the impacts of the climate changing will be on their business, ideally as an opportunity.”
these costs can be huge,” Robinson said. “Roughly figure a 1-square-inch gap exposed to the exterior costs a customer about $6 annually. If you estimate that a typical loading dock position exposes more than 40 square inches, you can see how this adds up quickly.” A d d i t i o n a l l y, Robinson said that most of its clients are in the food industry, meaning food safety Overman and security are huge concerns with its customers. “Keeping ‘white-light’ out of their facilities is paramount,” he said. “Addressing the energy side of this also addresses the food safety aspect.” According to Robinson, there are a variety of ways to save energy. “Our business only addresses a small portion of these, but we do have the ability to reduce energy costs both inside and outside facilities,” he said. Jeremy Overman, electrical risk consultant at Miller Electric, said it’s critical to
have a proactive service plan, as it can double the life of the electrical system, reduce accidents and save money in annual utility costs and insurance premiums. Overman said other benefits include reduced business interruption costs, minimized life/safety risks, extended equipment life, minimized electrical utility costs, greatly reduced repair costs and minimized power quality risks. “Miller Electric protects commercial and industrial facilities from costly business interruptions Holtzclaw and property damage caused by electrical system failures and electrical fires by providing unique and comprehensive electrical preventative and predictive maintenance functions,” he said. According to Overman, some services that businesses can receive include inspection by licensed and Level II certified electricians, infrared thermography, ultrasonic services, voltage and current diagnostics, power quality and supporting documentation as well as asset management software. In addition to the proactive maintenance
solutions, Overman said Miller Electric performs Arc Flash Studies for customers. David Holtzclaw, president of Transduction Technologies, said energy audits improve equipment performance and lifespan, while also synchronizing capital and life-cycle management. “During the energy audit, an energy auditor will visit your site and interview your facility manager, inspect your building envelope, insulation levels, air sealing, windows, roof, lighting, air conditioning, heating and ventilation equipment, controls, refrigeration, air compressors, water consuming equipment, and anything else that is using energy,” Holtzclaw said. “Depending on the type of the audit, the auditor may take measurements of temperatures, pressures, light levels, power draw, and other parameters.” Holtzclaw said an energy audit report typically contains a description of the building’s existing energy consuming equipment, an energy balance and most importantly, a presentation of feasible energy conservation measures (ECMs). “Some of the ECMs identified in the audit will take decades to pay for themselves, while others will start paying for themselves within months,” Holtzclaw said. “Once you have the audit in hand, you can make good decisions as to where to invest your energy efficiency money.”
less tolerant of contaminants in recycling loads, he said. For example, glass contaminates a load of recycled paper or cardboard, which can result in landfilling the material. “In the past, 5 to 10 percent contamination was acceptable, but now it is much more stringent,” he said. Consequently, it is important to focus on recycling right as much as recycling more. “Even though it seems counterintuitive, it’s better to place something in the trash if
you doubt whether or not it can be recycled,” Stratman said. “In essence, when it doubt, throw it out.”
Recycling industry offering more innovative options by Lee Nelson
Recycling, even at the local level, is impacted by global forces, said Chris Stratman, executive director of Keep Omaha Beautiful. “For many years, much of the United States’ recycling was routed to China,” he said. “However, China is no longer accepting most recyclable commodities from foreign countries, which has greatly impacted the recycling industry.” Consequently, other countries and local U.S. recyclers and processors are becoming
Stratman Gubbels An interesting option for Omaha area residents is the Hefty Energy Bag program, he said. Omaha is one of only a few U.S. cities participating. This program focuses on collecting non-rigid film plastics such as candy wrappers, six-pack rings and juice pouches. “They usually are considered non-recyclable,” he said. “But in this program, residents can put them in a bright orange bag tied shut and put in their curbside recycling bins and carts. They are collected by hand at the sort line, shipped to an out-of-state plant and converted into a diesel-like fuel.” Kent Holm, director of Douglas County Environmental Services, said there continues to be a shift, especially on the private, commercial side, toward waste diversion and waste avoidance — not creating waste in the first place. “This trend is expected to continue as more companies adopt and implement sustainability measures and specific zero waste and similar policies,” he said. Douglas County does not offer recycling options directly to residents and businesses, he said. “However, the city of Omaha through its contract with Waste Management offers curbside recycling to Omaha residents along with trash and yard waste collection,” he Continued on page 10.
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Flywheel introduces Local for Teams, grant program; eyes new headquarters Continued from page 1. of the city, one of the last — if not the last — opportunity for a cool warehouse district.” A leading WordPress hosting and management site founded by Davidson, Tony Noecker and Rick Knudtson in 2012, Flywheel, at the time of this writing, spanned around 200 employees across three locations
Flywheel Phone: 402-235-6105 Address: 1405 Harney St., Suite 201, Omaha 68102 Services: WordPress hosting and management platform for designers and agencies Founded: 2012 by Dusty Davidson, Tony Noecker and Rick Knudtson Employees: around 200 Goals: Hire around an additional 100 employees near and far by summer 2020 when the firm is slated to move in to its new headquarters. Website: getflywheel.com
in Omaha and around the globe. A nod to its growth, a late 2017 Midlands Business Journal feature noted that Flywheel employed 105 people. By the time of Flywheel’s move-in to the third and fourth floors of the Ashton Building, Davidson anticipates the firm will employ around 300 people. “We’ll have a ton of space to add 100 to 200 people over the next couple of years,” he said. The new headquarters will more than double Flywheel’s existing 25,000 square feet across its three locations. “We’ll have almost an entire team on a whole floor,” he said. “We believe that space really matters for innovation, employee morale and pride, and for people to feel like they can do their best, most creative work. We put a lot of thought into: What is the design of the space? What does it look like and how does it make you feel?” Over the next nine to 12 months, Davidson noted the neighborhood between 11th and 14th streets from Izard to Seward streets will take shape. “There are a lot of moving parts,” he said. He referred to the city’s role, for instance, in new streets and parking structures, as well as overall landscape design and breathing new life into several buildings in the neighborhood in addition to the Ashton Building. Around 18 months ago, the idea that would become Millwork Commons was developer and investor Paul G. Smith, asking Davidson at an event what he thought about north Downtown. “I said, ‘There isn’t a lot of movement. It’s a desert,’” he recalled. “He said, ‘What if we did something big?’ … He realized Flywheel not only cared about it, but also wanted to plant a flag and take a stand.” Davidson noted the move will represent a return to Flywheel’s “roots.” “When we first started with three or four people, we shared an office space with Silicon Prairie News in north Downtown,” he said. “So, we have always been advocates of that part of town, that intersection of the gritty and the creative. And if you look around the country, other tech hubs and other great tech companies that exist tend to coalesce around warehouse districts. For the last five years,
we’ve been in the Old Market for many of the same reasons — we care about density and the urban core, and we want our employees to be a part of the city.” And, while Davidson said Flywheel will continue to hire aggressively in Omaha, he noted that about 20 percent of its workforce can be found around the globe, with concentrations in areas such as Europe and Australia. “We don’t want to limit ourselves,” he said. In part, he noted, the need for time zone coverage as well as for specialized skills — employees with expertise in a very specific technology. As it relates to its offerings, in late
February Davidson reported that Flywheel introduced the “paid” version of Local by Flywheel: Local for Teams. “Local is a software app that allows you to easily build WordPress websites,” Davidson said. “The community is freely available for anyone to use free of charge. And Local for Teams is geared toward the professional WordPress developer and those who are working collaboratively for teams.” He referred to additional functionality for the team version. “The free version will always be free,” Davidson said. In late December, Flywheel announced the opening of the Local Dev Fund — offer-
ing grants of $1,000 to $10,000 over the next three years to WordPress developers invested in creating add-ons for Local by Flywheel. “We’ve had the Local product now for a couple of years and it’s always been freely available,” he said. “It’s just a nice complement to our core platform.” Davidson noted the fund was launched to spur the community to develop add-ons, so Local’s “functionality can be extended by developers across the globe,” and to better support the workflows of people building WordPress websites. “The goal is to build an ecosystem and platform on top of Local and with the addons,” he said.
Continued from page 1. they pursued the staffing work with caution and only in the past 18 months has the firm sought and trained the necessary personnel to grow the service. “We specialize in niches of employment, train people for these niches and we’ve never wanted to be the jack of all trades,” Courtnage said.
27th largest staffing firm by Staffing Industry Analysts as well as the 84th largest globally. In addition to Aureus Medical Group, other C&A Industries’ affiliates include: Aureus Group — a provider of customized staffing solutions specializing in the fields of finance and accounting, information and technology systems, health care leadership and executive-level searches; Celebrity Staff — a staffing solutions provider specializing in the administrative, management and legal fields; AurStaff — staffing solutions targeting industrial, skilled trades, technical, architectural and engineering fields; FocusOne Solutions — provider of managed services solutions and software; AurTravel — a full service boutique-style travel agency; and AurHomes — a provider of corporate housing. Both Courtnage and Thompson cite C&A Industries’ growing stable of employees as
being the most important factor in the firm’s 50th anniversary story. “We’ve sought extraordinary employees to be part of what’s being built,” Thompson said. “Also important is the exceptional training to teach employees the policies, procedures, and with it to develop an operational culture that involves giving back to the community,” Courtnage said. Courtnage, who holds a 1966 electrical engineering degree from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said he built the business around a passion to enable each employee to use the firm’s heavy investment in training as a stepping-stone to growth within the organization. Kathy Wolf-Courtnage, Larry Courtnage’s wife, is vice-chair and an owner of Continued on page 10.
C&A Industries invests in employee recruitment
C&A Industries Phone: 402-891-0009 Address: 13609 California St., Suite 500, Omaha 68154 Services: staffing and recruiting Founded: 1969 by Larry Courtnage Employees: around 700 Goal for 2019: Continue to work to earn more great clients and solidify what’s being done for the clients we have. Industry outlook: The business climate since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 has been ripe for growth in the staffing industry. Website: www.ca-industries.com
Thompson, who told Midlands Business Journal in an interview five years ago that Aureus Medical Group — the largest of C&A Industries’ affiliates — retains the belief that as baby boomers are getting older and living longer, more medical attention is going to be required. Aureus Medical Group was ranked as the seventh largest health care staffing firm in the nation last year by Staffing Industry Analysts. In addition, Aureus Radiology, LLC and Aureus Nursing, LLC were among the first national staffing firms to receive Gold Seal Approval Status in 2005 from The Joint Commission, an entity that accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the U.S. Thompson said C&A Industries intends to expand its workforce by 50 this year, consistent with the nearly 150 new positions created over the past three years. Thompson, who was employed by Valmont for 12 years before coming to C&A Industries, holds an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Nebraska at Omaha as well as an MBA. He said C&A Industries transacts more than 10,000 placements annually and that the 50-year total is in the “hundreds of thousands.” C&A Industries reached about $250 million in annual revenues in 2014 and since then has grown at a rate of 10 to 15 percent annually to be ranked in 2018 as the nation’s
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
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REGIONAL LANDSCAPES
Briefs…
American Midwest Ballet will add a school featuring dance classes. The new program, American Midwest Ballet School, will open registrations April 15, with classes beginning July 15. Motion 41 Dance, the west Omaha dance studio that has served as American Midwest Ballet’s rehearsal space since the company’s founding 10 years ago, will be the initial site of the new school. In the long term, Motion 41 will phase out its operations, with co-owner Susan Chowning joining the American Midwest Ballet staff as school director. Matthew Lovegood, Motion 41’s other principal, already holds the post of ballet master with American Midwest Ballet. The Manufacturing Institute will award Jennifer Knowlton with the Women in Manufacturing STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Production) Ahead Award. The STEP Ahead Awards honor women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers and represent all levels of the manufacturing industry, from the factory-floor to the C suite. The STEP Ahead Awards are part of the larger STEP Ahead initiative, launched to examine and promote the role of women in the manufacturing industry through recognition, research, and leadership for attracting, advancing and retaining strong female talent. For the fourth year in a row and the fifth time since 2014, Site Selection named Omaha – Council Bluffs No. 1 for new and expanded corporate facilities among areas with populations between 200,000 and 1 million in 2018. Site Selection included: MetLife - Opening a 300-person service center in downtown Omaha; Flywheel – Expanding headquarters to 65,000 square-feet in Millwork Commons, north downtown; Warren Distribution – Expanding in Council Bluffs: $12.8 million, 211,000 square feet, creating 30 jobs; i2c Inc. – Expanding to Omaha, creating 300 jobs; Toast – Expanding to Omaha with a potential of creating 500 jobs; and Facebook Expansion – Growing to 2.6 million square feet in arpy County. The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has selected Werner Enterprises professional driver Tim Dean as the winner of the 2019 International Driver Excellence Award. Since joining Werner in 1988, Dean has served as a 2009-2010 American Trucking Association’s America’s Road Team captain, a Werner Road Team captain since 2005 and accomplished the rare safety milestone of driving four million accident-free miles. The annual International Driver Excellence Award was established in 2015 to honor individuals who go above and beyond the performance of their duties as a commercial motor vehicle driver. Dean is the second Werner driver to win the award. Omaha’s Jackson Lewis P.C. Principal Kelvin C. Berens has been named a winner of the 2019 Client Choice Awards. The Client Choice Awards, in conjunction with International Law Office and Lexology, recognizes law firms and partners around the world that stand apart for the excellent client care they provide and the quality of their service. Berens focuses his practice on complex labor relations issues, purchases, relocations, sales and shutdowns, helps businesses avert problems and develop long-term labor-related strategies and goals. He negotiates collective bargaining agreements with unions across the country. FNTS has achieved VMware Cloud Verified status. The Cloud Verified badge signals that FNTS offers a service running on top of the complete VMware Cloud infrastructure. With its VMware Cloud Verified status, FNTS clients
attain access to the full set of VMware Cloud Infrastructure capabilities, including integration and interoperability, cost optimization and flexibility supported by value-added FNTS services. RDG Planning & Design, a 54-year-old organization, which currently has offices in three states, will renovate a half-city block near downtown Omaha’s historic Old Market district. The announcement comes on the heels of a $290 million, 90-acre plan to revitalize Omaha’s Gene Leahy Mall and riverfront, just blocks from RDG’s new, headquarters at 1301 Harney Street, the former Greater Omaha Chamber building.
Health care notes…
The University of Nebraska Medical Center awarded Live On Nebraska with the Community Service to Research Award at the Distinguished Scientist Awards Ceremony. Live On Nebraska, formerly known as the Nebraska Organ Recovery System, provides UNMC’s surgery department with human arterial tissues from organ and tissue donors. One of 58 organ procurement organizations throughout the country, Live On Nebraska is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and healing lives through organ and tissue donation. It serves Nebraska and Pottawattamie County in Iowa. In the past six years, Live On Nebraska has provided UNMC laboratories with arteries from 593 human subjects. UNMC/Nebraska Medicine oncologist Julie Vose, M.D., will be formally inducted into Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Vose, chief of the division of oncology/hematology in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, has been elected a fellow in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The RCPE is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organizations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. Children’s Hospital & Medical Center has named 8-year-old Caiden Loose-Ives as the 2019 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Champion for the state of Nebraska. Throughout this year, Loose-Ives and his family will serve as spokespeople, advocating for the charitable need at children’s hospitals across North America. In 2018, he started “Wear Red Wednesday” at his school during February in recognition of National Heart Month. Teachers had the opportunity to wear jeans in exchange for a donation. He also gives presentations at his school about congenital heart disease, including showing x-rays of his pacemaker and mechanical valve. In 2018, Loose-Ives raised $2,056 for Children’s.
Education notes…
A new fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation will support NU students and employees on all campuses facing sudden financial hardship from emergency situations like the recent flooding that has impacted people and communities across the state. Contributions to the University of Nebraska Emergency Assistance Fund are being accepted now. Gifts may be made securely online or mailed to University of Nebraska Foundation, P.O. Box 82555, Lincoln NE 68501-2555. Make checks payable to the University of Nebraska Foundation and include “NU Emergency Assistance Fund” on the memo line or enclosed with the gift. Students and employees interested in requesting aid may contact the university at NUEmergencyFund@ nebraska.edu or 402-472-2111. U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s public administration programming No. 25 in the Continued on next page.
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REGIONAL LANDSCAPES Continued from preceding page. nation, tied. Several specialty public administration areas were also ranked highly including: Public Finance and Budgeting tied at No. 4; Local Government tied at No. 8; Nonprofit Management No. 11; and Public Management No. 35. Also notable: The Grace Abbott School of Social Work’s graduate programming at No. 96 and the College of Business Administration’s part-time MBA at No. 99. U.S. News and World Report’s 2020 Online Program rankings also named UNO’s online criminology and criminal justice graduate program the nation’s best program of its kind. The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is the recipient of the 2019 University-wide Departmental Teaching Award. Honored departments, selected by a committee of faculty members from across the university, receive $25,000 to be used in a manner the department sees fit, such as for travel to a conference, instructional equipment or improvements to a classroom or student resource. UNL’s Department of Biochemistry has made significant efforts to revitalize its curriculum. The department’s faculty has also built an outstanding record in research, with one of the highest levels of extramural support per FTE on campus and numerous publications in high-impact scientific journals.
Activities of nonprofits…
The 22nd Annual JDRF Promise Gala “Invest in a Cure” was organized by the JDRF Omaha-Council Bluffs Chapter. The Gala raised more than $1.6 million to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes and its complications. For the first time in its history, the event was live streamed due to the blizzard. Participants bid on silent and live auction items and donated to the signature JDRF Fund A Cure program. Fund A Cure provides the opportunity to make a 100 percent tax-deductible gift directly to fund critical JDRF research priorities. Fund A Cure contributions raised over $1 million. The YMCA of Greater Omaha received
its fifth consecutive 4-star rating from Charity Navigator. The 4-star rating from Charity Navigator represents an independent evaluation of the Y’s financial stability and commitment to transparency and accountability. Only 11 percent of organizations evaluated by Charity Navigator have ever earned a 4-star rating for five consecutive years. The Y also kicked off its 2019 Strong Communities Campaign. This annual fundraising campaign helps the Y provide programs and services to everyone in the Omaha-metro area. In 2018 the YMCA of Greater Omaha provided more than $1.7 million in scholarship and financial assistance to Omaha families. Pottawattamie County Community Foundation has awarded a $1,000 grant to Children’s Square U.S.A. for its unique science, technology, engineering, and math programs in its three-year-old preschool classrooms. The addition of these learning tools will provide each student with a solid foundation in the STEM field at an early age. Eighty-five percent of students who have participated in this program met the Iowa Learning Standards. Learning is assessed by evaluating enhanced fine-motor skills, expansion of vocabulary, enhanced number recognition, and identifying quantities. In addition, Children’s Square has developed curriculum focused on recycling, being a good citizen and working as a community.
Arts and events…
Anthony Maranise, American Book Festival Award winner and author, will hold a book signing and discussion on his latest book from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on April 4 at Urban Abbey. The book, “Cross of a Different Kind: Cancer and Christian Spirituality,” is a celebration of his 20 years of remission and as a cancer survivor. Maranise draws from his experiences as a cancer survivor, spiritual theologian, and hospital chaplain to guide readers to an understanding of suffering and joy. Also featured will be the book’s illustrator, Mirjana Walther. Proceeds from sales at this event will
MEETINGS AND SEMINARS Monday, April 1 AIM is hosting Infotec on April 1-2 at the Embassy Suites Omaha - La Vista Hotel and Conference Center. Infotec combines the best of big conferences and small networking events into one experience, focusing on the intersections of technology, business and innovation. Breakout sessions will include talks on blockchain, cloud based AI, scalable oracle database solutions in AWS and Azure DevOps. Workshops, which can be added to the general conference cost, include automated web UI testing with Geb, data-driven organizing and Certified ScrumMaster Training. Registration is available online. Wednesday, April 3 The GROW Nebraska MarkeTech Conference will take place at the Younes Conference Center in Kearney, Nebraska. MarkeTech is a marketing and technology conference in Nebraska that attracts attendees from all over the state as well as outside the state. The keynote speaker will be Amanda Bond, owner of The Ad Strategist and creator of The StrADegy System. Breakout sessions will include topics like: video and multi-media strategies, cyber security, web presence brand raising and more. There will be opportunities for networking in between sessions. Registration is online. Lutz will host a seminar on human resource management in a changing environ-
ment at its Omaha office. On the most basic level, HR is involved in recruiting, hiring, benefits, compensation, training, employee relations, terminations — just about anything that involves employees and their work lives. In this seminar, Stephanie Hand will cover human resource management in an ever-changing environment. In the second half of the seminar, Chris Bouchard of Lutz Talent, will discuss the benefits of hiring temporary staff, as well as some downfalls that can lead to a less-than-ideal experience for both parties. Bouchard will cover the right way and a wrong way to go about temp workers including the screening process and “to-do’s” once the temporary employee is hired. Thursday, April 11 Tania Richard — award-winning actress, author, and diversity and inclusion consultant — will headline the April chapter program for the Human Resource Association of the Midlands. Richard, who is also the owner and lead trainer of Improv Delivery: Improvisation Training for Professionals, will lead the audience through skill building exercises centered on navigating difficult conversations about race. The April Program will be held at the Scott Conference Center, 6450 Pine Street. The general public is invited to attend. Tickets can be purchased online at hram.org/events until April 5.
benefit Urban Abbey and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Apollon Arts Space will debut Rumors in the Kitchen on April 4 at 7 p.m. The Apollon is an intimate, immersive and often interactive theatre and art space. Tickets include dinner and show and provide guests the opportunity to engage with the performers throughout the evening and participate in various activities within the story of the show. The menu is curated by a local chef and will include tea biscuits, cottage pie and sweet rice pudding with raisins. Tickets are $30 and available online. The show runs through April 20. Don’t miss your opportunity to obtain free tickets to Grant Imahara, an electronics and robots expert from Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters, who will headline this year’s Nebraska Science Festival on April 5. Tickets for general admission seating are online. Imahara will share his experiences in science, which includes a current consulting role for Walt Disney Imagineering, where he works on next-generation robots to go into Disney’s theme parks. He also has worked on some of the most famous movie and TV robots of all time including R2-D2 and the Energizer Bunny. The Strategic Air Command & Aerospace Museum will host SciPop Interactive on April 6 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. SciPop Interactive includes science demonstrations and hands-on activities that highlight the mystery and illusion of pop-culture icons from Harry Potter and comic books. Guests ages 12 and younger will receive free admission and are encouraged to wear their favorite costume in support of their favorite comic book or Harry Potter character. There will be make-and-take projects for the first 500 youth, which include an invisible ink potion and an opportunity to
create a comic book. The 2019 Omaha Health Expo — Mind, Body and Spirit Fair, will take place on April 6-7 at the Baxter Arena from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event also includes the Senior Living Expo and will have over 300 exhibitors promoting healthy, holistic lifestyle choices and therapies. There will be over 50 educational workshops, demonstrations and presentations as well as natural food dining experiences and a sports and fitness clinic for kids. The event is $5 and there is free parking. Inclusive Communities is hosting the 2019 Humanitarian Brunch on April 7— an opportunity to recognize individuals and organizations for their service and commitment to making our community a better and more inclusive place for everyone. The featured guest speaker will be Vu Le, executive director of Rainier Valley Corps, a social justice nonprofit. The following will be awarded: Humanitarian of the Year: Marta Nieves, Otto Swanson Partner of the Year: The Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center, and Volunteer of the Year: Emily Schirmbeck. Registration is online. After hosting 15 workshops last October and engaging nearly 300 students, Opera Omaha and Nebraska Writers Collective have selected eight original poems, written by local students. The poems have been selected to be set to music by Luna Composition Lab alumni composers as part of Opera Omaha’s ONE Festival on April 7 and will be performed by the Opera Omaha Holland Community Opera Fellows. The selected poets will have the opportunity to participate with the composer in a workshop to further develop the piece with the composer and musicians, participating in the creation process.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Chinese copies are killing Pennsylvania artisan known for classic cast-iron fireplace designs by Jason Nark
J. Del Conner’s biggest headache is currently out of stock, but the Berks County renaissance man fears more could be en route, via cargo ships from China. Conner, 69, designs and sells cast-iron firebacks, large plates that are propped up inside fireplaces to protect the bricks and radiate heat. Conner started PennsylSmall BuSineSS vania Firebacks in 1979 in Philadelphia, and at his peak was selling 1,000 a year at $300 to $900 apiece, depending on size and intricacy of design. That number is down to about 600, and he blames China. Conner says foundries there have stolen his fireback designs, made cheaper versions, and shipped them to suppliers in the United States. Conner was so frustrated, he bought one of the knockoffs himself. The copies are often hundreds of dollars cheaper than his product, but the quality, he argues, is far from the same. “This is the one I made, and that’s the copy from China,” he said, holding two firebacks. “It’s the same exact thing. Theirs is 39 pounds and mine is 56. The back of theirs is hollow. Mine has my signature on it.” One of J. Del Conner’s firebacks is used in his home, which doubles as a studio, in Hamburg. Firebacks are used to protect the bricks in a fireplace and they help to push heat back into the house.
Recycling industry Continued from page 6. said. Private vendors offer recycling and yard waste services to their customers. Currently, there are a number of recycling drop-off sites in the metro area serving those that are not within the Omaha city limits, and they include glass drop-off containers, since glass is not collected curbside, he said. Brian Gubbels, CEO/president of DataShield Corp., said an electronic device recycling study last year by the National Association of Information Destruction showed 40 percent of the electronic devices intended to be recycled or reused were found to continue to have the previous owner’s personal identifiable information on the device after it was resold. “Choosing to recycle or have a device reused can be a great choice for the environment, but organizations and individuals need to make sure that a good deed doesn’t put themselves, their organization and their employees at substantial financial or safety risks,” he said. Currently, electronics are recycled at a rate of approximately 13 percent, sending the other 87 percent of discarded electronics to the landfill, Gubbels said. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with the amount of energy saved by recycling just the laptops that are discarded each year, more than 3,500 homes could be powered for an entire year, he said. “Hitting the delete button doesn’t remove your files, it simply removes the pathway to the file,” Gubbels said. “To fully protect your information, hard drives should be destroyed or shredded prior to disposal. Newer hard drives, specifically solid-state drives, must have the chips inside distorted in order to prevent information recovery.”
J. Del Conner holds a mold of his most popular fireback design, "The Great Oak", at his home, which doubles as a studio, in Hamburg, Pa. Conner, who owns Pennsylvania Firebacks, makes original firebacks, decorative pieces for fireplaces, and claims they are being pirated in China. (Margo Reed/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS) In January, the Inquirer reported on a Conner said he’s tried to track down the manufacturer, which has been fruitless. Hiring regulatory quirk that enables China to grow a lawyer, he said, wouldn’t be cost-effective. mushrooms and market them as a “Product of Instead, he’s focused on trying to reach out to the USA.” The rapid advance of the Chinese the suppliers in the U.S. He’s found his designs market quickly imperiled several Chester County mushroom farmers. for sale on Home Depot’s website. “They’ve managed to cripple me,” one “There’s not much you can do. You can farmer said. send letters,” he said. Jesus Espinoza, a spokesman for the Many websites now say “no stock currently available” for the knockoffs, “but that Alliance for American Manufacturing, said doesn’t mean a shipment isn’t on its way now trademark infringement affects every industry, from telecommunications to fashion, even from China,” Conner said. Competition from China is nothing new. something as unique as firebacks. “It’s basically theft,” Espinoza said. “FamThe country has been the world’s leading exporter of manufactured goods for a decade. ily-owned business are especially affected.” Country Iron Foundry, a Paoli-based fireConner’s firebacks aren’t the only uniquely Pennsylvania products counterfeited there. back manufacturer, did not return requests for Zippo lighters, the largest employer in rural comment. Firebacks are also made in England, McKean County, battles rampant piracy in Belgium, and France, Conner said. While firebacks are the bulk of Conner’s China, where its products are wildly popular.
income, he’s also an inventor of sorts, making bird’s-eye-view maps, illustrations, and wax molds. The Germantown native studied at the Hussian School of Art in Philadelphia and made a living as a freelance commercial artist, designing a logo for Six Flags Great Adventure. Until Philadelphia’s soda tax arrived, Conner made his own brand of black cherry soda for a decade, based on a recipe by the physician Philip Syng Physick, his great-great-grandfather. The soda was sold in Old City, he said, and he even held a “Phyzz Phest” every year at the Physick House on South Fourth Street. “The soda tax, in seven months, killed it,” he said. “It just got to be too much.” In recent years, Conner moved from an 1854 stone house in Germantown to a modern home in Hamburg, 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia, that overlooks a rolling landscape of red barns and farm fences. He sketches and designs the firebacks in a home office, taking rubber molds to a nearby foundry. His home is filled with guitars and artifacts. One of his favorite fireback designs, “The North Star,” shined behind the fake logs in his gas fireplace. Conner said a chimney sweep friend had recommended making firebacks, and Conner was familiar with them, having seen a roomful on display in the Mercer Museum in Doylestown. He was licensed to make reproductions from Winterthur Museum. Some of Conner’s pieces have been displayed at the Museum of the American Revolution. He’s currently designing firebacks for the daughter of the late British children’s author Roald Dahl. But Conner says he can’t compete with China and fears there could be more firebacks coming. “One of my designs, ‘The Field of Leaves,’ was selling for less than what it cost me to make it here in Pennsylvania,” he said. “How can you compete with yourself? I’d be losing money on every one.” ©2019 The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
between the hefty investment in training and a high level of employee engagement. For example, the 2019 Best Places to Work in Omaha survey indicated that roughly 95 percent of C&A employees were characterized as “engaged” and/or “contributing.” “With our training and development programs we do two things: we keep the client happy and we keep the employee happy,” Thompson said. “Everybody wins.” Larry Courtnage also stressed the heavy investment that is almost routinely made in technology. “We’ve followed the needs of the business sector in staying atop of the technology curve,” he said. In particular, Thompson said a significant investment in the past two years has been made in artificial intelligence. “So far it has been used to streamline and automate some of our repetitive processes,” he said. “As a result, it has allowed us to more effectively and timely respond to our clients’ and employees’ needs and what is even more exciting is AI’s application for future planned projects and leveraging its machine learning capabilities to tackle some broader and more
complex challenges.” Technology investment has also targeted customer relationship management and a web portal for employees, among others. Kathy Courtnage said the establishment of a wellness program has also been important to the success of C&A Industries. Her husband attended a WELLCOM presentation nearly 20 years ago in Lincoln; since then a committee of 20 to 25 plans and manages the C&A Industries employee wellness initiative. She is also a board member of the Kim Foundation, a nonprofit family-funded charity promoting and advocating for issues surrounding mental health and suicide prevention. Additional family members involved in C&A Industries include Craig Wolf, vice president/general manager of Aureus Medical Group, Mark Wolf, director of sales training and performance improvement, and Vicki Witkovski, corporate strategist/information systems. C&A Industries is planning a 50th anniversary celebration for Saturday, April 27, in the Capitol District. Entertainment will be provided by Jacob Martin, a Nashville-based singer/songwriter.
C&A Industries invests in employee recruitment Continued from page 7. C&A Industries. “Our management staff, which is made up of approximately 65 persons, includes more than 90 percent of those who come from within our workforce,” she said. The Courtnages, who dub their training department with 12 dedicated staffers Aureus University, credit their long-held belief in employee development as a major differentiator for C&A Industries. Liz Hall, an 18-year employee, is executive director of training and development. New hire and sales training along with professional development fall under the Aureus University mission. Professional development tends to focus on employees’ soft skills and a tiered program takes participants from level-to-level of the curriculum. CliftonStrengths — a Gallup program — as well as DiSC training, and other leading concepts are training modules offered. Earlier this year Training Magazine, an industry journal, ranked Aureus University’s efforts as among the Top 125 worldwide for effectiveness. Thompson said there’s a close correlation
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Helping kids get into college is a big business. It usually doesn’t involve bribery by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
Cutthroat competition to get into the nation’s best colleges has fueled an explosion of admissions consultants, who charge families thousands of dollars to help students navigate the process. education The industry is in the limelight, now that federal authorities have charged 50 people, including Hollywood celebrities Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and prominent business leaders, in a bribery scheme to get the kids of wealthy parents into top-ranked SUPER CROSSWORD
schools. While much of the nation has gasped in outrage, many in the growing field have cringed. “They give it a bad name,” said Tina Tranfaglia, founder of College Knowledge Admissions Consulting in Glenview, Ill. The number of independent education consultants operating in the U.S. has quadrupled since 2015, to an estimated 12,000 to 14,000, according to the Independent Education Consultants Association, a professional organization that runs training programs and ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS
sets ethical standards for its 1,850 members in an unregulated industry. The high-profile scandal has reignited criticism that consultants give privileged kids an additional leg up, or exacerbate the pressure many high school students feel to get into a top school at any cost. College admissions consultants, who help applicants with essays, test preparation, interviews and school selection, charge anywhere from $850 to $10,000 for comprehensive services, with an average price tag of $4,100 in the Midwest, according to the association. Increasingly, consultants offer hourly rates for families who want more limited services, at an average rate of $200 an hour. “My hope is that a big part of our job is reducing stress,” said Brooke Daly, president of the Higher Education Consultants Association, another professional group. “We will find schools that will fit you well and we will find schools that will admit you.” The Independent Education Consultants Association strongly encourages members to also offer their services for free to community groups that help students from disadvantaged areas prepare for college, and 99 percent do so, CEO Mark Sklarow said. With in-school guidance counselors at public high schools stretched particularly thin — one study found they have so many other duties that they spend only 38 minutes a year on college counseling per student — sometimes it’s the only help those students get. “I think it’s something that helps level the playing field,” Sklarow said. Sarah Langford, who launched On the Quad Consulting in Chicago five years ago after a career as a public high school teacher, said her interest in the field was driven by her observation that many families aren’t exposed to the college admissions process. Langford said she visits 20 campuses a year to learn as much as she can about the schools so that she can recommend them to students. She conducts personality intakes on students and comes up with lists of schools that fit their personalities and finances as well as their test scores and transcripts. inRead invented by Teads Tranfaglia, who launched her Glenview consulting company in 2007 after working for years as a marketing executive, said clients used to be interested only in getting into the most selective colleges, but now it’s across the board. Still, she focuses on high-achieving students who face complex applications and declining chances of getting into top-ranked schools, a disappointing reality for those who worked hard to get A’s and lead clubs and do everything else they thought they were supposed to do. Colleges have become increasingly selective as they are inundated with applications.
Northwestern University admitted only 8 percent of applicants in 2017, down from 32 percent in 2006, while University of Chicago’s admissions rate plunged to 7 percent from 38 percent during that period, according to a report last year from BusinessStudent.com. More international students, more sports recruits and a general rise in people opting for college have heightened competition for slots, while widespread use of tutoring has resulted in more students touting higher grades and test scores, said Tranfaglia, a Harvard University alumna who spent time on its admissions committee. To hedge their bets, students also apply to more schools than they used to, a process that has been made easier with The Common Application. Tranfaglia said kids often need help brainstorming essay ideas and expressing themselves in interviews so they stand out. Left to their own devices, students might write about how being a camp counselor developed their leadership skills, which admissions officers have heard a million times, she said. Tranfaglia said some parents reach out to her when their child is still in the eighth grade in hopes of getting a head start in the process, but “I don’t want to contribute to the stress,” she said. “People’s goals have shifted toward this brand-name prize.” Tranfaglia encourages students, and their parents, to forget the rankings and focus on what they want out of a social and academic environment. That doesn’t always go over well. “They say, ‘I’m not paying $70,000 a year to send them to a school I have never heard of,’” she said. Parents do a disservice to their kids when they get too involved in the admissions process, said Anna Ivey, who was dean of admissions at University of Chicago Law School before she founded Ivey Consulting 10 years ago. “I really encourage people to treat the applicant as the real decision maker and the person driving the bus,” Ivey said. She has turned prospective clients away when their requests don’t fit her ethics standards, such as if they ask for the essay to be written for the student or decline to disclose a disciplinary history when it’s requested in the application. Some parents have asked her to facilitate Continued on next page.
Continued from page 2. larly to local organizations; either through its unwanted Christmas gift drive or donations for silent auctions or feeds. Most recently it had a “shutdown shelf” to help government employees. “We did it because it was the right thing to do,” Marian Cihacek said. Doing the “right” thing has earned the business frequent patrons who keep all three shops busy year-round.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Eight under-the-radar credit card perks to help save money by Kendall Little
Many consumers who use credit cards are already earning cash back, collecting points and building up airline miles. Maybe they are also paying off their credit card debt interest-free using a balance transfer offer. But there are even Financial more perks and benefits available to be taken advantage of that some people may not know much about. With banks searching for new and innovative ways to retain customers, the competition is fierce. And that means rewards offerings are more diverse than ever. Flashy sign-up bonuses and rising cash-back percentages aren’t the only things you should consider. Smaller, under-the-radar benefits can be some of the most lucrative ways to save using your credit card and, while they may not be your primary reason for signing up, can make a big difference in your card benefits over time. What’s more, these hidden money-savers are only getting better. Here are some standout perks to consider during your next credit card search: 1. Free trial cancellation If you’ve been roped into a monthly subscription service by accidentally letting your free trial renew, a new rule for merchants announced by Mastercard in January may help. Now, when you sign up for a free trial using your Mastercard, the merchant must gain your approval before they can bill your card. At the end of your free trial, Mastercard now requires merchants to provide you with the transaction amount, payment date and instructions on how to cancel by email or text message. If you have a habit of losing track of your subscription services, this is an easy way to make sure you’re only paying for those services you’ll actually use. 2. Rental car insurance Rental car agents will often try to per-
suade you to add Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) to your payment, which reduces your liability in the case of loss or damage to the car. At popular automotive rental company Enterprise Rent-A-Car, that can cost between $8.99 and $29.99 per day. Before you agree, check to see which protections you already have under your credit card. Many cards provide secondary coverage, meaning you’ll need to report any damages to your auto insurance provider first, but some credit cards offer primary coverage for rentals. If you book your rental car using a card with primary coverage, you won’t have to report incidents to your insurance provider, saving you from potentially increased rates. Chase’s popular personal travel cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred, both offer primary coverage. Eligible American Express cardholders can enroll in Premium Car Rental Protection and receive primary coverage for a flat fee per rental, unlike many rental companies’ daily charges. Your card’s coverage will vary and may not cover all types of cars or international rentals, so it’s important to be aware of your liability. Always read the fine print of your policy to ensure you’re properly covered. If you’re exploring unknown territory in your rental car, you may also benefit from access to emergency assistance services. Many credit card issuers offer roadside assistance services through a toll-free number, which you may or may not be charged to use depending on your individual card. 3. Travel insurance There is always a chance of travel plans going awry despite your best efforts. Before you purchase extra travel insurance through an airline or hotel, check your credit card provider’s coverage. Popular travel rewards cards often include benefits like trip cancellation or interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement and baggage
delay insurance. If you purchase your entire trip fare using a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, for example, you get automatic travel accident insurance for any covered loss. Cardholders who book using their American Express Gold Card are covered under a Baggage Insurance Plan, which covers against loss, theft and damage up to $1,250 for carry-ons and $500 for checked bags. 4. Priority boarding and checked bags Insurance isn’t the only bonus travel perk. If you have a co-branded airline credit card, check to see if you’re eligible for priority boarding privileges and free checked baggage. For example, American Airlines frequent fliers can get both preferred boarding and one free checked bag on every domestic flight just by purchasing with their Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard. These perks may help make a co-branded card worth the annual fee. Even if you’re not particularly loyal to one brand, many premium travel cards offer their own airport perks, like lounge access and Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application reimbursement. 5. Cell phone insurance As prices on the latest smartphone models soar above $1,000, having an insurance plan in place on your device can be a lifeline. Luckily, you may already be covered by your credit card. Wells Fargo credit cardholders can get up to $600 protection per claim (subject to $25 deductible) and up to $1,200 per 12 month period. Both the Uber Visa Card by Barclays and the U.S. Bank Visa Platinum Card also
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Helping kids get into college is a big business. Continued from preceding page. a large donation to a school to help the child get in, a legal transaction, but something she will not do. The Independent Education Consultants Association has endorsed the idea of licensing practitioners so as to better protect the industry from bad actors, and Skralow hopes the recent scandal encourages some states to look into it. Students can be thrown out of school if it is discovered they lied on their application, he said, even if their parents were the ones behind it, and that’s damaging to the student on multiple levels. “The most horrible thing about this is that these wealthy parents said to their kids, ‘You’re not smart enough,’” Skralow said. “‘You need me to pull strings for you because you suck.’” Some educational institutions seem to be keeping admissions consultants at arm’s length. “It is Northwestern University’s longstanding policy that we do not work directly with independent college advisors,” spokesman Jon Yates said in an email, without offering details of why that policy exists. New Trier High School in Winnetka said it employs eight full-time counselors that work with students on their post-high school
plans, and “we do not encourage our families to go outside for help,” said spokeswoman Nicole Dizon. Still, she said, some families do hire admissions consultants. Ian Friedman, founder of Ariav College Admissions Consulting in Oak Park, feels lucky that he has never been approached by parents insisting their teenager get into a particular college. Usually they seek his help because the application process is causing a lot of stress at home. Friedman, who worked as a middle school teacher and a nonfiction book writer before launching his business six years ago, said his clientele has grown each year, though it remains a rare service in his community. His son went through the ups and downs of college admissions last year before enrolling at University of Michigan so Friedman understands the anxiety that can hijack the experience. He offers counsel about coping when the decision letters don’t go their way. “It’s almost inevitable that there’s going to be some rejection,” he said. “You brace for it and it hurts and you move on and you’re OK.” ©2019 Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
offer up to $600 in mobile phone protection in the case of damage or theft (subject to $25 deductible). These mobile protections often come with the stipulation that you pay your cell phone bill each cycle using the credit card, so be sure to check the fine print. 6. Extended warranties and price matching Before you run out to replace your faulty television or malfunctioning refrigerator, check your credit card’s warranty policy. In addition to cash back rewards, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express will match original manufacturer warranties under two years and extend warranties with a duration between two and five years for up to an additional two years on items purchased with the card. You can also use your card to save on the cost of purchases with price matching. When you make a purchase with the Citi Double Cash Card (and other Citi cards), for example, you can upload your receipt into Citi Price Rewind and receive a statement credit if the database finds a better price within 60 days of your purchase date (up to $200 per claim and $1,000 per year maximum). Check with your issuer to find if you qualify for these shopping perks and more, like free returns and shipping. 7. Discount offers Special discounts and bonus rewards don’t end with your sign-up bonus. Check your account regularly to find rotating promotions that your credit cards may offer. In addition to regular cash-back and points rewards, issuers may offer additional Continued on next page.
Puzzle on page 11.
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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UnitedHealth Group expands prescription drug discount program by Christopher Snowbeck
UnitedHealth Group said it is expanding a program to provide consumer discounts at the pharmacy counter via rebates from drug manufacturers — the very rebates that have been labeled by the Trump administration as a driver of high medication costs. Drug companies have long provided rebates to pharmaceutical benefit HealtH care managers (PBMs) that administer the drug benefit portion of employer health plans. UnitedHealth Group, based in Minnetonka, Minn., runs the nation’s largest health insurer. It says these rebates in the past have been passed to employers so they could decide whether to direct the savings to individuals or use them against overall health plan costs. The announcement means UnitedHealth Group starting in 2020 would extend the value of these rebates to more individual consumers, building on a program announced last year for a subset of employers that buy the company’s health insurance. “We’ve seen some really compelling results,” said Daniel Schumacher, the chief operating officer at UnitedHealthcare, in comments at the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference in Miami, Fla. Consumers so far are seeing average savings of $130 per eligible prescription, Schumacher said, adding that the savings range from a couple of dollars to “one person who saved on a single prescription $4,400.” UnitedHealth Group, which is Minnesota’s largest company, runs both the UnitedHealthcare health insurance carrier and a growing health services business called Optum. OptumRx is one of the nation’s largest PBMs. Pharmaceutical benefit managers negotiate prices with manufacturers, create formularies that specify coverage levels for different medicines and establish networks of pharmacies where health plan subscribers can fill prescriptions.
The company’s announcement comes about six weeks after the Trump administration proposed eliminating legal protections for rebates between drug companies and PBMs, saying manufacturers attribute rising drug prices to the growing demand from PBMs for rebates. Drug companies say insurers and PBMs have been pocketing too much of the rebate money, but the companies insist they pass along savings to consumers. Asked during the recent investor conference about the Trump administration’s proposal, John Penshorn, a UnitedHealth Group senior vice president, said: “We’re concerned that this is potentially a windfall for pharma. We don’t think that was an intention of the proposed regulation, and we’ll provide comments to that extent.” With the announcement, new business proposals beginning January 2020 at OptumRx and UnitedHealthcare would incorporate what are known as “point-of-sale” discounts to consumers who use medications as part of their plan design. While employers have had the option of adopting this approach for several years, UnitedHealth Group said it expects the change will accelerate adoption of point-of-sale discounts including in self-insured health plans run by large multistate employers. Last year, UnitedHealth Group first
on the list price of medications rather than the lower net price that factors savings from rebates. “We need to ensure that the $150 billion in negotiated rebates and discounts are used to lower costs for patients at the pharmacy counter,” said Stephen J. Ubl, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, in a statement. “This proposal would also help to fix the misaligned incentives in the system that currently result in insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) favoring medicines with high list prices.” Insurers countered that drug companies were trying to deflect attention from their high prices “by convincing Americans that health insurance providers and their PBM partners are the problem, acting as so-called ‘middlemen,’” said Matt Eyles, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, in a statement. “We are not middlemen — we are your bargaining power, working hard to negotiate lower prices with drugmakers,” Eyles said. “We cannot achieve those savings if our leverage and negotiating power is weakened through well-intentioned but misguided actions like this proposed rule.” ©2019 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Even plumbers need software: How ServiceTitan became a billion-dollar startup by Sam Dean
After landing their first major round of investment in 2015, the co-founders of one of L.A.’s fastest-growing startups had to make a major decision. They were flush with cash. It was time to start hiring more employees. But where should they go? “Some people were asking if we could move to Santa Monica, or move downtown,” said Vahe Kuzoyan, ServiceTitan’s president
Eight credit card perks to help save money Continued from preceding page. deals to cardholders in the form of direct discounts, statement credits or waived membership fees. You can find a running list of these limited time offers from each issuer on CreditCards.com, a Bankrate sister site. For example, eligible Mastercard and American Express cardholders can currently enroll in a ShopRunner membership for free using their respective cards. Capital One® Venture® or VentureOne® cardholders can earn 10 miles per dollar spent on hotel stays booked through Hotels.com/venture through January 2020. Also look for promotions through your issuer’s benefits programs, like Amex Offers and Citi Easy Deals. If you really want to up your shopping rewards game, use your credit card company’s online shopping portal or another cash-back site like Ebates to save even more. 8. Fraud protection services You may already be familiar with your credit card issuer’s zero liability policy, but that’s not the only service available to you in case of fraud. Some issuers offer assistance in dealing with fraud and mitigating your future risk. Look into the specific protections your cards
announced the program, which took effect January 2019, for about 9 million people covered by fully-insured employer health plans. The expansion announced recently includes an exception for current customers. When consumers do not have a deductible or large out-of-pocket costs, medication adherence improves by between 4 and 16 percent, the insurer says. Pharmacy accounts for about 15 percent of the total premium for an employer, Schumacher said, adding that point-of-sale discounts have a “low single digit impact on 15 percent of the spend.” The per-person savings “in combination with better medical adherence rates we think drives to a better overall health outcome,” Schumacher said. Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, wrote recently on the social media website Twitter that her agency applauded the move and UnitedHealth Group’s push “to increasing transparency in the convoluted market for prescription drugs.” In January, the Trump administration proposed a rule that would encourage manufacturers to pass discounts directly to consumers, and create fixed fee service arrangements between drug companies and PBMs. The proposal was applauded by the trade group for drug companies, which argued patient co-payments and cost-sharing is often based
offer to save time and money if you’re ever targeted. For instance, Mastercard offers Expert Resolution Services to assist you in the process of replacing stolen cards and reporting fraud to credit bureaus. Similarly, Citi cardholders can work with Citi Identity Theft Solution Specialists to document fraud cases and report compromises to credit bureaus, even if the theft occurs on a card from a different company. Nearly every credit card issuer and network has their own set of fraud protection measures, including monitoring and security alerts that can help you quickly identify a fraud attempt and mitigate any damage to your bank account. Finding the perks that work best for you Credit card rewards are constantly evolving, which means you should stay on top of which perks and benefits work best for you. While the biggest draws remain hefty sign-up bonuses and lucrative rewards, these smaller perks will often come in handy when you’re in a bind or simply looking to narrow the search for a new addition to your wallet. ©2019 Bankrate.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
and co-founder. So Kuzoyan called an all-hands meeting and laid out all the potential locations that made sense for the company. “I said, ‘OK, we can go to West Glendale. Or North Glendale. Or South Glendale.’” Four years later, ServiceTitan has grown to a company valued at $1.65 billion by building StartupS a software suite for the plumbers, electricians, HVAC-repair people and garage-door installers of the world. The tech hubs of Silicon Beach and Silicon Valley have germinated thousands of startups serving every imaginable need of the kinds of people who work at startups. But they had largely ignored the $400-billion home services economy. It took two guys who grew up in Glendale helping their fathers work as plumbers and contractors to see that huge untapped market as an opportunity. And they weren’t about to give up that home-field advantage. In March 2018, the company raised a $62 million round of venture capital. In November, it raised an additional $165 million. And with few competitors, ServiceTitan appears to have room to just keep growing, a relative rarity in today’s crowded tech landscape. ServiceTitan’s headquarters now sit high in a tower on Brand Boulevard, bounded by the concrete ditch of the Verdugo Wash on one side and the concrete ribbon of the Ventura Freeway on the other. Since that meeting in 2015, the staff has ballooned from 40 to more than 600 employees, with a satellite office in Atlanta. Kuzoyan, 35, and co-founder and Chief Executive Ara Mahdessian, 33, both have offices with sweeping views of the Verdugos. Both have stately homes on the same street just a few minutes’ drive away. “We’ve created what we like to call
‘Silicon Hills’ over here,” Mahdessian said. The founders both moved to L.A. as young children in the ‘80s — Mahdessian from Iran, as a refugee fleeing the brutal Iran-Iraq war, and Kuzoyan from Armenia, then a part of the Soviet Union. Mahdessian’s family landed in Glendale, where his father started a contracting business. Kuzoyan’s family started out in East Hollywood’s Little Armenia, then North Hollywood, and “finally made it to the promised land of Glendale,” he said, once his father’s plumbing business found some success. The boys focused on school, helping their fathers over weekends and summers. Mahdessian got into Stanford; Kuzoyan got into USC. Both majored in computer science and seemed destined for cushy jobs at big-name tech firms: Facebook, maybe, or Google. But when they met on a joint USC-Stanford Armenian Student Assn. ski trip (“There’s like a thousand Armenians at USC,” Mahdessian said. “There’s only 25 of us at Stanford — so they invited us loners.”), they found a new path that took them back home. “We talked about our lives growing up, and seeing our parents struggling with their businesses,” Mahdessian said. Kuzoyan had been tinkering with some software to help his dad, and Mahdessian had already told a firm in Glendale that he’d try to cook up something similar. They both knew how small home services businesses were run on a hodgepodge of paper forms and one-off programs, thick appointment books and gnarly Excel sheets. And they realized they could build the software to streamline the whole operation. “I’d answered calls and I’d gone into the field and helped my dad out a few times, but I have like negative mechanical aptitude,” Continued on page 22.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Thanks to Mueller, 2020 won’t be about 2016 Robert S. Mueller III’s report is a gift to the nation, which now knows what was already a reasonable surmise: that its chief executive’s unlovely admiration for a repulsive foreign regime, Vladimir Putin’s, is more a dereliction of taste and judgment than EORGE evidence that he is under that regime’s sway. The report is an ILL even larger gift to the nation because it might help stabilize the Democratic Party — if the party reacts more reasonably to it than most of the party’s most conspicuous presidential candidates have been reacting to the political stimuli of 2019. What Mueller’s report makes possible is something like a normal presidential election in 2020. After thousands of hours of cable television obsessing about Mueller’s report in advance of it, with most of the obsessives basing their speculations on less than the reading of tea leaves or of chicken entrails, and most of the obsessives grinding partisan axes, it is difficult, but important, to remember two things. First, before Mueller was appointed special counsel, it was indisputable that Russia hacked American emails as part of its activities to work for Donald Trump’s election. Second, while Mueller investigated these activities, the accusation of 2016 collusion between professional Russian operatives and the ramshackle Trump campaign apparatus was already implausible because Russia could pursue its ends without coordinating its activities with a campaign rife with lowlifes and bottom-of-the-barrel Republican operatives. The report comes to no conclusion about whether Trump intended to obstruct justice. This agnosticism is, however, a politically nullity: Voters are unlikely to care what the president intended when he used a constitutional power (e.g., firing the FBI director) or indulged his incontinent anger (rhetorically and on Twitter) during an investigation into an alleged crime he did not commit. The office of the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York is conducting various investigations into the commercial activities of Trump and his family, investigations that could threaten, or at least embarrass, the president. Or, more precisely, they perhaps could if Stormy Daniels’s former friend were complicated enough to be embarrassed. But this, too, is probably of negligible political importance, given what already is known about the grifter in chief. For example, you cannot sling a brick in Manhattan without hitting a talented lawyer, and Trump chose Michael Cohen. The report’s exoneration of Trump regarding knowing collaboration with, beyond his undisguised admiration for, the Russian thugocracy has stirred up his limitless insouciance. He should, however, consider this: Suppose he had been badly wounded by the report — wounded among “Trump Triers” who, repelled by Hillary Clinton, took a flyer on him 28 months ago; to his base, any criticism of him validates his disparagement of critics. He then might have seemed so weakened that the Democratic nominating electorate could indulge its fancies, unconstrained by worries about electability. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pitch-perfect, fiveword suffocation of the impeachment agitation coming from the wilder shores of her party — “He’s just not worth it” — was welcome. But the world’s oldest and, by reasonable metrics, greatest political party, which led this nation through two world wars and its worst economic crisis, today seems unable to process the following: An embarrassed nation aches for a president who is one thing: normal. Democrats, however, are looking weirder and weirder while cooking a bouillabaisse of indigestible ingredients: End meat, air travel, private health insurance, the distinction between late-term abortion and infanticide and perhaps Israel as a Jewish state; defend “constitutional norms” by abolishing the electoral college, changing the nature of the Senate and enlarging the Supreme Court to make it more representative, i.e., to break it to the saddle
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Lyricism lost in the mourning of a massacre The good news is that the technological revolution and social media have produced the swiftest and the most expansive means for the communication of ideas that man has ever known. The bad news is that we pay a high price for it. Fact and opinion linger long UZANNE after proved wrong, as they often are. The magnification of IELDS fleeting misinformation and the coarsening of culture continues apace as every Tom, Dick and Henrietta taps a keyboard or speaks into a microphone.
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of politics; give socialism one more chance; etc. Emma Goldman (1869-1940), an American radical, purportedly said that if elections changed anything, they would be illegal. If she did say that, she was wrong. The 2016 election changed the nation’s too serene sense of itself as immune to the sort of grotesque electoral outcomes that other nations experience. After Mueller’s report, the 2020 election will be about various normal issues — health care, the economy’s strength and the equity of its results, etc. — but above all it will be about this: Is the current tone of public life, which is set by the president, the best America can do? Thanks to Mueller, the 2020 campaign will not be about the 2016 campaign. It will be about a post-Trump future — if unhinged Democrats can stop auctioning themselves to their party’s most clamorous factions, thereby making Trump seem to be what Mueller’s report does not say that he is: acceptable. The Washington Post
The simple act of mourning, which inevitably comes to us all, becomes a casualty. Mourning is always sad up close and personal. We confront grief for a departed loved one, followed -- if we're fortunate -- by gathering with others who offer comfort, love and sympathy, sharing traditions of spiritual hope and secular longing. We speak in familiar phrases handed down through the ages. Words ripened on the tree of life fall from the branches as if joining the moment. Mourning is also stretched to cover the massacre of those we never knew, passing through the impersonality of social media, public announcements, opinion the pages of newspapers, televisions, emails, texts and videos. Words become less important than the visuals. "Emojis," with their synthetic tears, replace the Hallmark card sent "when you care enough to send the finest." Videos convey shock and anger in real time when men, women and children of different ages are destroyed by hatred, prejudice and madness. We grieve from afar with new rules for the swift expression of sadness and sympathy. There's no time now for the elegiac poetry, crystallized feelings that fit the literary form. In the technological reaction to tragedy, lyricism is lost. Keyboard clicks measure the terror and tears over the dead, who are mostly newcomers to our consciousness who came from faraway places. Few students know the literary elegy, once a staple in the high school English class. "We weep for Adonais -- he is dead!" Percy Bysshe Shelley's lines on the death of the poet John Keats are too affected, too erudite, too archaic to catch the swift current of emotions of global grieving. Elegiac feelings Continued on next page.
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Farm income in Minnesota fell 8 percent last year, worst year since early 1980s by Adam Belz
Minnesota farmers suffered their worst year in more than three decades in 2018, according to a new report from the University of Minnesota Extension. Median farm income was $26,055, down 8 percent from 2017, capping off a half-decade run of poor years for farming after the boom of the early 2010s. “The previous five years were not much better, so many Minnesota farms have had a string of low-income years and that has both financial and emotional impacts,” said Dale Nordquist of the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota It appears 2018 was the worst year economy for farmers in Minnesota since the Farm Crisis in the early 1980s. Farmers are struggling on several fronts. Dairy farmers are wrestling with overproduction, dropping prices and widespread consolidation. The median income at a dairy farm in Minnesota dropped by nearly two-thirds last year, from $43,000 to less than $15,000. The U of M surveyed about 2,300 farmers, representing 10 percent of Minnesota’s commercial farmers. Enough dairies are closing that the number of dairy farms who participated in the U of M’s research dropped by 15 percent.
Lyricism lost in the mourning Continued from preceding page. are democratized in anecdotes as we search for the telling detail in mass slaying. We feel both pity and fear, but at a distance. In a mosque in Christchurch in faraway New Zealand, tiny Mucad Ibrahim, a 3-year-old boy in white socks with textured grips on the soles to keep him from slipping and falling, ran with a child's innocence toward the gunman. We're told by The Washington Post that he thought he was in a scene from a familiar video game his older brothers played. For little Ibrahim, the youngest of the murdered in Christchurch, the sun set before it had time to climb very far into the sky. One of his brothers, using the mode he knows best, conjures spiritual feelings on Facebook in old-fashioned language we all understand. "Verily we belong to God and to Him we shall return. Will miss you dearly brother," he wrote. Simple and heartbreaking, the personal is made public and moving. The tragedy of the youngest in the grim inventory of the dead gets a human voice in prayer. Verily. As in epic poetry, we read a catalogue of multicultural mourners, witnesses from Somalia, Pakistan, India, Palestine and Bangladesh moving slowly and mournfully past the mosque, leaving flowers, notes of remembrance, expressions of sorrow. As spectators from afar, we pray this tragedy will not spawn new violence. But we fear it might. Politicized tragedy has a way of doing that. Mourning over the massacre has created self-righteous pity to be exploited for political gain. A New York City vigil for those dead in New Zealand turned ugly when the political players tried to dictate who could mourn. Two New York University students turned on a pregnant Chelsea Clinton for daring to attend. Caught on a video that went viral, they fiercely attacked the former first daughter because she had, in measured and reasonable voice, rebuked the anti-Semitic sentiment of Rep. Ilhan Omar. In the glib and melodramatic cliche popular on campus, the two students glibly boasted on the website BuzzFeed of taking their opportunity "to speak truth to power." Clinton, they said, "hurt our fight against white supremacy when she stood by the petty weaponizers of antisemitism." They "weaponized" their fingers, thrusting them in her face with the accusation that she caused the deaths of Muslims in their mosque with "the rhetoric" she put out there. This could be seen as obscene farce but for the fact that what passes for the public conversation is so mean and unrelenting. Verily. Copyright 2019 Creators.com
“It has been a real struggle for many of our dairy farms,” said Nate Converse, Central Lakes College farm business management instructor, in a statement. “Dairy farmers work really hard and to see low earnings and, in a lot of cases losses, year after year has worn on them and their families. As a result, many of them have decided they can’t wait for things to turn around.” The trade war has also taken a toll. Soybean prices fell at the onset of the trade war with China. Minnesota soybean farmers, who mostly grow their crop for export to China, have been hit harder than soybean farmers in other parts of the country. “It could have been a lot worse,” said Aaron Brudelie, a Minnesota West Community and Technical College farm business instructor, in a statement. The Market Facilitation Program, direct federal payments to farmers of $1.65 per bushel to help offset the effects of the trade war, “was the main reason soybean producers showed any profits this year,” Brudelie said. Pork prices were down 9 percent in 2018, largely because of the trade war, and the average hog finisher — a farmer who prepares pigs to send to the slaughterhouse — lost $11.50 per pig. The weather worked against farmers too. Corn yields were down 20 percent across southern Minnesota in 2018 thanks to a wet spring and delayed planting, and some farmers worry that the same thing will happen in 2019. Flooding on the southern Mississippi has already squeezed commodity shipping on barges, and driven down regional prices for grain. “It’s important to understand that these are small businesses that don’t pay themselves a salary, so that net farm income reflects what they made from the farm to
feed their families,” said Nordquist, who is an Extension ag economist. The news is not all grim, however. The average farm’s debt-to-asset ratio increased slightly to 36 percent, but that’s still a relatively strong financial position supported by farmland that has maintained its value. Until more farmers are mired in deeper debt, fears of widespread bankruptcy may be overblown. The top 20 percent of farms in Minnesota posted income of $184,000. “There are still a lot of farms out there that are successful,” said Josh Tjosaas, Northland Community and Technical College farm business management instructor, in a statement. “And it is not just larger farms that are profiting. We work with profitable farms of all sizes and types. But in this environment, it takes outstanding management in all phases of the operation, good timing and, maybe, a little luck to make that happen.” But 34 percent of farmers in Minnesota lost money on farming in 2018, 40 percent lost net worth, and 53 percent lost working capital. The USDA projects somewhat higher profits for agriculture in 2019, but Nordquist said it’s too early to say. “On the cropping side, costs are projected to be higher and there is no relief yet on prices, so it is a little hard to see where that increase might come from,” Nordquist said. “Hopefully, we will see some improved profitability in dairy and livestock agriculture.” ©2019 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Fed downgrades US growth forecast and signals no more rate hikes in 2019 by Jim Puzzanghera
Federal Reserve officials downgraded their estimate for U.S. economic growth this year to just 2.1 percent amid a slowdown here and abroad — while signaling there will be no more interest rate hikes until 2020. Central bank officials also announced that they would temporarily slow the unwinding of a Great Recession-era stimulus program starting in May through October. Since 2017, the Fed has been gradually scaling back that stimulus as part of a broad effort to get back to a more normal monetary policy after taking unprecedented steps to fight the recession and financial crisis. But after a strong first half of 2018, the U.S. economy has slowed significantly in recent months, buffeted by the Trump administration’s trade war and the partial government shutdown. Fed officials said in a statement recently after a twoday policy meeting that economic growth “has slowed from its solid rate” in the last three economy months of 2019. Despite President Trump’s frequent assertions that the U.S. economy has never been better, the Fed’s statement was more downbeat than after its last meeting in January. Fed officials noted that recent economic indicators point to “slower growth” of household spending and a key type of business investment. Given those forecasts, Fed policymakers voted unanimously, as expected, to keep their short-term interest rate steady at a range between 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent. The Fed hiked the rate a quarter percentage point last year as economic growth accelerated to 2.9 percent with the stimulus from the Republican tax cuts. But that immediate economic boost now is fading and economists have been forecasting much slower growth this year despite repeated assurances from the White House that growth would reach 3 percent or higher in 2019 and for several years afterward. Trump and congressional Republicans had argued that the $1.5 trillion tax cut legislation would add “rocket fuel” to the economy and end a period of sluggish growth of about 2.5 percent a year. Based on their forecasts, Fed monetary policymakers strongly disagree. They downgraded their growth estimate for this year
to 2.1 percent from the 2.3 percent projection made in December. And they now are expecting growth below 2 percent through 2021. Also in December, Fed officials had indicated there would be two 0.25-percentage-point hikes this year in the short-term federal funds rate, a benchmark for credit cards, auto loans and other short-term consumer lending. But in the estimates released after a two-day meeting, Fed officials indicated there would be no hikes this year and only one in 2020. Those forecasts are consistent with the Fed’s statement in January that it “will be patient” in determining the future interest rate level. Since last summer, Trump had engaged in highly unusual public criticism of the Fed’s gradual interest rate hikes. He called for the hikes to stop, but Fed policymakers continued them until the economy began slowing recently. Hit by the 35-day partial government shutdown from December into February, the economy now is expected to grow at only about 1.5 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year. Some forecasts call for growth of less than 1 percent in the first quarter. ©2019 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
LEGAL NOTICES MBJ legal notice instructions The following are some guidelines to consider when posting legal notices with the Midlands Business Journal: 1. Submit a written notice in either Microsoft Word or as a PDF document to Beth Grube at legals@mbj.com, fax to 402-758-9315 or mail: 1324 S. 119th St. Omaha, NE 68144. For trade names, submit a copy of approved (bar code in upper right hand corner) Application For Registration of Trade Name from the Secretary of State to the same email address. Please include your billing address and the desired duration you’d like your notice to run (trade names run for only one week). 2. You will receive a confirmation and price quote. Legal notices, except for trade names, are charged per line. The flat fee for a trade name is $50. Payment options are cash or check. 3. Deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday for a notice to start publishing that Friday. 4. All costs include fees to file the notice with the Secretary of State and/or any appropriate courts. 5. You will receive a paid invoice copy and a courtesy proof of the notice the first week it runs and a copy of the affidavit filed with the courts the last week.
DENNIS P. LEE, Attorney LEE LAW OFFICE 2433 South 130th Circle, Suite 300 P.O. Box 45947 Omaha, Nebraska 68145 NOTICE OF SUIT TO: CHERISH WHITEFACE, 6109 North 63rd ST, Omaha NE 68104, you are hereby notified that on December 26, 2018, AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE COMPANY S.I. filed a suit against you in the Douglas County Court at docket CI18-26880, the object in prayer of which was to secure a judgment against you in the amount of $6,163.11, together with court costs, interest and attorney's fees as allowed by law. Unless you file your Answer with the Douglas County Court on or before the 6th day of April, 2019, the Petition against you will be considered as true and judgment will be entered against you accordingly. First publication March 15, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DENNIS P. LEE, Attorney LEE LAW OFFICE 2433 South 130th Circle, Suite 300 P.O. Box 45947 Omaha, Nebraska 68145 NOTICE OF SUIT TO: CEMONE R. MATTHEWS, 4912 Magnolia St, Omaha NE 68137, you are hereby notified that on November 29, 2018, CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION filed a suit against you in the Douglas County Court at docket CI18-24777, the object in prayer of which was to secure a judgment against you in the amount of $8,960.47, together with court costs, interest and attorney's fees as allowed by law. Unless you file your Answer with the Douglas County Court on or before the 6th day of April, 2019, the Petition against you will be considered as true and judgment will be entered against you accordingly. First publication March 15, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is THE ASCENSION CENTER, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 1907 Petersen Drive, Papillion, Nebraska 68046. The registered agent is Jeffrey T. Palzer and the Register Agent's address is 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6, Omaha, Nebraska 68154. 3. The general nature of the Company is Licensed Mental Health Specialist. 4. The Company commenced on February 13, 2019 and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 CHARLES E. DORWART, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-395 Estate of David R. Kistler, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 22, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent and that Jeffrey R. O'Brien, 13519 Redwood Street, Omaha, NE 68138, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 29, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019
NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Proforma, LLC has organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The initial designated office of the Company is 18406 W. Dodge Hills Plaza, #109, Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022. The initial registered office of the Company is 18406 W. Dodge Hills Plaza, #109, Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022, and the name of the initial registered agent of the Company at such address is Carissa Castro. The purpose for which the Company is organized is to engage in any and all lawful business for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Certificate of Organization was executed on the 15th day of February 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SHARED STORY, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Shared Story, LLC, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office address is 859 S 60 Street, Omaha, NE 68106, and the registered agent is Kelly Gering. The general nature of the business is conflict resolution consulting. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF DYGITAL SCALE, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Dygital Scale, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 5112 Decatur Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68104. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The limited liability company commenced business on March 12, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF STUDY INTERNATIONAL, LLC The name of the Company is Study International, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 13815 Burdette Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68164. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 22, 2019. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 FREDERICK D. STEHLIK, Attorney GROSS & WELCH, P.C., L.L.O. 2120 South 72 Street, Suite 1500 Omaha, Nebraska 68124 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF CC KRIGLSTEIN, LLC a Nebraska Limited Liability Company Notice is hereby given that CC KRIGLSTEIN, LLC, a Nebraska Limited Liability Company, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with its registered office located at 2120 South 72 Street, Suite 1500, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The general nature of its business is to engage in and do any lawful act concerning any and all lawful business, other than banking or insurance, for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Certificate of Organization was filed in the office of the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 14, 2019, the Company commenced business thereon, and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by the Managing Member. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 LAWRENCE F. HARR, Attorney LAMSON, DUGAN and MURRAY, LLP 10306 Regency Parkway Drive Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3743 NOTICE OF DOMESTICATION OF TIER ONE INSURANCE COMPANY Notice is hereby given that a corporation that was formed under the laws of the State of Oklahoma has completed the domestication procedure to Nebraska, and that the name of the corporation is Tier One Insurance Company. The Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation electing to be treated as a corporation under the Nebraska Model Corporation Act is on file with the Nebraska Secretary of State. The corporation is authorized to issue 300,000 shares of voting common stock. The name and street address of the corporation's registered agent and office ii Frank J. Barrett, 10306 Regency Parkway Drive, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 SHANNON G. MCCOY, Attorney LAMSON, DUGAN and MURRAY, LLP 10306 Regency Parkway Drive Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3743 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MIA KAY COMPANY, LLC Notice is hereby given of the formation of a limited liability company under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the limited liability company is MIA KAY COMPANY, LLC. The name and address of the registered agent and office is LDM Business Services, Inc., 10306 Regency Parkway Drive, Omaha, NE 68114. The general nature of the business to be transacted is all lawful business. The company commenced existence on February 26, 2019 and shall have perpetual duration. The affairs of the company shall be conducted by the manager as prescribed by the Operating Agreement. LDM Business Services, Inc., Organizer First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
NOTICE OF PUBLICATION TO: ZACHARY EBERHARDT You are hereby notified that on 10/11/18, the Plaintiff Credit Management Services, Inc., filed a Complaint in the COUNTY Court of DOUGLAS County, Nebraska, against you shown as Case Number CI18 20854. The object and prayer of which is a judgment in the amount of 860.50, plus court costs, pre-judgment interest and attorney fees, if applicable. The Complaint prays that judgment be entered against you. You are hereby notified that you must answer the Complaint on or before 04/28/19 at the COUNTY court of DOUGLAS County, OMAHA Nebraska. Steven J. Morrison #24708 P.O. Box 1512 Grand Island, NE 68802 (308)398-3801 Attorney for Plaintiff First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 ROBERT J. LIKES, Attorney LIKES MEYERSON HATCH LLC 444 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-316 Estate of Rosemary Allen, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 11, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent and that Linda Dugan, 1186 Spring Valley Dr, Fort Calhoun, NE 68023, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 15, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 ROBERT J. LIKES, Attorney LIKES MEYERSON HATCH LLC 444 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-306 Estate of Helen M. Hays, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 8, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent and that Donna J. Snowdon, 3105 South 117th Street, Omaha, NE 68044-4543, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 15, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 HALEY REAL ESTATE GROUP, LLC 10703 J Street, Suite 101 Omaha, NE 68127 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION FOR PARKWAY HC4, LLC A Certificate of Organization was filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State for Parkway HC4, LLC (the “Company”) on December 6, 2018. The address of the Company’s designated office is 10703 J Street, Suite 101, Omaha, NE 68127. The name and address for the Company’s registered agent is Carl J. Troia, Jr., 10703 J Street, Suite 101, Omaha, NE 68127. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 WESLEY E. HAUPTMAN, Attorney 11605 Arbor Street, Suite 107 Omaha, Nebraska 68144 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF TNL NAILS, INC. NOTICE is hereby given that the undersigned has formed a corporation under the laws of the State of Nebraska as follows: 1. The name of the corporation is TNL NAILS, INC. 2. The address of the initial registered office is 15254 California Street., Omaha, NE 68154 and the initial registered agent at that address is Amanda Thai. 3. The general nature of the business is to engage in the business providing nail and waxing services, and any other lawful activity allowable under the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act. 4. The corporation shall consist of duly elected members and shall hold an annual meeting to transact the corporate business. 5. The corporation commenced existence on the 5th day of March, 2019a and shall have perpetual existence. 6. The affairs of the corporation shall be conducted by a Board of Directors, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and subordinate officers and agents as may be prescribed by the Bylaws, or appointed by the Board of Directors. WESLEY E. HAUPTMAN, Incorporator First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF REDESIGN PROS LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that REDESIGN PROS LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The registered agent of REDESIGN PROS LLC and office is Manuel Velasquez Villagran, 3339 Madison St, Omaha NE 68107. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 • LEGAL NOTICES DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SAMBK, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that SAMBK, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF VRJAKA, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that VRJAKA, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF GEN4 AG, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Gen4 Ag, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 9339 Road 108, Bridgeport, Nebraska 69336. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 69114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is READY 2 ROLL TRUCKING, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 5425 N. 107th Plaza, Unit 9, Omaha, NE 68134. The registered agent is Julia K. Palzer and the Register Agent's address is 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6, Omaha, NE 68154. 3. The general nature of the Company is general freight transportation. 4. The Company commenced on March 12, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 C R O K E R , H U C K , K A S H E R , D e W I T T, A N D E R S O N & GONDERINGER, L.L.C. 2120 South 72nd Street, Suite 1200 Omaha, Nebraska 68124 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS OF CABECERAS, LLC Notice is hereby given that CABECERAS, LLC, was dissolved on March 18, 2019. Any persons having claims against CABECERAS, LLC should present them to Richard L. Anderson, 2120 South 72nd Street, Suite 1200, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. Such claim against CABECERAS, LLC should include the amount, date and description of such items asked for in the claim. Any claim against CABECERAS, LLC is barred unless an action to enforce such claim is commenced within five (5) years after the third publication of this Notice. Ann L. Hunter, Trustee of the Ann L. Hunter Trust Number Twenty-Six, Manager First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SUGAR CHIC DESIGN, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Sugar Chic Design, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 19406 Ruggles Circle, Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Christina Groteluschen, 19406 Ruggles Circle, Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022. The limited liability company commenced business on March 13, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SCOOP DOGGY DOGG, LLC. Notice is hereby given that SCOOP DOGGY DOGG, LLC has been organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act. The address of the registered office of the company is 2609 Victoria Ave, PO BOX 907, Bellevue, NE 68005. The general nature of the business to be transacted by the company is any lawful business which may be carried on by limited liability companies organized under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act. The company commenced on March 13, 2019, and has perpetual duration. The manager of the company is Jason McGee. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is TEAM - TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 7524 Sherman Drive, Omaha, NE 68134. The registered agent is Jeffrey T. Palzer and the Register Agent's address is 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6, Omaha, NE 68154. 3. The general nature of the Company is to provide specialized community-based developmental disabilities services - provide essential habilitation, training and support for Nebraskans with developmental disabilities so they can live, work and participate in the community. 4. The Company commenced on March 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 BENJAMIN J. PICK, Attorney PANSING HOGAN ERNST & BACHMAN LLP 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3728 NOTICE OF PARTIAL TERMINATION OF NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT This NOTICE OF PARTIAL TERMINATION OF NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT is hereby given in accordance with Neb. Rev. Stat. § 52-146. 1. Description of Property terminated from Notice of Commencement: Lots 27 and 28, and Outlot A, The Preserve, a subdivision, as surveyed, platted and recorded in Douglas County, Nebraska 2. a. The contracting owner is 228 Skyline, LLC. b. The address of the contracting owner is: 21008 Cumberland Drive, Suite 110, Elkhorn, Nebraska 68022. c. The interest of the contracting owner in the real estate is: Fee Simple. 3. The Notice of Commencement to which this Termination applies was recorded March 3, 2018, as Instrument No. 2018016622 in the records of the Register of Deeds of Douglas County, Nebraska. 4. The Notice of Commencement identified above shall be terminated as to the property described in Paragraph 1 above effective April 12, 2019. 5. Partial Termination of Notice of Commencement was recorded on March 12, 2019 as Instrument No. 2019016275 in the records of the Register of Deeds of Douglas County, Nebraska. ALL LIEN CLAIMS FOR WHICH A NOTICE OF LIEN IS NOT RECORDED BY APRIL 12, 2019, MAY BE DEFEATED BY A TRANSFER OF THE REAL ESTATE. 228 SKYLINE, LLC, LLC By: William J. Douglas, Manager First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DEAN F. SUING, Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF DV EMPIRE CONCRETE, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has formed a limited liability company under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act, as follows: The name of the company is DV Empire Concrete, LLC. The address of the designated office is 9056 N. HWS Cleveland Blvd., Bennington, NE 68007 and the initial registered agent is Dean F. Suing, 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The company is organized to engage in and do any lawful act concerning any and all lawful business, other than banking and insurance, for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of Nebraska. The limited liability company commenced existence on the filing and recording of its Certificate of Organization with the Secretary of State on March 12, 2019, and shall have a perpetual period of duration from the date the Certificate of Organization was filed with the Secretary of State. Management of the Company shall be vested in an initial board of one manager who shall serve until successors are appointed or elected. Dean F. Suing, Registered Agent First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Achiever BC, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, filed its Statement of Dissolution with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 19, 2019. The terms and conditions of such dissolution are, in general, that all debts and obligations of the company are to be fully paid and satisfied or adequate provision is to be made therefore, and that the balance of any remaining assets are to be distributed to its Sole Member. The Manager of the Company will wind up and liquidate the company’s business and affairs. The Company has no assets as of the date hereof. If you have a claim against Achiever BC, LLC, please provide the following information with respect to your claim: (1) your name or the name of your entity; (2) the nature of your claim; (3) the amount of your claim; and (4) the date your claim arose. All claims shall be mailed to 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. A claim against Achiever BC, LLC is barred unless an action to enforce the claim is commenced within five (5) years after the publication date of the third required notice. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
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PATRICK M. FLOOD, Attorney PANSING HOGAN ERNST & BACHMAN LLP 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3728 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF ROWLEY CONSULTING, LLC Notice is hereby given of the organization of Rowley Consulting, LLC. 1. The name of the limited liability company is Rowley Consulting, LLC. 2. The street and mailing address of the initial designated office is 4718 North 108th Circle, Omaha, Nebraska 68164, and the name and street address of the registered agent for service of process is Patrick M. Flood, 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska, 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 ABRAHAMS KASLOW & CASSMAN LLP, Attorneys 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Hi-Fidelity LLC has been organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. The street and mailing address of the initial designated office of the company is 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The name and street and mailing address of the initial registered agent of the company for service of process are Thomas J. Malicki, Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP, 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 WAYNE S. RASMUSSEN, Attorney SMITH SLUSKY POHREN & ROGERS LLP 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 400 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF DISTRICT AT SPW, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on February 7, 2019, DISTRICT AT SPW, LLC was organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, with a designated office at 9929 Broadmoor Road, Omaha, NE 68114. The Company’s initial agent for service of process is Dean T. Hokanson, 9929 Broadmoor Road, Omaha, NE 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF ONESON HOLDINGS, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that OneSon Holdings, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 126 North 248th Circle, Waterloo, Nebraska 68069. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SDD INVESTMENTS, LLC. Notice is hereby given that SDD INVESTMENTS, LLC has been organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act. The address of the registered office of the company is 1326 N 160th St, Omaha, NE 68118. The general nature of the business to be transacted by the company is any lawful business which may be carried on by limited liability companies organized under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act. The company commenced on March 14, 2019, and has perpetual duration. The manager of the company is Aaron Flaugh. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is D&D EXCAVATING, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 4907 South 42nd Street, Omaha, NE, 68107. The registered agent is Daniel Wolfe and the Registered Agent's address is 4907 South 42nd Street, Omaha, NE 68107. 3. The general nature of the Company is excavation of dirt for plumbing and fence construction. 4. The Company commenced on March 13, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF RIPPLE STUDIOS, LLC Notice is hereby given that Articles of Statement of Dissolution has been filed by RIPPLE STUDIOS, LLC, Omaha, Nebraska, a limited liability company organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. Eldan Forest, President, is the person designated to wind up the company and liquidate its business and affairs. There are no assets or liabilities of the company. Parties with claims against RIPPLE STUDIOS, LLC are directed to provide the following information in writing: (1) your name and/or the name of your entity; (2) the nature of your claim; (3) the amount of your claim; and (4) the date your claim arose. Please send the information to Eldan Forest, 2915 S. 112th Street, Omaha, NE 68144. All claims against the company will be barred unless a proceeding to enforce such claims is commenced within five (5) years after the publication date of the third required notice. Eldan Forest, President First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
LEGAL NOTICES NICK R. TAYLOR, Attorney FITZGERALD, SCHORR, BARMETTLER & BRENNAN, P.C., L.L.O. 10050 Regency Circle, 200 Regency One Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3794 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-308 Estate of DONALD R. BOHNENKAMP, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 8, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent and that Adrienne O. Bohnenkamp, whose address is 6347 South 104 Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 15, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF CASTLEMAN CONSULTING, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Castleman Consulting, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 6631 S. 171st Circle, Omaha, Nebraska 68135. The company commenced business on March 21, 2019, and its affairs are to be conducted by the manager Joshua J. Meyer. The Registered Agent of the Company is Joshua J. Meyer, 6631 S. 171st Circle, Omaha, Nebraska 68135. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 ERICKSON l SEDERSTROM, P.C., Attorneys 10330 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OFAMENDMENT TO CERTIFICATE OF ORGANIZATION COLLABORATIVE NP, LLC The Certificate of Organization of Collaborative NP, LLC has been amended to acknowledge the rendering of professional services for medical consulting, effective March 1, 2019. All other provisions of the Certificate of Organization remain unchanged. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 CHARLES E. DORWART, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-325 Estate of Eddie Lee McCreary, Jr., Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 12, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Intestacy of said Decedent and that Wanda R. McCreary, of 7828 King Street, Omaha, NE 68122, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 15, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 MARK GOODALL, Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-311 Estate of Jeraldine Sparano, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 12, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent and that John Sparano, Jr., whose address is 5314 Holmes Street, Omaha, NE 68117, was informally appointed by the Registrar as Personal Representative of the Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 15, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 AMANDA M. BARRON, Attorney P.O. Box 597 Fremont, Nebraska 68026 LEGAL NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT(s), NATHAN C WEISE You are hereby notified that Credit Bureau Services, Inc., a corporation, filed its complaint in the County Court of DOUGLAS County, Nebraska on 10/31/2018 on Case Number CI18-22703, the object and prayer of which is to recover the sum of $140.00, plus interest, attorney fees and court costs. You are required to answer the complaint of the Plaintiff on or before 04/29/2019 or the allegations in said complaint will be taken as true and judgment entered accordingly. CREDIT BUREAU SERVICES, INC., A CORPORATION First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is DO ALL HANDYMAN & REMODELING, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 4624 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE 68132. The registered agent is Jessica L. Rowell and the Register Agent's address is 4624 Farnam Street, Omaha, NE 68132. 3. The general nature of the Company is general construction, remodeling and handyman services. 4. The Company commenced on March 5, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 3203 CORNHUSKER DRIVE, L.L.C. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 3203 CORNHUSKER DRIVE, L.L.C., is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a designated and registered office at 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127. The affairs of the company are to be conducted by the manager and registered officer, KAREN LYNN BULLARD. The Limited Liability Company is organized to transact any and all business, and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law. The Limited Liability Company commenced on January 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. KAREN LYNN BULLARD, Organizational Member 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF PARAMOUNT RENOVATIONS, INC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that PARAMOUNT RENOVATIONS, INC., is incorporated under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a registered office at 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The registered agent is MIKALA MCKEE. The general nature of the business is to operate a general construction business, to own, operate and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law, which are necessary, suitable, proper, convenient or expedient to the operation of a general construction business. The authorized capital stock is $10,000.00, consisting of 10,000 shares of stock having a par value of $1.00 each, which stock shall be paid for wholly or partly by cash, by labor, by personal property and by real property. The corporation became a corporate body on January 24, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the corporation are to be conducted by a Board of Directors, the number of directors to be provided in the By-Laws, and the officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as shall be designated in the By-Laws. ANTHONY L. GROSS, Incorporator CATHERINE L. WHITE, Incorporator 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, NE 68124 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF ALBACHIR CONSULTING, INC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that ALBACHIR CONSULTING, INC., is incorporated under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a registered office at 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The registered agent is ABDELKADER BELBACHIR. The general nature of the business is to operate a general consulting business, to own, operate and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law, which are necessary, suitable, proper, convenient or expedient to the operation of a general consulting business. The authorized capital stock is $10,000.00, consisting of 10,000 shares of stock having a par value of $1.00 each, which stock shall be paid for wholly or partly by cash, by labor, by personal property and by real property. The corporation became a corporate body on January 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the corporation are to be conducted by a Board of Directors, the number of directors to be provided in the By-Laws, and the offi¬cers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as shall be designated in the By-Laws. ANTHONY L. GROSS, Incorporator CATHERINE L. WHITE, Incorporator 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, NE 68124 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 GNUSE & GREEN LAW OFFICES, P.C., Attorneys 11311 Chicago Circle Omaha, Nebraska 68154 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MOOSE TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS, L.L.C. A Nebraska Limited Liability Company Notice is hereby given that Moose Transport Solutions, L.L.C., a Nebraska Limited Liability Company, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with its designated office located at 16476 Vane Street, Bennington, NE 68007. The general nature of its business is to engage in and do any lawful act concerning any and all lawful business for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Certificate of Organization was filed in the office of the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 20, 2019, the Company commenced business on that date and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by the board of directors of the LLC’s sole member, Moose Transport, Inc. Rodney G. Gnuse, Organizer First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 3624 SOUTH 91ST STREET, L.L.C. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 3624 SOUTH 91ST STREET, L.L.C., is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a designated and registered office at 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127. The affairs of the company are to be conducted by the manager and registered officer, KAREN LYNN BULLARD. The Limited Liability Company is organized to transact any and all business, and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law. The Limited Liability Company commenced on January 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. KAREN LYNN BULLARD, Organizational Member 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF HAIR BY JAMIE LIGON, INC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that HAIR BY JAMIE LIGON, INC., is incorporated under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a registered office at 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The registered agent is JAMIE L. LIGON. The general nature of the business is to operate a general hair salon business, to own, operate and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law, which are necessary, suitable, proper, convenient or expedient to the operation of a general hair salon business. The authorized capital stock is $10,000.00, consisting of 10,000 shares of stock having a par value of $1.00 each, which stock shall be paid for wholly or partly by cash, by labor, by personal property and by real property. The corporation became a corporate body on February 7, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the corporation are to be conducted by a Board of Directors, the number of directors to be provided in the By-Laws, and the officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, and such other officers as shall be designated in the By-Laws. ANTHONY L. GROSS, Incorporator CATHERINE L. WHITE, Incorporator 3018 South 87th Street, Omaha, NE 68124 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 AMANDA M. BARRON, Attorney P.O. Box 597 Fremont, Nebraska 68026 LEGAL NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT(s), KEVIN ARMSTRONG & CATHLEEN ARMSTRONG You are hereby notified that Credit Bureau Services, Inc., a corporation, filed its complaint in the County Court of DOUGLAS County, Nebraska on 01/10/2019 on Case Number CI19-497, the object and prayer of which is to recover the sum of $237.00, plus interest, attorney fees and court costs. You are required to answer the complaint of the Plaintiff on or before 05/12/2019 or the allegations in said complaint will be taken as true and judgment entered accordingly. CREDIT BUREAU SERVICES, INC., A CORPORATION First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 WALENTINE O'TOOLE, Attorneys 11240 Davenport Street P.O. Box 540125 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-0125 APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF TRADE NAME Trade Name to be registered is: DB2 Name of Applicant: Jason Johnson Address: 18081 Burt St. Elkhorn NE 68022 Applicant is an Individual If other than an Individual, state under whose laws entity was formed: Nebraska Date of first use of name in Nebraska: March 11, 2019 General nature of business: Commerical Transactions JASON R. JOHNSON Signature of Applicant or Legal Representative March 29, 2019 ABRAHAMS KASLOW & CASSMAN LLP, Attorneys 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF TRADE NAME Trade Name to be registered is: CSI AUTO SALES AND SERVICE Name of Applicant: CREATIVE STRUCTURES INC. Address: 8731 HAMILTON STREET OMAHA NE 68114 Applicant is a Corporation If other than an Individual, state under whose laws entity was formed: NEBRASKA Date of first use of name in Nebraska: MARCH 19, 2019 General nature of business: AUTOMOTIVE SALES AND SERVICE CHRISTOPHER ESTWICK Signature of Applicant or Legal Representative March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SYLVAN PEAK INVESTMENTS, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Sylvan Peak Investments, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 9807 Ascot Drive, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The limited liability company commenced business on March 22, 2019. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 • LEGAL NOTICES KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION 1. The name of the Company is STEPHANIE A. KASPER 402INJECTOR, LLC. 2. The street address of the initial designated office is 10030 O Street, Omaha, NE 68127. The registered agent is Stephanie A. Kasper and the Register Agent's address is 10030 O Street, Omaha, NE 68127. 3. The general nature of the Company is aesthetics. 4. The Company commenced on March 18, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. 5. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by Members, the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and such other officers as the Members shall determine. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DEAN F. SUING, Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF HUMPHREY CONSTRUCTION, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has formed a limited liability company under the Nebraska Limited Liability Company Act, as follows: The name of the company is Humphrey Construction, LLC. The address of the designated office is 9900 S. 252nd St., Lot 17AP, Waterloo, Nebraska, 68069 and the initial registered agent is Dean F. Suing, 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The company is organized to engage in and do any lawful act concerning any and all lawful business, other than banking and insurance, for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of Nebraska. The limited liability company commenced existence on the filing and recording of its Certificate of Organization with the Secretary of State on March 12, 2019, and shall have a perpetual period of duration from the date the Certificate of Organization was filed with the Secretary of State. Management of the Company shall be vested in an initial board of one manager who shall serve until successors are appointed or elected. Dean F. Suing, Registered Agent First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DENNIS P. LEE, Attorney LEE LAW OFFICE 2433 South 130th Circle, Suite 300 P.O. Box 45947 Omaha, Nebraska 68145 NOTICE OF SUIT TO: ANNETTE LOPEZ, 2909 Dupont Street, Omaha NE 68105, you are hereby notified that on January 3, 2019, SHELTER MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY filed a suit against you in the Douglas County Court at docket CI19-192, the object in prayer of which was to secure a judgment against you in the amount of $16,741.29, together with court costs, interest and attorney's fees as allowed by law. Unless you file your Answer with the Douglas County Court on or before the 22nd day of April, 2019, the Petition against you will be considered as true and judgment will be entered against you accordingly. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 12, 2019 DENNIS P. LEE, Attorney LEE LAW OFFICE 2433 South 130th Circle, Suite 300 P.O. Box 45947 Omaha, Nebraska 68145 NOTICE OF SUIT TO: SHEILA GORE, 627 S 36th Street, Omaha NE 68105 and ROBIN RAY JORDAN, 627 S 36th Street, Omaha NE 68105, you are hereby notified that on December 26, 2018, AMERICAN FAMILY MUTUAL INS. Co., S.I. filed a suit against you in the Douglas County Court at docket CI18-26886, the object in prayer of which was to secure a judgment against you in the amount of $7,010.98, together with court costs, interest and attorney's fees as allowed by law. Unless you file your Answer with the Douglas County Court on or before the 22nd day of April, 2019, the Petition against you will be considered as true and judgment will be entered against you accordingly. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 12, 2019 ALLAN M. ZIEBARTH, Attorney 1702 South 10th Street, Suite 2 Omaha, Nebraska 68108 LEGAL NOTICE In the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska. PR19-341 Estate of PATRICIA L. DEMBOWSKI, Deceased Notice is hereby given that on March 15th, 2019, in the County Court of Douglas County, Nebraska, the Registrar issued a written statement of Informal Probate of the Will of said Decedent's estate and that GERALDINE M. GREER, whose address is 4403 Ridgeway Rd, Omaha, NE 68134, has been appointed as Personal Representative of this Estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court, located at Courtroom No. 30, Third Floor, Probate Division, Douglas County Hall of Justice, 17th & Farnam Streets, Omaha, NE 68183, on or before May 22nd, 2019 or be forever barred. CARROL L. MILLS Registrar First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
C.E. HEANEY, JR., Attorney LAMSON DUGAN & MURRAY LLP 10306 Regency Parkway Drive Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF OMAHA DISCOVERY TRUST Notice is hereby given that a nonprofit corporation has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the corporation is OMAHA DISCOVERY TRUST. The corporation is a public benefit corporation and will not have members. The name and street address of the corporation’s initial office is 10050 Regency Cir., # 101, Omaha, NE 68114. The name and address of the registered agent and incorporator is LDM Business Services, Inc., 10306 Regency Parkway Drive, Omaha, NE 68114. LDM Business Services, Inc., Incorporator First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF GCP II CUPPLES, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that GCP II Cupples, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 10340 North 84th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68122. The Registered Agent of the Company is Zach Wiegert, 10340 North 84th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68122. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF GCP II CLEVELAND, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that GCP II Cleveland LP, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 10340 North 84th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68122. The Registered Agent of the Company is Zach Wiegert, 10340 North 84th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68122. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MDC CAREFREE, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that MDC Carefree, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 11550 I Street, Suite 200, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The Registered Agent of the Company is John Hughes, 11550 I Street, Suite 200, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION 1. The name of the Corporation is All We See Is Gold, Inc. 2. The Corporation is a public benefit corporation. 3. The Registered Office of the Corporation is 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114, and the Registered Agent at such address is DDLG Business Services, Inc. 4. The name and address of the incorporator is M. Thomas Langan II, 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. 5. The Corporation shall not have members. 6. The corporate existence began on March 7, 2019, when Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF MERGER NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Articles of Merger merging MF Holdings, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, into Metl-FAB, Inc., a Nebraska corporation, were filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 11, 2019, in accordance with the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act and the Nebraska Model Business Corporation Act. The surviving entity in the merger is Metl-FAB, Inc. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that HI Phoenix, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, filed its Statement of Dissolution with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 6, 2019, and the company is in the process of voluntary dissolution. The terms and conditions of such dissolution are, in general, that all debts and obligations of the company are to be fully paid and satisfied or adequate provision is to be made therefore, and that the balance of any remaining assets are to be distributed to its Member. Keeley Lammers will wind up and liquidate the company’s business and affairs. If you have a claim against the company, please provide the following information with respect to your claim: (1) your name or the name of your entity; (2) the nature of your claim; (3) the amount of your claim; and (4) the date your claim arose. All claims shall be mailed to 13323 California Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68154. A claim against the company is barred unless an action to enforce the claim is commenced within five (5) years after the publication date of the third required notice. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
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KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MORFELD RESEARCH & CONSERVATION, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Morfeld Research & Conservation, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 13407 Seward Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68154. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The limited liability company commenced business on March 6, 2019. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF AMENDMENT OF DS HOMES, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Certificate of Organization of DS Homes, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, has been amended as follows: the limited liability company has changed its name to Ruck Cabinet Doors, LLC. The Amended Certificate of Organization was filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 11, 2019. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF LOLA’S CATERING, LLC The name of the Company is Lola’s Catering, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 2204 Country Club Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska 68104. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 6, 2019. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF PANORAMA WELLNESS PRODUCTION, LLC The name of the Company is Panorama Wellness Production, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 13030 Pierce Street, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68144. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 6, 2019. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF MEURET AG, INC. 1. The name of the Corporation is Meuret AG, Inc. 2. The Corporation is authorized to issue 10,000 shares of common stock, having a par value of $1.00 each. 3. The Registered Office of the Corporation is 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska, and the Registered Agent at such address is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O. 4. The corporate existence began on March 7, 2019, when Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State. 5. The name and address of the incorporator are Jeffery R. Schaffart, 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF TLN Farms, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that TLN Farms, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 508 Devonshire Dr Gretna, NE 68028. The Registered Agent of the Company is Thomas Newman of 508 Devonshire Dr Gretna, NE 68028. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Notice is hereby given that LogicPath, LLC, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska on 02/27/2019 with its initial designated agent and office: Robert D Richardson 21501 Honeysuckle Dr, Elkhorn, NE 68022. The general nature of the business is Software Consulting. The business shall be Member-Managed. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 BROWN & WOLFF, P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1925 North 120th Street, One Bennington Place Omaha, Nebraska 68154 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF H204Less LLC NOTICE is hereby given that H204Less LLC is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The address of its registered office is 13520 Discovery Dr., Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The purposes for which the Company is organized are to engage in any and all lawful businesses for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska including but not limited to sales, marketing and distribution. The Company commenced on the 5th day of March, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. The affairs of the Company are to be conducted by its Members and/or Managers as set forth in the terms of the company’s Operating Agreement from time to time. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
LEGAL NOTICES AMANDA M. FORKER, Attorney PANSING HOGAN ERNST & BACHMAN LLP 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3728 NOTICE OF AMENDED AND RESTATED ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF THE NEBRASKA COALITION FOR LIFESAVING CURES Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the applicable provisions of the Nonprofit Corporation Act, the Articles of Incorporation of Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures (the "Corporation") have been amended and restated in their entirety. The substantive amendments to the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION effected by the AMENDED AND RESTATED ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION are described as follows: 1. Update the principal office location. 2. Revise provisions applicable to appointment and service of Directors and Officers of the Corporation. 3 . T h e A M E N D E D A N D R E S TAT E D A RT I C L E S O F INCORPORATION were filed with Nebraska Secretary of State on January 11, 2019. 4 . T h e A M E N D E D A N D R E S TAT E D A RT I C L E S O F I N C O R P O R AT I O N s u p e r s e d e t h e o r i g i n a l A RT I C L E S O F INCORPORATION and all amendments thereto. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 10217 OHERN STREET, L.L.C. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 10217 OHERN STREET, L.L.C., is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a designated and registered office at 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127. The affairs of the company are to be conducted by the manager and registered officer, KAREN LYNN BULLARD. The Limited Liability Company is organized to transact any and all business, and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law. The Limited Liability Company commenced on January 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. KAREN LYNN BULLARD, Organizational Member 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 WHITMORE LAW OFFICE LLC 7602 Pacific Street, Suite 200 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Notice is hereby given that TJAM Enterprises, L.L.C. (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the Company is 5025 N. 142nd Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68164. The registered agent of the Company is Troy Meade, 5025 N. 142nd Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68164. The Company was formed on March 6, 2019. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 ERICKSON l SEDERSTROM, P.C., Attorneys 10330 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MRT MANAGEMENT, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that MRT Management, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company (the “Company”), has been duly organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, designating its registered agent as Erickson & Sederstrom, P.C. a limited liability organization with its registered office at 10330 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The Company was organized for the purpose of engaging in the transaction of any lawful business and the performance of any lawful activities that a limited liability company may engage in under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Company shall have perpetual existence unless dissolved in accordance with its Certificate of Organization, its Operating Agreement or the Limited Liability Company Act. Unless otherwise provided in the Company’s Operating Agreement, the affairs of the Company are to be managed by its managing member. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF SML ENTERPRISES, INC. Notice is hereby given that a corporation has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the corporation is SML ENTERPRISES, INC. The corporation is authorizied to issue 10,000 shares of common stock. The name and street address of the corporation’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128, and its incorporator is Sean Lewis, 410 N. 14th Street, Fort Calhoun, NE 68037. Sean Lewis, Incorporator First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF Buck’s Sales Optimization Consulting, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Buck’s Sales Optimization Consulting, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 3126 Fillmore Street, Omaha, NE 68112. Danny Buck, Member First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF Maverick Empires, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Maverick Empires, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 17403 Bondesson Street, Bennington, NE 68007. Jake Romero, Member First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF Maverick Enterprises, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Maverick Enterprises, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 17403 Bondesson Street, Bennington, NE 68007. Jake Romero, Member First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 DEAN F. SUING, Attorney GOVIER, KATSKEE, SUING & MAXELL, PC, LLO 10404 Essex Court, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF INTENT TO DISSOLVE ABSOLUTE GUTTERS, CORP. Pursuant to the Nebraska Business Corporation Act, the undersigned corporation hereby publishes notice of its voluntary dissolution. The stockholder adopted a resolution to dissolve on March 1, 2019. The resolution received the unanimous vote of stockholder in attendance at said meeting. Michael Humphrey, 5517 N. 149th Street, Omaha, NE 68116, President of the corporation, is the person who is to manage the affairs during the dissolution of the corporation. The plan of dissolution will be to pay creditors of the corporation and then distribute the remaining assets of the corporation to the shareholder in accordance with the stock ownership in the corporation. Absolute Gutters, Inc. Michael Humphrey, President First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 1117 LAPORT DRIVE, L.L.C. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 1117 LAPORT DRIVE, L.L.C., is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a designated and registered office at 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127. The affairs of the company are to be conducted by the manager and registered officer, KAREN LYNN BULLARD. The Limited Liability Company is organized to transact any and all business, and perform services of every kind and nature whatsoever, which are not inconsistent with law. The Limited Liability Company commenced on January 19, 2019, and shall have perpetual existence. KAREN LYNN BULLARD, Organizational Member 6330 South 95th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68127 First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 KELLOGG & PALZER, P.C. 10828 Old Mill Road, Suite 6 Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2647 NOTICE OF AMENDMENT TO ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION CHANGE OF NAME The Articles of Incorporation of Advanced Endodontic Therapy, P.C. has been amended, changing the name of the company from Advanced Endodontic Therapy, P.C. to AET HOLDING COMPANY, P.C., effective March 5, 2019. All other provisions of the Certificate of Organization remain unchanged. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 STEVEN G. RANUM, Attorney C R O K E R , H U C K , K A S H E R , D E W I T T, A N D E R S O N & GONDERINGER, L.L.C. 2120 S. 72nd Street, Suite 1200 Omaha, Nebraska 68124 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF EMPIRE SERVICES, LLC The name of the limited liability company is Empire Services, LLC. The address of the initial designated office is 410 South 48th Street, Omaha, NE 68132. The name and address of the initial agent for service of process is Steven G. Ranum, 2120 South 72nd Street, Suite 1200, Omaha, NE 68124. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019 Notice of Organization Cerberus Security Services Notice is hereby given that Cerberus Security Services, a Nebraska Limited Liability Company, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with its initial agent for service of process as Stephen Garcia, and with its initial designated office at 4621 N. 176th Street, Omaha, NE 68116. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 Notice of Organization Haley Rose Company Notice is hereby given that Haley Rose Company, a Nebraska Limited Liability Company, has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with its initial agent for service of process as Haley Rogers, and with its initial designated office at 106 Merwood Street, Bellevue, NE 68005. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019
KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 5CK, LLC The name of the Company is 5CK, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 8, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 3105 LEAVENWORTH STREET I LLC The name of the Company is 3105 Leavenworth Street I LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 12500 I Street, Suite 160, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: John Heine, 12500 I Street, Suite 160, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. This limited liability company commenced business on March 8, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 3105 LEAVENWORTH STREET II LLC The name of the Company is 3105 Leavenworth Street II LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 12500 I Street, Suite 160, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: John Heine, 12500 I Street, Suite 160, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. This limited liability company commenced business on March 8, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF HARNEY STREET VENTURE, LLC The name of the Company is Harney Street Venture, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 8, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 1208 LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 1208 LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The limited liability company commenced business on March 13, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF DOCULYNX, INC. NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that docuLynx, Inc., a Nebraska corporation (“Corporation”), has filed Articles of Dissolution with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 12, 2019, and the Corporation is in the process of voluntary dissolution. The terms and conditions of such dissolution are, in general, that all debts and obligations of the Corporation are to be fully paid and satisfied or adequate provision is to be made therefore. The Strong Oak Group, Inc., Liquidating Agent, of the Corporation, will wind up and liquidate the Corporation’s business and affairs. The Corporation has estimated available assets of $49,000 estimated liabilities of $715,000 as of the date hereof. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Notice is hereby given that Chedel Properties, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska with the following registered agent and registered office: Alec J. Chedel, 11824 Frances Street, Omaha, NE 68144. The general nature of the business to be transacted is any or all lawful business. The business commenced on March 12, 2019, and it shall continue in perpetuity. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF AKAJRV 314, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that AKAJRV 314, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 • LEGAL NOTICES MYRONS J. KAPLAN, Attorney McGILL, GOTSDINER, WORKMAN & LEPP, P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 11404 West Dodge Road, Suite 500, First National Plaza Omaha, Nebraska 68154-2584 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF 3905, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that 3905, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, is organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska, with a registered office at 3850 South 149th Street, #108, Omaha, Nebraska 68144. The general nature of the business is to engage in any lawful business for which a limited liability company may be organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The limited liability company was formed on March 20, 2019, and its duration is perpetual. Management of the Company shall be vested in its Managers. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 SMITH SLUSKY POHREN & ROGERS LLP 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 400 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF ACE DENTAL REMOVABLE, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on March 15, 2019, Ace Dental Removable, LLC was organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, with a designated office at 8260 Hascall St., Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Company’s initial agent for service of process is Wayne S. Rasmussen, 8712 West Dodge Rd., Suite 400, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF Ben McClelland, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Ben McClelland, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 9639 Sprague Street, Omaha, NE 68134. Ben McClelland, Member First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF Holman Properties, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Holman Properties, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 1011 Skyline Drive, Elkhorn, NE 68022. Christopher Holman, Member First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 BARBARA MEDBERY-PRCHAL, P.C., L.L.O., Attorney 10305 Joseph Circle La Vista, Nebraska 68128 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF ACTON ACADEMY OMAHA, LLC Notice is hereby given that a limited liability company has been formed under the laws of the State of Nebraska, and that the name of the company is Acton Academy Omaha, LLC The name and street address of the company’s initial registered agent is Law Offices of Barbara Medbery-Prchal, P.C., L.L.O., 10305 Joseph Circle, La Vista, NE 68128. The designated office is located at 2118 N. 162nd Ave, Omaha, NE 68116 Chris Benson, Member First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 PHILLIP A. BELIN, Attorney BELIN LAW FIRM, P.C., L.L.O. 12341 Westover Road Omaha, Nebraska 68154 NOTICE OF AMENDMENT On March 21, 2019, The Uplifting Life, Inc. filed articles of amendment to its articles of incorporation. The articles changed the corporation's name to Vineset, Inc. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 MATTHEW T. PAYNE, Attorney PANSING HOGAN ERNST & BACHMAN LLP 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3728 NOTICE OF ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT TO ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION OF FLB SAFETY ENTERPRISES, INC. Notice is hereby given of Articles of Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation of FLB Safety Enterprises, Inc. as follows: Article I of the Articles of Incorporation of the Corporation is hereby amended so that, as amended, said Article shall provide that the name of the Corporation shall be Safety Restraint Chair, Inc. The Articles of Amendment to Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State of Nebraska on March 5, 2019. In all other respects, the Articles of Incorporation remain unchanged. First publication March 15, 2019, final March 29, 2019
AMANDA M. BARRON, Attorney P.O. Box 597 Fremont, Nebraska 68026 LEGAL NOTICE TO THE DEFENDANT(s), Kevin D Bratton You are hereby notified that Credit Bureau Services, Inc., a corporation, filed its complaint in the County Court of DOUGLAS County, Nebraska on 12/18/2018 on Case Number CI18-26632, the object and prayer of which is to recover the sum of $356.9, plus interest, attorney fees and court costs. You are required to answer the complaint of the Plaintiff on or before 05/05/2019 or the allegations in said complaint will be taken as true and judgment entered accordingly. CREDIT BUREAU SERVICES, INC., A CORPORATION First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Fastlane Holdings, LLC, a Nebraska limited liability company, filed its Statement of Dissolution with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 20, 2019, and the company is in the process of voluntary dissolution. The terms and conditions of such dissolution are, in general, that all debts and obligations of the company are to be fully paid and satisfied or adequate provision is to be made therefore, and that the balance of any remaining assets are to be distributed to its Sole Member. Mark Hasebroock will wind up and liquidate the company’s business and affairs. If you have a claim against Fastlane Holdings, LLC, please provide the following information with respect to your claim: (1) your name or the name of your entity; (2) the nature of your claim; (3) the amount of your claim; and (4) the date your claim arose. All claims shall be mailed to 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. A claim against Fastlane Holdings, LLC is barred unless an action to enforce the claim is commenced within five (5) years after the publication date of the third required notice. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 ABRAHAMS KASLOW & CASSMAN LLP, Attorneys 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION R & M Premises, LLC has been organized as a limited liability company under the Nebraska Uniform Limited Liability Company Act. The street and mailing address of the initial designated office of the company is Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP, 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. The name and street and mailing address of the initial registered agent of the company for service of process are Andrew P. Deaver and Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP, 8712 West Dodge Road, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Notice is given that Emerald Light Photography, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska with the following registered agent and registered office: Britnee Hoffner. Papillion, NE 68046 The general nature of the Company's business is to engage in any lawful business permitted under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The company was organized on January 22,2019, and it shall continue in perpetuity unless sooner terminated in accordance with the terms of its operating agreement. In general, the Company's business is to be managed by its primary member Britnee Hoffner in accordance with the Company's operating agreement. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SCOREBOARD, LLC The name of the Company is Scoreboard, LLC. The Designated Office of the Company is: 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Registered Agent and Office of the Company is: Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. This limited liability company commenced business on March 20, 2019. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF AMENDED CERTIFICATE OF ORGANIZATION OF GERHEAUSER, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Gerheauser, LLC has changed its name to: Gutschow, LLC. The name change was accomplished by the filing of an Amended Certificate of Organization with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 18, 2019. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019 KOLEY JESSEN P.C., L.L.O., Attorneys 1125 South 103rd Street, Suite 800, One Pacific Place Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1079 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF MYB2BCOACH, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that MyB2BCoach, LLC has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the limited liability company is 2014 S. 107th Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The registered agent and office of the limited liability company is Koley Jessen P.C., L.L.O., 1125 S 103rd Street, Suite 800, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Certificate of Organization was filed with the Nebraska Secretary of State on March 20, 2019. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019
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WHITMORE LAW OFFICE LLC 7602 Pacific Street, Suite 200 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION Notice is hereby given that Gr4ss Co, L.L.C. (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The designated office of the Company is 6117 S. 140th Ave, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The registered agent of the Company is Andrew Scarpa, 6117 S. 140th Ave, Omaha, Nebraska 68137. The Company was formed on March 25, 2019. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 ERICKSON l SEDERSTROM, P.C., Attorneys 10330 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION Corporate Name: Parland, P.C. Registered Agent: Erickson & Sederstrom, P.C., a limited liability organization Registered Office: 10330 Regency Parkway Drive, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 Authorized Number of Shares: 10,000 Incorporator: John Parra, 5050 L Street, Omaha, NE 68117 First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DVORAK LAW GROUP LLC 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100 Omaha, Nebraska 68114 NOTICE OF ORGANIZATION OF SOWER FARMLAND MANAGERS, LLC NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Sower Farmland Managers, LLC (the “Company”) has been organized under the laws of the State of Nebraska. The Designated Office Address of the Company is 1303 S. 72nd Street, Suite 209, Omaha, Nebraska 68124. The Registered Agent of the Company is DDLG Business Services, Inc., 9500 West Dodge Road, Suite 100, Omaha, Nebraska 68114. First publication March 22, 2019, final April 5, 2019 DENNIS P. LEE, Attorney LEE LAW OFFICE 2433 South 130th Circle, Suite 300 P.O. Box 45947 Omaha, Nebraska 68145 NOTICE OF SUIT TO: MICHELLE L. WYATT, 3723 North 40th Street, OMAHA NE 68111, you are hereby notified that on February 14, 2019, CREDIT ACCEPTANCE CORPORATION filed a suit against you in the Douglas County Court at docket CI19-3796, the object in prayer of which was to secure a judgment against you in the amount of $4,503.98, together with court costs, interest and attorney's fees as allowed by law. Unless you file your Answer with the Douglas County Court on or before the 20th day of May, 2019, the Petition against you will be considered as true and judgment will be entered against you accordingly. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 19, 2019 MARK J. LAPUZZA, Attorney PANSING HOGAN ERNST & BACHMAN LLP 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300 Omaha, Nebraska 68114-3728 NOTICE OF INCORPORATION OF WAKELEY PLAZA CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION 1. The name of the Corporation is Wakeley Plaza Condominium Association. 2. The Corporation is a mutual benefit corporation. 3. The address of the registered office is 10250 Regency Circle, Suite 300, Omaha, Nebraska 68114, and the name of the registered agent at that office is Mark J. LaPuzza. 4. The name and street address of each incorporator are as follows: P.J. Morgan, 7801 Wakeley Plaza, Omaha, NE 68114 Derick Lewin, 7801 Wakeley Plaza, Omaha, NE 68114 5. The Corporation will have members. First publication March 29, 2019, final April 12, 2019
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Even plumbers need software: How ServiceTitan became a billion-dollar startup Continued from page 13. Kuzoyan said. “I couldn’t even hold a flashlight correctly — my strengths are more computer-based.” After graduation, they started coding together. It started out as a simple program to track customer calls and marketing budgets, so their dads could figure out whether an ad in the yellow pages or on Google was worth their time. By the end of the summer, other contractors were asking to see the software. At the time, John Akhoian was running a Mr. Rooter franchise in Mission Hills. He had been working as a plumber in the Valley since he was 17, and like many in the industry, he didn’t get into the business for the paperwork. The dispatch system ran on a discontinued type of database software. Invoices, sales reports and orders came in a mishmash of analog and digital forms. Plumbers had to haul big books out into the field to show customers pricing and product info. A cup of coffee would spill on a check, and a plumber would have to waste an hour driving back to get a new one. “I knew it was possible to make all of this computer-generated,” Akhoian said, “just nobody was willing to work on it.” But Mahdessian and Kuzoyan were happy to keep adding new functions to match the needs of their growing client base (Akhoian was their first, besides Kuzoyan’s dad). For five years, they kept building an all-in-one software suite for local customers. Then they realized they had to change. “This is embarrassing, but we first built it as a desktop application — we literally missed the internet, and this is in 2007,” Kuzoyan said. “We didn’t have this grand vision like what we have today.” The mass adoption of high-speed internet fundamentally changed the software business. Customers used to pay big upfront fees for floppy disks or CD-ROMs, and repeat the process whenever an update came out. Then Salesforce came along. In 1999, it became the first big company to take advantage of the new connectivity by selling software not as a discrete product, like a loaf
of bread or a power drill, but as a subscription service. This software-as-a-service business model (known as SaaS in the tech world) let customers instantly expand or contract the number of devices running the software, get new updates on the fly and access the same info no matter which computer they were using. And it let the SaaS companies bring in reliable rivers of money. Under the old model, developers sank years of work into a new version of software, betting that customers would upgrade en masse. Now, they had locked-in customers paying up each month — all they had to do was keep them happy. The model has grown Salesforce to a $123-billion company and San Francisco’s largest tech employer, and been embraced by tech startups and venture capital firms alike. As they talked to more contractors, the ServiceTitan team realized that if anything, SaaS was even more useful outside the bounds of a typical white-collar job. With just an iPad linked to the cloud service, a plumber could check and update a dispatch calendar, show customers an always-updated inventory catalog, take notes for the next visit, and even process payments on the fly — and the back office could see all this happen. With location tracking, they could even check whether the plumber was knocking off early to hit the bar, or doubling back to a house on the weekends to do an all-cash side job for a customer. “Nobody was thinking about this industry, right?” Mahdessian said. “But it is a core part of life. Who else provides the basic necessities of life — water, relief from the scorching heat in L.A., or the crazy cold in the East, and then light and electricity? It’s the basis of civilization.” Investors soon bought in. Byron Deeter, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, met up with the founders in 2015, in Kuzoyan’s dad’s shop, to shake hands over their first $18-million round of funding, then spent the night talking at Phoenicia, a sprawling
restaurant across the street from the Armenian Consulate. “That customer empathy and love and understanding, just coming from that world, has served them extremely well,” Deeter said. “It gave us complete conviction that they could build this product.” Deeter foresaw challenges in attracting trades aside from plumbing, where ServiceTitan began, and growing quickly in an industry split into a galaxy of small operations. But word spread fast, and ServiceTitan started signing contracts with some of the country’s largest home service franchises and regional chains, and has enlisted hundreds of five- and 10-person shops, too. “We went from a world where it was push push push, and then it started to pull,” Kuzoyan said. “We’ve been holding on for dear life ever since.” ServiceTitan has racked up more than 2,500 clients who run a workforce of 50,000 across the U.S. and Canada. Annual revenue has doubled yearly since the company raised its first round, and is projected to top $100 million this year. The threat of competition from one of the software sector’s true giants, or getting undercut by a newer (and cheaper) startup, is always present. But to date, heavy hitters such as Salesforce, Microsoft and Oracle have stayed out of the home services business, focusing their cloud-based field software efforts on healthcare, IT and manufacturing. “They want to sell million-dollar packages to billion-dollar companies,” said William Hsu, a managing partner at Mucker Capital, the Santa Monica firm where ServiceTitan first found seed funding. “The small- and medium-sized business market is really, really unsexy,” he added, leaving the field open for ServiceTitan. And according to its co-founders, ServiceTitan has a competitive advantage in Glendale itself. “In the Bay Area, everyone is getting poached left and right,” Mahdessian said. “But we have a bunch of superstars, and
nobody ever leaves.” Kuzoyan said that ServiceTitan alone has moved more than 100 families into Glendale from Northern California or out of state, and the Jewel City vibe has proved to be a draw. The founders have also built connections in the Armenian tech community, both at home and abroad. “They’re both helping kick-start the Armenian tech scene,” said Taron Lizagub, who moved to Glendale from Armenia more than two decades ago, but met Kuzoyan at a tech event in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, back when ServiceTitan was small. Lizagub had an idea for a company to make virtual reality headsets, but needed some cash to get it going. “Vahe just offered to help out — he went back to the U.S. before me, and wired me $30,000, no questions asked,” Lizagub said. The company, Knox Labs, went on to sell millions of Google Cardboard VR sets. ServiceTitan has set up a 10-person research and development office in Yerevan, and has given free office space at its headquarters to entrepreneurs who recently immigrated to Glendale. Glendale is already home to a handful of other sleeper tech successes, including the legal automation company LegalZoom and the education-tech giant Age of Learning. On the recommendation of ServiceTitan and other local companies, the city itself is investing in better internet infrastructure, hosting more social events for the growing scene, and trying to attract more co-working spaces for startups in search of cheap desks. Then there’s the real estate. As the cost of Westside housing and office space has risen, being Valley-adjacent has become something of a perk. “And frankly,” said Jennifer Hiramoto, Glendale’s economic development officer, “people outgrow the beach.” ©2019 Los Angeles Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Want to make sure you’re getting the right training? Take the initiative by Liz Reyer
Q: Everyone tells me to be a lifelong learner in order to have a successful career. Now that I’ve been out of college a while, learning has been spotty, just what is needed for my next job or task. What should I do to actively guide my ongoing professional development? -Celia, 35, project manager Workplace A: Part of your path can be planned and some will depend on serendipity. Be open to both to get the most new learning opportunities. Start by taking a look around you. What seems most interesting? Whose job do you wish you had? Questions like these can help you form a vision for the future that you can work toward. Getting more specific, think about what you like about those roles. Learn what you can about how people got where they are now and think about what you’d need to do to get there. Consider this at multiple levels: experiences and skills, credentials and other personal characteristics. It appears that your learning and development have been at the experiences and skills
level. This is necessary, and is a thread that you can actively manage rather than leaving it to others. For example, you may have noticed that people in roles you would like need to do a lot of presentations, and you might not be comfortable with that yet. You can get this experience through volunteering to be the presenter on teams you are on or by getting more experience through a group like Toastmasters. There may also be technical skills you need. Your actions here should be driven by your learning style and your specific interests. Self-learning through an online platform or even YouTube videos may fill the gaps. Or you may want to take formal courses if you are looking at a more extensive need. Credentials can provide a useful shorthand to indicate your skills, and may be necessary for some roles. Most disciplines within a company (HR, project management, etc.) have unique credentials, so learn about those that would be valuable for your desired new direction. This can be especially helpful if you are considering a lateral move and need additional credibility to sell yourself as a strong
candidate. Grow as a professional in less tangible ways, too. It’s a truism that leaders can be found at all levels. However, if you are not behaving as a leader in your current role, you won’t be perceived as leadership material. This means that, if you are uncomfortable making decisions, managing conflict or demonstrating other important leadership characteristics, you will want to address these deficits. The good news is that this will also help you in other aspects of life. Finally, take advantages of the surprise opportunities that come along. You might be asked to join a team, take on a project or attend a meeting. Rather than holding back, say yes to these invitations. Let the unforeseen take you in new directions; have a vision, but don’t lock it down. And stay curious. The more you are inquiring, asking people interesting questions and showing a desire for growth, the more the people around you will recognize your potential and give you the opportunities to learn and grow that you crave. ©2019 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Ag Trends in the Midlands
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Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
Banking A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
Topics may include the following: Ag economy in Nebraska • Agricultural banking & finance Equipment/technology • Agri-real estate services Sustainable and organic farming • Diversified agriculture Issue Date: April 5 • Ad Deadline: March 28
Topics may include the following: Banking overview • Big data, advanced analytics • Rate environment How financial institutions partner with startups and small businesses How banking is evolving • How businesses can avoid fraud Highly skilled advisers in demand: A look at how banks, credit unions are attracting, retaining top talent Legislation and regulation • Banking careers and battle for talent • Enhancing the customer journey
Issue Date: April 5 • Ad Deadline: March 28
Technology A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
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Technology overview • Optimizing business/website content for voice search More companies using customer relationship management (CRM) software • Updated cybersecurity Integrating digital practices into your office workspace can improve productivity Optimizing business/website content for voice search
Salute to Small Business overview • Hiring and retaining employees How the generational shift is impacting small business workplaces • Buying local Business startup assistance • The benefits challenge • Finding capital What business accelerators are seeking and doing
Issue Date: April 12 • Ad Deadline: April 4
Issue Date: April 19 • Ad Deadline: April 11
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Financial advisers flock to ETFs by Erin Arvedlund
Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are usually passive investments, because they automatically track an index or a basket of assets. But now, financial advisers are using ETFs more aggressively, as tools in an actively managed portfolio. And the fees on these ETFs are starting to approach zero, particularly as advisers compete and justify their Financial own fees. That was one takeaway from Alpha Architect’s and Villanova University’s recent joint conference. Alpha Architect founded Philly’s first robo-adviser under Wesley Gray and Jack Vogel, and the firm has since morphed into a broader asset manager using ETFs. The conference brought together academics and investment professionals. Quants, or quantitative investors, are affectionately called “turbo-nerds.” They use computer science, algorithms, mathematics and even physics to try to crack the code to higher market returns. Here are ways quants and others are looking at the markets right now. Eric Balchunas presented on how portfolio models using ETFs represent a trend among financial planners. “Investing using ETFs is the new ‘active management’ among financial advisers,” said the senior ETF analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. With no share classes and generally lower tax treatment, ETFs are steadily outpacing the growth of mutual funds, he added. That was supported by Ben Johnson of Morningstar, whose data show that ETFs
now represent 20 percent of all fund assets, up from zero in 1993. Johnson is director of global ETF research at Morningstar. Financial advisers have become hyper-focused on fund fees, which is “rational and largely done to help clients, but can be taken to extremes,” Balchunas wrote. “Expense ratios have become the new past performance chart thanks to a shift toward a fee-only model, where the advisers get paid as a percent of client assets, and away from commissions paid by mutual funds.” Balchunas reiterated those same trends at the conference. Deal activity also is spurring ETF
chitecture platform, which allows for ETFs from other firms to be included in portfolios, but Goldman also plans to launch its own model portfolios loaded with Goldman ETFs, according to Barron’s. As for fee cuts overall, the behemoth firms — in particular BlackRock, State Street, Schwab and Invesco — appear to be cutting their own fees to next to nothing as well as trimming head count and expenses, to keep up with Vanguard. But they “will likely be rewarded in the future” because fee cuts lead to billions of dollars flowing into the cheaper ETFs, despite performance, Balchunas added. Pain now, profit later. We also met up with a spin-off of Alpha Continued on next page.
Mortgage rates lower as 2019 home buying season tilts toward buyers by Natalie Campisi
Spring is here, which means peak home buying season is right around the corner. Although it varies from place to place, generally most people start shopping for homes at the end of March and the peak season chugs on through summer until school starts up again. For many homereal eState buyers, 2019 might prove to be a better year for buying. Last year, buyers in many areas faced significant roadblocks to homeownership, such as a severe inventory shortage, home price growth at twice the rate of income growth and increasing mortgage rates. The situation isn’t expected to drastically change this year, but it’s getting better. Most experts predict housing starts to increase by around 2.5 percent. Although
Omaha Business Journal Pages
Parenting A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
Topics may include: • • • • •
issuers to get into the advisory business, Balchunas told the Villanova crowd of suits and some students. “Index-making is the new active management. It’s like a little R2-D2: It’s a robot, but there’s a lot of human-ness to it,” he said. SoFi, the student loan refinancing startup, said this month that it will launch its own SoFi-branded ETFs, with no fee for a period of time. In a sign of just how juicy asset managers believe this ETF business will become, Goldman Sachs last week said it’s purchasing Standard & Poor’s Investment Advisory Services, or SPIAS, a creator of model portfolios of ETFs. Goldman plans to keep S&P’s open ar-
Parenting overview Child care/private school options Area kid-friendly programs, activities Financial planners’ advice Local options
Issue Date:April 12 • Ad Deadline:April 4 To advertise your company in this section, contact one of our MBJ advertising representatives at (402) 330-1760 or at the email addresses below. Julie Whitehead - Julie@mbj.com • Catie Kirby - ads@mbj.com
those are modest gains, when coupled with a strong job market and increasing wages, buyers will have a little more momentum going into the buying season. “This is going to be a pretty good spring, we’re seeing growth relative to last year in home sales. Not a blowout year, but increasing by a couple of percent relative to where they were last year,” said Michael Fratantoni, Mortgage Banker Association chief economist. Jobs, wage growth increase buying power The job market is relatively strong even with the weak employment report for February. As job growth is expected throughout the year, the unemployment rate has remained at record lows. Meanwhile, wages crept up by 4.16 percent in January compared with the same time last year. These are favorable conditions for people who are considering buying a home. Households should feel confident about their income and job prospects, Fratantoni pointed out. However, not all buyers are convinced that the economy is going to stay on course. Despite unemployment falling to the lowest levels in almost half a century, dropping below 4 percent in the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report, a dismal 20,000 jobs were added in February. These low jobs numbers might reflect a weariness that’s apparent in the sluggish housing market. “While limited inventory and high prices still plague many markets, the added element this year is the higher level of uncertainty many people are feeling about the economy,” said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate’s chief financial analyst. “Despite the best labor market in 50 years and the best wage growth seen yet in this economic recovery, fewer houses are being sold — which speaks to a hesitancy among would-be buyers that is uncharacteristic for this type of economic backdrop.” The strongest markets thus far in 2019, according to a recent report by Realtor. com, have two things in common: affordability and a strong economy. Places like Lakeland, Florida, which are commutable to larger metro areas like Tampa, boast significantly lower home prices than their larger counterparts. The median home price in Lakeland is about $170,000 compared with Tampa’s $261,000 median home price. For motivated buyers, moving to a smaller city in order to save almost $100,000 on housing, is a viable option. Factor in today’s low mortgage rates and
2019 might see more buyers flee expensive places to more affordable areas. Buyers can still take advantage of low rates Mortgage rates depend on many factors but economists are expecting little change this year, giving buyers time to lock in a sub-5 percent rate. This is good news for folks who were on the fence last year, as the low-rate train is lingering at the station. “With financial market volatility at the end of 2018, long-term rates — Treasury rates and mortgage rates, dropped by half a percentage point. They really stayed in that lower range, close to 4.5 percent. We don’t see them moving from that rate in 2019 because the pace of growth, both globally and in the U.S., has slowed. You’ve seen the Fed and other central banks become much less eager to raise rates,” Fratantoni said. This is also good news for folks who have improved their credit and can refinance into a lower mortgage rate or go from an adjustable rate to a fixed rate. Home price growth slows Home prices increased more than 6 percent nationally last year, with lower-priced homes seeing some of the largest gains. This was bad news for entry-level buyers who couldn’t afford the higher prices. In the costliest markets, like California, where the median home price was around $530,000 in 2018, about 70 percent of residents couldn’t afford to buy a home. However, California’s market is starting to cool as are some of the least affordable areas on the West Coast. The rest of the country is expected to see a slowdown, as well, to around 4 percent. However, that’s not enough of a drop to cause a big change in the market this season, McBride said. Instead of waiting for the market to take a plunge, people who are serious about buying a home should financially prepare themselves now. “Price dynamics will differ by market, but most markets are unlikely to see significant price erosion this year — they just won’t see significant price appreciation either,” McBride said. “The right time to buy a house is when you are financially prepared to do so, your life circumstances are supportive of buying, and you find the right home at the right price. Waiting can help build a better financial foundation but offers no guarantees of future market conditions.” ©2019 Bankrate.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Demand is high, but some housing segments still underserved by Dwain Hebda
Despite the near-constant hum of construction crews and the steady demand for residential properties, some segments of the local market remain sharply underserved, say real estate experts. “Workforce housing for people of income levels from below the median income level to at or slightly above the median income level is a challenge,” said David Levy, partner at Baird Holm and section leader of its Real Estate Practice Group. “The other thing I think is missing is what was identified in the book ‘The Missing Middle.’ You can live in an apartment or you can live in a single family detached home, but there’s not a lot of product in Omaha that’s in between those two. There aren’t a lot of townhouses or row houses or that kind of thing.” Levy said Baird Holms’ current projects are an eclectic mix, each addressing the housing market from different angles. These include redeveloping the Logan building at 1802 Dodge St. into a boutique hotel and
restaurant with residential condos on the top and retail options. floor and reimagining the Oakview Mall as a “Both the Conagra Riverfront Campus mixed-use development including housing, and Heartwood Preserve have a solid mix office and retail. of residential and commercial “Another one we’re working development planned together. on is called Victory Apartments Of course, one or two buildings II [825 Dorcas Street],” he said. must kickstart construction; “It offers rent restricted housing which sector that is depends on a aimed at serving homeless and variety of factors that differ from formerly homeless and other project to project.” housing challenged military vetHolland Basham’s latest erans.” project, Centerline Apartments Joah Bussert, associate with opening in May 2019 at 72nd and Holland Basham Architects, Center streets, offers 162 units of said one strategy spurring local luxury housing, a fitness center Levy residential growth is to develop and clubhouse. Bussert said the homes concurrently with retail and other apartments dovetail into other developments amenities. in nearby Aksarben Village. “Omaha has done well over the past five “This new housing is an opportunity to years to build [retail and residential] togeth- redefine the immediate area and potentially er,” he said. “Take Blackstone as a success- drive new corporate and retail space,” he ful example. In addition, the redevelopment said. “As Aksarben nears capacity, there to downtown Omaha and west Omaha will aren’t many opportunities to add more greatly impact the community, giving the housing.” city a multitude of housing, corporate office Others see the next chapter of commu-
Firms should evaluate their technology annually by David Kubicek
Companies must stay up to date on continually evolving hardware, software, and other processes in order to become more productive and cost-efficient. “Typically the hardware is being replaced every three to five years,” said Matt Edwards, account manager at Midwest Office Automations. “Firms should annually review the challenges they face and be on top of what solutions are out there.” Edwards said office technology has changed significantly during his 15 years in the business. “There are now so many different products and services,” he said. “I would encourage companies to have an evaluation done to see if any of the newer technology is a fit for their business.” Steve Sawtell, president of Voice & Data Systems, said technology will change more in the next three years than in the previous 30 with new advancements in technology coming out almost daily. “Numerous trends owe themselves to advancements in technology,” he said. For instance, the server is rapidly disappearing as data and even systems reside in the cloud and by using cloud workspace, companies have the power to leverage talent from around the world. “We’re seeing increased focus on moving solutions like business phone systems to a cloud model,” said Ryan Jindra, technology advisor of IT Solutions at Marco. “The same holds true with other lines of business software applications like email and core applications.” Today, many cybersecurity solutions are available that didn’t exist a few years ago, including dark web monitoring, advanced firewall protection, multi-factor authentication for login access, password management and rotation software, and enhanced antivirus protection. In addition, small to mid-sized businesses can work with a security operations center that monitors their network so if an attack occurs
security technicians will quarantine it and take devices offline so the breach doesn’t spread throughout the network.
Sawtell Jindra Wireless video surveillance solutions provide even greater flexibility for placement of cameras. Facial recognition can identify individuals by their features that can set off notifications or, in the case of retail stores, when the system identifies a customer in the store it can send promotions to that individual’s cell phone. Companies are rapidly switching to Web RTC (real time communications), which connects users on the web through real-time peer-to-peer and group communication including voice, video, chat, file transfer, and screen sharing at a fraction of the cost of their current phone system or video conference solution. “Don’t manage your technology yourself,” Sawtell said. “Technology changes so rapidly that companies don’t have the time, resources or money to sufficiently stay on top of it. Focus on your core competency and let a managed technology services provider understand office technology trends and deploy the right technology to increase your profitability while giving you a competitive advantage.” Jindra said decisions to update technology are often dictated by the hardware and software manufacturers. For example, Microsoft’s support for Windows 7 will end in January 2020, at which time
firms must decide whether to upgrade end user workstations/laptops or update the operating system if possible. Nick Rodriguez, senior product marketing manager for Cox Business at Cox Communications, advised business owners to review upcoming contracts three to six months before they expire and to install patches and Rodriguez upgrades as recommended. Hardware updates are also critical, and can always be reversed if business owners decide to move to a cloud-based platform. “The most successful businesses are constantly evaluating technology needs, working to identify opportunities for investments that increase revenue,” Rodriguez said. In addition to managed services — which are outsourcing IT services — technology is evolving to support an increasingly mobile workforce with unique needs like connectivity and shared work spaces, smarter physical and data security to decrease loss of assets, and automation such as thermostats, lights and other small appliances, Rodriguez said.
nity development growing up out of what is currently some of the city’s more economically disadvantaged areas. “First of all, Omaha is running out of land to annex,” said Marty Barnhart, executive director of the Omaha Land Bank. “In order to keep up with population growth and housing demand, we need to focus on urban infill. Infill is much less expensive than suburban development because in most cases, infrastructure like roads and sewers are already present and don’t need to be factored into the total cost of redevelopment. “Property costs in distressed areas are also generally lower, making ownership more feasible for lower income individuals and families. It’s also generally less expensive to rehab an existing structure than to build something new.” Barnhart said the other important consideration for redeveloping such areas is that it not only serves needs, it resuscitates entire neighborhoods. “Catalyzing quality, affordable redevelopment in areas with distress revitalizes communities by raising property values, beautifying blocks, removing dangerous hazards, reducing crime, bringing in tax revenue and fostering a sense of pride in one’s community,” he said. “This is a positive ‘ripple effect’ that reaches far beyond property lines.”
Financial advisers flock Continued from preceding page. Architect, a new index formed by Perth Tolle, formerly a private wealth manager with Fidelity and now an entrepreneur. Her “freedom weighted” emerging markets index started as an idea and is now an ETF reality, with the proposed ticker FRDM. Tolle is launching an index fund based on the principle of economic freedom and the value of liberty. Tolle calls this “Life+Liberty” index the world’s “first human rights-weighted factor-based indices” with a focus on emerging and frontier markets. The index mimics a portfolio of about 100 equity securities listed in emerging market countries and 79 personal and economic freedom factors categorized into three types. These are 1) the rights to life, such as no torture or political detentions; 2) liberty, such as rule of law and due process, and 3) property, including strong monetary and fiscal institutions. It should be fascinating to watch how this ETF trades once it comes to market. ©2019 The Philadelphia Inquirer Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
Opera Omaha selects Howard as its new producing director
Opera Omaha has added Kurt Howard as its new producing director. Howard is an arts and culture professional specializing in leadership development, operational analysis, and new works creation and partnerships. Most recently, Howard served as managing director at OPERA America in New York for three Howard years before shifting into the position of director of programs services in 2017. Howard was responsible for professional development programs, annual conference planning and execution, supervision of grant programs, leadership in EDI and anti-harassment initiatives and the Co-Production Lending Bank. He also serves as adviser for the New York Opera Alliance. He was previously with Fort Worth Opera, where over the span of a 10-year career, he served as both production manager and stage manager.
Downtown Omaha Inc. Foundation adds Humphries to leadership post
Downtown Omaha Inc. Foundation has appointed Roger Humphries as the new executive director. Humphries joins the organization with 25 years of experience on the board of Downtown Omaha Inc. He is an active community member who serves on many nonprofit boards. Previously, he served on the board for Food Humphries Bank for the Heartland for 17 years and worked in various management positions with the United States Postal Service for more than 40 years with the last 24 as manager of public relations.
CFO Systems selects Getzfrid to lead search and staffing venture
Omaha’s CFO Systems announced the launch of a new company, CFO Systems Search & Staffing and has named Steve Getzfrid to lead the venture. Getzfrid brings over 30 years of varied experience in Big 4 public accounting, private industry, and accounting & finance recruiting. His early experience at KPMG Getzfrid led him to a successful career chapter in internal audit leadership that included significant regional banking organizations and Conagra Brands. As his professional path led him to Conagra, he progressed into a director role where he tackled a variety of initiatives. From there, Getzfrid moved into the accounting & finance recruiting industry where he built strong relationships with clients and candidates.
Steinberger
Moes
Leo A Daly triples DoD market sector with Steinberger, Moes
Leo A Daly has expanded leadership of its Department of Defense market sector with two key hires. The hires are a response to increase demand for Leo A Daly’s design services in the federal market sector. The move effectively triples leadership in the firm’s DoD market sector. Les Steinberger joins as national director of DoD programs, western region. He will lead Leo A Daly’s DoD market sector in the western United States, Asia, and Pacific Rim countries. He is based in the firm’s Los Angeles design studio. Steinberger brings decades of U.S. DoD large program experience. Before coming to Leo A Daly, he served 30 years with Jacobs, most recently as vice president and operations manager for DoD programs in Southeast Asia. He spent his last nine years in South Korea leading the $10.7 billion Yongsan Relocation Plan, Land Partnership Plan project at U.S. Army Garrison-Humphreys, the nation’s largest military base abroad. Steven Moes joins the firm as national director of DoD programs, central region. He will lead Leo A Daly’s DoD market sector in the central United States. He is based in San Antonio. Moes is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel who served 25 years as a civil engineering officer. He brings over 38 years of federal program, construction, infrastructure, operations and maintenance, contracts, and capital improvement program management experience to Leo A Daly. Following his public service, Moes worked for 13 years in the private sector as a federal program manager with Arcadis, LRS Federal, and most recently, Pond & Company.
Ayars & Ayars Inc. hires Ehmke to lead business development
Ayars & Ayars Inc. has selected Sean Ehmke to lead business development in the Omaha office. Ehmke has more than 20 years of design-build experience in commercial and industrial construction with an emphasis in pre-engineered metal buildings and architectural precast. He has held a series of roles in sales, general Ehmke management, project management, CAD operator and estimating. At Ayars & Ayars, Ehmke will be in charge of building and maintaining its Iowa and Nebraska customer base.
Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Mission-driven Physicians Thrive on upward path for major growth Continued from page 1. Toms shoes and the Walgreens “Get a Shot Give a Shot” campaign, Nabity had an epiphany after he traveled with an ophthalmologist client to economically
Five Nines selects Taylor as vice president of sales
Five Nines has hired Phil Taylor as vice president of sales. As vice president and a member of the Five Nines executive leadership team, Taylor will be responsible for leading all sales efforts while also overseeing operations of the Five Nines office in Omaha. Prior to joining Five Nines, Taylor Taylor was president of the Omaha World-Herald and a vice president of Berkshire Hathaway Media Group. Before his time in management at the Omaha World-Herald, he gained 25 years’ experience in various senior management positions in business development, media and publishing.
Lutz adds Walde to Omaha team
Lutz, a Nebraska-based business solutions firm, added Jen Walde to its Omaha office. Wa l d e j o i n s the firm as a performance advisor with over 13 years of combined human resources and operations experience. She is responsible for providing career support and coaching to Lutz’s employees. In addition, she will Walde collaborate with firm leadership to develop and implement strategic planning initiatives related to employee retention and development efforts. Walde graduated with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management from Bellevue University and her master’s degree in leadership from Doane University.
Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries adds Hatfield as director of marketing
Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries has hired Dani Hatfield as director of marketing. Hatfield comes to NLOM with more than 11 years of journalism, public relations, advertising, and marketing experience for companies ranging from Fortune 1,000 companies to local startups, as well as higher education Hatfield and nonprofit organizations. She has a heart for ministry and has been sharing the stories of NLOM since her time as a camper, then counselor at Carol Joy Holling Camp.
disadvantaged areas of the U.S. and Africa with clients in all 50 states. and realized the global need for access to With over 5,000 clients across the U.S., eyecare. the company plans to add 300 to 500 clients “When he told us that 80 percent of per year. A concentrated number of clients [blindness] is avoidable, that many people reside in California, New York, Florida could see if funding and care was provided, and Texas. it was like a light bulb went off,” he said. “We’ll expand into other places as [our] “We’re helping people gain sight financially culture can be recreated,” he said, noting because they have a level of financial blind- that Traction/EOS business tools have ness, so we can do something like Toms and helped boost company culture. He is also a Walgreens … we can take our business and member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization every client we serve — we can give the (EO). gift of sight to somebody who can’t see.” When Nabity formed the company In October 2018, the company launched in 2009, he had personally witnessed the its Give Sight app problem of doctors created by local de- Physicians Thrive needing financial veloper Appsky. The Phone: 877-744-9474 planning help. app raises $1 for Address: 11235 Davenport St., Suite 103, “I married into every 120 calories Omaha 68154 a family of doctors burned. Raising $25 Services: Financial and investment consulting and have about 15 restores sight to an group for physicians doctors in our famiFounded: 2009 by Justin Nabity individual. lies across the whole Nabity is working Employees: 12 in the Omaha office and 12 in team,” he said. “We to get major corpo- other locations saw that there’s a rations involved to Goals: To grow 20 percent per year for five perpetual problem of incorporate the app years and adding staff to support the growth. a lack of education and social cause into Industry outlook: Demand for financial planon the business side, wellness programs, ning services is high for physicians, who often on the financial side promoting the ben- enter the field with high debt and low financial — on all things that efits of employee literacy. are non-medical.” health, engagement, Website: physiciansthrive.com Nabity said that productivity and culwhen doctors start ture while raising money. He hopes the their careers after years of undergraduate, campaign will create a ripple effect and graduate school, residency and specialty encourage people to fully invest in their training, they can be in debt at an averown causes. age of $191,000. Factor in lost wages With a lofty goal of restoring sight to from being a student over a long timeone million people over 10 years, Phy- span and low residency pay, and physisicians Thrive has equally big company cians can be trailing financially upwards growth goals to have the resources to fund of $1 million. 10 percent of that number. “Contrary to what most people think, “Our Northern star is curing blindness,” that physicians have it all together and they he said. “Our goals are huge … but being have an easy life because they have a high able to restore sight to a million people is income — no,” Nabity said. “It’s the exact a byproduct of what we’re doing.” opposite of what most people think. They The goal is to grow the company 20 per- need help.” cent every year for five years, which means Physician employment contracts can also growing the number of employees from also cause major issues. 12 to over 100, potentially with additional “The missing pieces in a contract actuoffices in other cities. ally cause the most trouble,” he said. “That The firm is licensed in every state and was one of the core things we saw at the has both advisers and attorneys who consult beginning — we had family members that
got burned by contracts.” The structure of the health care industry is pushing physicians toward an employee model rather than being an independent, he said. “More and more is being expected of them and they are getting less and less,” he said, adding that in the health care industry administration growth has outpaced physician growth. Another challenge is dealing with physician burnout — stress, depression and suicide. Financial issues can impact every aspect of a person’s life. “We are financial planners, we’re investment advisers, but we’re finding that more and more what we need to be doing in helping our clients out is addressing burnout,” he said. “We’re having to be very careful and delicate as we plan and we help them to process through and think through — how do we create ways for them to reach and move forward to their financial goals, taking into account all this other personal stuff, because you can’t separate the two from each other. They’re integrated.” When Nabity first started the company, he presented at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of South Dakota’s Sanford Medical School. Now, he and his team travel around the country for at least 30 to 50 speaking engagements per year. In a peak year, they had 70 speaking engagements. Nabity has lectured multiple times at over 100 universities including Johns Hopkins, the Mayo Clinic and Stanford. He has received Top of the Table Achievement by the Million Dollar Roundtable, among other industry awards and certifications. Last year he was asked to speak at the Million Dollar Round Table conference about how to transform a traditional marketing plan into creating a movement. “That’s what Give Sight Global is,” he said. “We’re talking about changing the world right now and we’re actually doing it … eventually we see this evolve into something where we’re going to be able to impact people in every country on the planet.”
McDonald’s digital drive-thrus will start making personalized recommendations by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
McDonald’s digital drive-thru menus will soon recommend items to customers based on the weather, time of day and how busy the store is at the moment, part of a big investment in artificial intelligence that the fast food giant hopes will create a more personalized experience. trendS Chicago-based McDonald’s announced recently that it plans to acquire Dynamic Yield, a company based in New York and Tel Aviv that specializes in decision logic technology. The $300 million acquisition is McDonald’s largest since the fast food giant purchased most of Chipotle 20 years ago, sources close to the company said. McDonald’s tested Dynamic Yield’s technology in several of its restaurants last year and will roll it out to drive-thrus across the country this year, then in international markets. It also plans to integrate the technology into its mobile ordering app and the self-service kiosks inside stores.
For customers, that might mean menus will highlight soft serve ice cream on a hot day and a McCafe on a cold day, in addition to items that pair well with whatever the customer just ordered. The software will also track wait times at the restaurant so that, during busy periods, the menu suggests items that are easier for staff to make, allowing the drive-thru to run smoother. Drive-thru wait times have increased annually for about the last five years, CEO Steve Easterbrook said during the company’s last earnings call, and the company has been looking at ways to halt that trend. Restaurant chains have been trying to follow the lead of retailers like Amazon and Walmart that use mounds of data collected on their e-commerce sites to suggest items shoppers might want to buy. McDonald’s says it will be among the first to bring the technology to its physical stores. “With this acquisition, we’re ex-
panding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalized experiences for our customers,” Easterbrook said in a news release. McDonald’s reported $21 billion in revenues last year. McDonald’s will be the sole owner of Dynamic Yield, which will continue to operate as a standalone company and serve other clients. Its clients include Urban Outfitters, Sephora and Ikea, according to its Web site. In a video released by McDonald’s with the announcement, Easterbrook said: “When you serve 68 million customers every day, our ability to learn about our customers and play that back through this technology is unbeatable, it gives us a huge competitive advantage.” ©2019 Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
The 2019 CRE Summit is presented by
In partnership with
A special section prepared by the staff of Midlands
Business Journal
Friday, April 5, 2019 CHI Health Center Omaha
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit
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ROTATIONAL ENERGY CRE Summit Deal of the Year Flywheel at Millwork Commons
2019
In a dynamic business community like Omaha, having the right energy makes all the difference. Colliers | Omaha is thrilled to congratulate Barry Zoob and Chris Mensinger on their CRE Summit Deal of the Year with Flywheel at Millwork Commons. Our brokers don’t sit back and let things happen, they make things go! colliers.com/omaha
Annual CRE Summit looks to the future while honoring the past by Dwain Hebda
The CRE Summit annually offers speakers and panel discussions addressing present challenges and future opportunities in commercial real estate. But in 2019, the program will also take time to honor the past, said Jerry Slusky of Smith Slusky Law, the event’s founder and chairman. “This year, being our 30th year celebration, we thought we would look back to see how Omaha and Lincoln have grown and developed,” Slusky said. “It’s astonishing to see the video we’re putting together. There are pieces [of land] that was farmland that are now major shopping centers, office buildings, hotels. We’re going to acknowledge that and we’re going to acknowledge and honor the folks that were the leaders, the visionaries behind them.” Among those to Mattison be recognized include Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and four past mayors who served during the summit’s tenure: P.J. Morgan, Hal Daub, Jim Suttle and Mike Fahey. Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler and other officials who have had a hand in the two cities’ development will also be recognized. Slusky said CRE’s focus has remained consistent and this has fueled the Summit’s growth in size and scope. “Last year we had 920 [attendees], up from 150 when we started,” Slusky said. “It’s grown continually because it’s one day when people who make their living in the field of commercial real estate can come together and get a snapshot, a balance sheet so to speak, of what the state of commercial real estate is in our area.” The 2019 snapshot is dominated by labor issues, a topic reflected in the event’s keynote addresses. “What we’ll be doing is helping leaders really think about how they’re future-proofing
their organizations and, more specifically, how are they’re future-proofing themselves,” said Seth Mattison, keynote speaker. “I tell leaders all the time, ‘Your organization doesn’t have a recruiting problem; you have a ‘you’ problem, my friend.’ It’s 100 percent on us and that’s going to be a big part of our message. “It doesn’t take more money, it doesn’t take expensive benefits and Ping-Pong tables and kombucha on tap. It takes a new set of leadership skills and competencies to be able to keep and retain the best.”
Meadows Lieberman Another highlight of the 2019 event is the awards presentation, headlined by the Chairman’s Award. This year’s co-honorees — Othello Meadows, executive director and CEO of Seventy Five North and Todd Lieberman, senior vice president of Brinshore Development — are being feted for the Highlander development. The multi-use, mixed-income housing and community center development rises out of the ground where project housing once stood, something not lost on Meadows. “[Highlander] sits on the former site of the Pleasant View Homes housing project,” he said. “Being able to purchase that land gave us the perfect opportunity to start fresh and give the neighborhood a jolt of energy. “One of the things that I feel really encouraged by is, I think our project can activate the private sector and the for-profit sector to think about how we work together to revitalContinued on next page.
CRE Summit • Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Hall of Fame inductees reflect on impact of area projects, industry changes by David Kubicek
The 2019 CRE Summit Hall of Fame inductees are Hal Daub, Roger Morrissey, Allan Murow, Jay Noddle, and Pat McNeil. They will be honored at a noon luncheon on Friday, April 5. Hal Daub, an attorney with Husch Blackwell, has served as a Second District congressional representative, mayor of Omaha, and member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. As a congressman, Daub was instrumental in bringing three counties and 11 local government units together to forge a compromise — which became the Papio-Missouri plan — between farmers and ranchers and the western Douglas County residents who were regularly being flooded. While mayor, he and his team worked on projects like the River-
CRE Summit
Continued from preceding page. ize some of these long dormant corridors.” Lieberman said while Highlander is the company’s first project in Omaha, it occupies a place of honor in the firm’s portfolio. “This is, I think, one of our proudest achievements,” he said. “We work really well in cities and with partners that are trying to accomplish difficult things that a typical developer may look at and just say it either doesn’t fit a mold or it’s too complicated to figure out. “This is a real testament of what you can do when you work with a city’s nonprofits and the private sector to advance a vision.”
Daub
Morrissey
front development, Aksarben Village and the stockyards. “No one can get anything done themselves, and you certainly can’t in government,” Daub said. “I’m most proud of being able to assemble a very competent staff and as a team reach out to determine project activity that would have a positive impact.” The real estate industry has changed greatly in the 50-plus years Daub has practiced law. “The financing structures are so much more sophisticated,” he said. “So much more of what goes on in real estate is not just local anymore; it’s regional and global.” Roger Morrissey, vice president of Realcorp Inc., was elected Douglas County Assessor in 1999 and served for 16 years. He digitized the assessor’s office by sending interns out over a two-year period to photograph all properties in Omaha. Next, he arranged for individuals in Goodwill Industries’ programs for disadvantaged citizens to digitize a couple hundred thousand property record cards. Digitizing the assessor’s office brought
Murow
Noddle
some transparency and transparency brought more fairness. Residents could look up the valuations of their homes and compare it with other homes in the neighborhood. “As more and more data become available, analytics and technology will play a bigger role in the valuation process,” Morrissey said. “Appraisers will be increasingly expected now and into the future to adopt big data analytical techniques. Automated valuation models and analytics will continue to evolve into an alternate form of valuation that competes with traditional appraisal services.” Allan Murow, owner of N&M Brokerage Services, began his career in Chicago in 1979 and moved to Omaha in 1992. “The move allowed me the opportunity to immediately interact with such a stellar group of colleagues and clients,” he said. One of the projects he takes pride in is helping Gordmans grow from 36 to 105 stores. “Technology is creating significant changes in the industry,” Murow said. “The internet
is driving decisionmaking at such a fast pace and impacting dramatic growth in all property sectors. The continuation of low interest rates is also creating more demand for commercial real estate ranging from individual investors to small and medium McNeil investor groups and institutional investors. The large flow of capital into commercial real estate has made its way to Omaha and Lincoln, and with the MSA approaching one million people it becomes a target for the investment community.” Noddle Cos. has built projects in 17 or 18 states and about 80 different communities within those states. “For me the primary importance has always been the team and having a positive impact on the community in which we’re working,” Chairman and CEO Jay Noddle said. “When you get involved in your community, you meet people and learn their needs, and when a potential client comes along you can match the needs of the client to the needs of the community.” Local projects Noddle has been involved with include One Pacific Place, First National Business Park, Aksarben Village, and River’s Edge on the Council Bluffs side. “Real estate is in a constant state of evolution,” Noddle said. “It’s always moving and changing.”
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit
Deal and Development of the Year awards recognize visionary projects by Gabby Christensen
A conceptual design for the reception area of the Ashton building, part of the Millwork Commons, 2019 Deal of the Year. (Courtesy of Flywheel)
Every year, the CRE Summit aims to award companies in two paramount categories: Deal and Development of the Year. The Deal of the Year for 2019, awarded to the brokers who completed the single most impactful transaction of the year, will be presented to Colliers International and PJ Morgan Real Estate for Flywheel at Millwork Commons. Zoob “Both Chris [Mensinger] and I were honored to be selected by Flywheel to assist them in this search and guide them through the process,” said Barry
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Zoob, senior vice president of Colliers International. According to Chris Mensinger, vice president of Colliers International, one of the greatest challenges was the complexity of finding a space large enough to house the rapidly increasing employee base while maintaining the urban environment Flywheel has been accustomed to. It proved difficult in Omaha’s tight Mensinger downtown market. Zoob said the project will transform an entire blighted neighborhood and gives Omaha the square footage and environment to attract tech and creative companies and talent that often eludes to the city. “As I reflect on my career in this business, you draw upon the many unique experiences in representing tenants to create outstanding outcomes for their company,” Zoob said. At the same time, Mensinger said they continue to learn from complex transactions such as this. “The parties navigated through the many challenges and at the end all of the stakeholders are pleased with the outcome,” Mensinger said. Ryan Ellis, president of PJ M o rg a n R e a l Estate, said it is because of a cohesive team that they were able to divide and conquer such a unique, historical renovation. “I love knowing our collective ideas are bringing the new life downtown Omaha Continued on next page.
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CRE Summit • Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Deal and Development
was all replaced with new systems as well as all new HVAC and fire sprinklers,” Gies said. Continued from preceding page. Gies said the original elevator and stairs needs to continue attracting others to our were replaced with new ones and the existcommunity,” Ellis said. “Because we are ing brick was tuckpointed and cleaned. New an Omaha-based business, we love seeing windows were installed that were similar to the time and energy we’ve put the original ones. into several projects throughout On the south portion of the downtown Omaha pay off. We property, Gies said a new addition love all parts of Omaha — from was constructed. historical neighborhoods to the On the interior of the buildsuburbs — but we firmly believe ing the main level was renovated that a vibrant downtown is critical into offices, and the upper floors to achieve continued growth and were divided into 13 luxury consuccess in Omaha. It’s an honor to dominiums. leave a mark on the city that we “It is a great honor to the call home.” entire team at BIC Construction Ellis said it takes visionaries to be awarded for this project,” Ellis and pioneers to pull off an iconic Gies said. “Our team worked very opportunity like Millwork Commons, and hard to bring new life to this historic building the teams at PJ Morgan, Colliers, Black while maintaining the original elements of Dog Management, Field Day Development the building. Buildings such as the Schwarz and Flywheel came to the table with their Paper building are unique to the Lincoln and A-game. when the opportunity arose to develop and “We can’t wait to share our vision with thus save the historic building we were very everyone in Omaha,” Ellis said. excited, and we couldn’t be any happier with Development of the Year-Omaha will be the outcome of the finished product.” presented to NuStyle Development Corporation for The Atlas apartments. The project redeveloped the former Creighton University Medical Center to a 10-story $110 million apartment building. It also includes 15,000 square feet of retail space. The Development of the Year-Lincoln will be awarded to BIC Construction for the Schwarz Paper building redevelopment. Craig Gies of BIC Construction said the first phase of the project was to construct a new facility for the existing business that had occupied the building for many years. Then, the work could begin on the more than 120-year-old building in the Historic Haymarket District. “Much care was taken to retain all of the original building structure and exterior façade, but the original electrical and plumbing
A rendering of The Atlas apartments, Development of the Year-Omaha. (Courtesy of CRE Summit)
The Schwarz Paper building redevelopment, Development of the Year-Lincoln. (Courtesy of BIC Construction)
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit
2019 CRE SUMMIT CONFERENCE AGENDA 7:30 AM
REGISTRATION
8:15 AM-9:00 AM
WELCOME TO THE CRE SUMMIT! 2018 - 2019 HIGHLIGHTS AND SUMMIT 30-YEAR OVERVIEW AND RECOGNITIONS Jerry Slusky, Esq., Smith Slusky Pohren & Rogers, LLP, Founder & Chair of CRE Summit VISION AWARD PRESENTATIONS
9:00 AM-9:45 AM
OPENING PANEL Legacies and Unicorns ("A unicorn is something that is highly desirable but difficult to find or obtain.") MODERATOR: Dee Baird, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Senior Vice President, Economic Development DESCRIPTION: Company leaders in Omaha and Lincoln are coming together to address the Tech Talent issue. The panelists will talk about how they are developing a strategy for a comprehensive approach. PARTICIPANTS: Mike Cassling, Chairman and CEO, Cquence Health Group; Dusty Davidson, Co-Founder and CEO, Flywheel; Dan Houghton, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, BuilderTREND; Mindy Simon, CIO Global Business & Information Services, Conagra Brands; Matt Spyers, CTO, First National Bank
9:45 AM- 10:00 AM
MORNING NETWORKING BREAK
10:00 AM-10:45 AM
KEYNOTE: Understanding and Engaging our Workforce Seth Mattison, Internationally Renowned Expert and Author
10:45 AM-11:00 AM
MORNING NETWORKING BREAK
11:00 AM-11:45 AM
MORNING BREAKOUTS BREAKOUT 1: Data Centers: The Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Landing these Mega Developments CO-MODERATORS: Patrick Cuddigan, Commercial Asset Manager & Director of Construction, NewStreet Development and Ray Harrower, CPC, Fulcrum DESCRIPTION: This session will dive into the economic impact, from the eyes of various stakeholders, stemming from the development and construction of these large project, and the corresponding effect on other market sectors. PARTICIPANTS: Terry Franks, President, Data Power Technology Corp; Tim Kerrigan, Vice President, Investors Realty; Mike Miller, Market Director, LightEdge Solutions; Andrew Rainbolt, Executive Director, Sarpy County Economic Development Corporation; Jason Tagge, Executive Vice President, Miller Electric Company of Omaha; Blaine Wilcoxson, Division President, The Waldinger Corporation BREAKOUT 2: Changing the Face of Retail - The Evolution of Retail in 2019. Innovation, Diversification, Eater-tainments MODERATOR: Jim Sadler, Senior General Manager, Westroads Mall DESCRIPTION: In-store, on-line and everything in between. Retail is not dead. It’s changing before our eyes. Listen to our expert panel provide their thoughts of what is working in today’s retail from a growth, contraction, development, and digital perspective. PARTICIPANTS: Greg Cutchall, Founder and CEO, Cutchall Management Co.; Beau Starkel, Managing Partner, Thunderhead Brewing; Josh House, Director of Real Estate, Kum & Go; Ben Meier, Vice President and Brokerage Services, The Lerner Company BREAKOUT 3: The New World of Office: The Co-Working Takeover CO-MODERATORS: Connor Lund, Associate, Cushman & Wakefield/Lund and Dan Murow, Attorney, Koley Jessen PC LLO DESCRIPTION: This session dives into recent developments in the office market with a primary focus on the rise of co-working space. Panelists will discuss the data behind the co-working trend and analyze the design elements and efficiencies tenants seek in this arena. PARTICIPANTS: Kurt Cisar, Partner, Holland Basham Architects; Ryan Ellis, President, PJ Morgan Real Estate; Corey Green, Director of Strategy, EvolveLAB (formerly at WeWork); Micah Yost, Partner, Populus BREAKOUT 4: Branding Omaha and the Impact on CRE MODERATOR: Alex Epstein, Executive Vice President, OMNE Partners DESCRIPTION: An in-depth conversation from various Omaha branding experts regarding the City’s brand and how we can improve Omaha’s image. The panelists will discuss their visions to attract and retain talent in Omaha and the role branding plays in this effort. PARTICIPANTS: Steve Gordon, Image Council Chairman for the Chamber, Founder RDQLUS Creative; Mary Ann O'Brien, CEO, OBI Creative; Alan Tipp, Founder, CEO and Creative Director, Atippical; Deborah Ward, Director of Marketing, Omaha Convention and Visitors Bureau
11:45 AM-12:00 PM
AFTERNOON NETWORKING BREAK
12:00 PM-1:15 PM
HALL OF FAME LUNCHEON: Class of 2019 Award Presentations PRESENTER: Jerry Slusky, Esq. Jim Smith, Executive Director, Blueprint Nebraska - Presentation UNO Real Estate Scholarship Award Chairman's Award - Highlander Development Todd Lieberman, Executive Vice President, Brinshore Development, LLC and Othello Meadows, Executive Director and CEO, Seventy Five North Revitalization Corporation
CRE Summit • Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 • 12:00 PM-1:15 PM
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HALL OF FAME LUNCHEON: Class of 2019 Award Presentations (continued) Mayor Jean Stothert: Deal of the Year and Developments of the Year Presentations Deal of the Year: Barry Zoob, Senior Vice President and Chris Mensinger, Vice President, Colliers International; and Ryan Ellis, President, PJ Morgan Real Estate for Flywheel at Millwork Commons Development of the Year, Lincoln - Boyd Batterman and Craig Gies, Owners and Partners, BIC Construction for Schwarz Paper Building Redevelopment Development of the Year, Omaha - Todd Heistand, President and Owner, NuStyle Development Corporation for Atlas Apartments Hall of Fame Induction Hal Daub, Senior Council, Husch Blackwell Pat McNeil, CEO, McNeil Company Roger Morrissey, Vice President, Realcorp Inc. Allan Murow, Senior Partner and Principal, N&M Brokerage Services, LLC Jay Noddle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Noddle Companies The Summit Award PRESENTER: David Brown, Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, President and CEO The Third Annual Summit Award - Recognizing a company, organization, or entity that has made an extraordinary impact on Greater Omaha’s real estate development. The selection is based on several criteria including impact on employment, community and financial investments, technology, and leadership within our community and region.
1:15 PM-1:30 PM
AFTERNOON NETWORKING BREAK
1:30 PM-2:15 PM
AFTERNOON BREAKOUTS BREAKOUT 5: The Continuing Evolution of Multi-Family: Leading Trends that Enhance the Living Experience and Maximize Shareholder Value MODERATOR: Zach Reinhardt, Real Estate Financial Analyst, Burlington Capital Group DESCRIPTION: Professionals from the design, development, and management sectors of real estate will discuss emerging trends in design, amenities, and cost control. This panel discussion will provide insight into the balance between what tenants want and what developers can afford. PARTICIPANTS: Kelly Calderone, Vice President Residential Asset Management, Metonic Real Estate Solutions; Todd Heistand, President and Founder, NuStyle Development Corporation; Brett West, Senior Director of Real Estate Development, Assurity Life Insurance Company; Jenny Zimmer, Architect and Partner, Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture BREAKOUT 6: Lincoln Hot Topics MODERATOR: Kirby Reardon, Commercial Loan Officer, West Gate Bank DESCRIPTION: This session will take a look at the upcoming changes to downtown Lincoln and explore the major developments affecting Lincoln and the surrounding areas in the years to come. PARTICIPANTS: Tom Gifford, Leasing Agent, Speedway Properties - Haymarket South / Telegraph District; Dallas McGee, Assistant Director of Urban Development, Lincoln City Planning - Downtown Master Plan; Richard Meginnis, President, NAI FMA Realty - Suburban Developments BREAKOUT 7: Involved and Engaged MODERATOR: Jeff Wyatt, Commercial Real Estate Broker, Colliers International DESCRIPTION: This session will illustrate the trends our subject matter experts are seeing globally, what is occurring locally, and what needs to continue to happen for people to remain involved and engaged in communities, politics, places of work, nonprofits, places of leisure and worship while feeling that they are playing a meaningful role. PARTICIPANTS: Ashley Kuhn, President, Blair Freeman Group; Othello Meadows, President and CEO, Seventy Five North Revitalization Corporation; Craig Moody, Managing Partner, Verdis Group, and Board of Directors, O.P.P.D.; Andy Saladino, Executive Director, Amplify Arts BREAKOUT 8: Hot Topics from our CRE Attorneys MODERATOR: Jerry Slusky, Esq. DESCRIPTION: This session will include an overview of seven current law topics to bring you up to date with what's new in commercial real estate law. PARTICIPANTS: Jon Blumenthal, Esq., Partner, Baird Holm, LLP: A Landlord's Dilemma: Guns, Drugs, and Puppies Bryan Mick, Esq., President, Mick Law PC, LLO: NNN Properties Rochelle Mullen, Esq., Partner, Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather: Syndication of Capital for Commercial Real Estate Trev Peterson, Esq., Partner, Knudsen, Berkheimer, Richardson & Endacott: 5G Internet and the Zoning Effect David Proksel, Esq., Operations Manager, First American Title Insurance Co.: Title Update Todd Richardson, Esq., Managing Partner, Husch Blackwell: Opportunity Zones Jennifer Taylor, Assistant City Attorney, City of Omaha: Changes to Municipal Code
2:15 PM-2:30 PM
NETWORKING BREAK
2:30 PM-3:10 PM
CLOSING PANEL: Chasing Growth - What We've Learned, Where We've been Successful, What's Next MODERATOR: Steve Seline, Esq., President, Walnut Private Equity DESCRIPTION: This session will discuss what drives Omaha’s growth. Industry leaders will discuss best practices for growth strategy, the results of recent pursuits of major national and international companies, and the leaders’ perspectives on how Omaha (and Nebraska) can attract and retain talent to drive development. PARTICIPANTS: Mike App, COO, Bridges Trust; Timothy Burke, CEO and President, O.P.P.D; Senator Lou Ann Linehan, Nebraska State Senator, District 39; Jay Lund, Principal, Greenslate Development; T.J. Twit, President and CEO, OMNE Partners
3:10 PM-4:00 PM
CRE Summit Networking An Interactive Opportunity to Meet and Discuss Commercial Real Estate Issues with Your Fellow Summit Participants
4:00 PM
THE EXCHANGE RECEPTION: Networking/Complimentary cocktails and hors d'oeuvres
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit
Patrick Cuddigan, commercial asset manager and director of construction at New Street Properties.
Omaha metro proves to be major hub for large scale data centers by Lee Nelson
When mega data centers are being planned and built in a community, it can have a great economic effect as well as challenges. During the breakout session on data centers, “The Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Landing These Mega Developments,” experts will be examining different aspects of these projects. “Certain highlights of the session include looking at possible short, mid- and long-term economic impacts to our community,” said Patrick Cuddigan, commercial asset manager and director of construction at New Street Properties. He is co-moderator for the session. Specific areas of focus during the discussion, he said, will include the cost of construction and opportunities for improved efficiency; real estate transaction challenges and opportunities; and business and growth Rainbolt opportunities related to these large investments in Nebraska. “The subject has been important for the last 10 years or so,” he said. “It is being asked for this year given additional and continued investments in these developments. Having a better understanding allows attendees who actively participate in the community to make informed decisions where perhaps without this understanding, the decisions being made would/could be made with less perspective.” Co-moderator Ray Harrower, business development & marketing manager at Fulcrum in Omaha, said it’s important to understand where these developments are in their respective cycles and then draw correlation to the community and its economic growth model. “I think it is a privilege to be part of the CRE Summit,” he said. “My reasoning
is due to there being a number of companies and people in this community that are actively working to ensure the future is stronger, brighter and sustainable.” Andrew Rainbolt, executive director of the Sarpy County Economic Development Corp., said data center construction activity has been growing in the Omaha metro area over the past decade. “It has especially ramped up over the past two years with Facebook entering the market,” he said. “In terms of construction projects, they can be huge long-term job sites that employ thousands of laborers and trades people.” He hopes that the panel can provide some insight into the specifics of the real estate solution as well as the construction reality of area data centers. “I think there is a perception in the real estate community that data center Miller development is coming at the detriment of other types of new construction in Omaha,” Rainbolt said. “I hope attendees will see that data centers are an overall benefit to our market and are not coming at the cost of other projects. Omaha has a fantastic real estate community and the fact that they have devoted a session to the topic of data centers shows that Omaha is a major hub for large scale data centers.” Michael Miller, market director at LightEdge Solutions in Papillion, said Yahoo, Google and Facebook have built and are continuing to build large data centers in the Omaha metro. “Some people very strongly think that these projects do not add value and in fact cost the region more than they are worth,” he said. “This discussion will sort through Continued on next page.
CRE Summit • Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
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Opening panel ‘Legacies and Unicorns’ aims to combat tech talent shortage by David Kubicek
Dee Baird, senior vice president of economic development at the Greater Omaha Chamber.
Large scale data centers Continued from preceding page. the good and the bad.” The panel is hopeful that people will look at both sides of this issue, acknowledge the good and understand the reason these companies are choosing Nebraska, Miller said. “These large data center projects highlight what we all know about the region —
it’s healthy and vibrant and it is attractive to the big tech companies who choose to land here,” he said. “This ultimately puts the spotlight on Nebraska and helps attract other businesses to locate here.” The attendees of the CRE Summit all have a stake in the development of our community, he said. These projects can have a big impact on the land prices, workforce and material costs and availability.
The CRE Summit’s opening panel, “Legacies and Unicorns,” will focus on how organizations in Omaha and Lincoln are uniting to solve Nebraska’s tech talent shortage. Moderator Dee Baird, senior vice president of economic development at the Greater Omaha Chamber, said the panelists will discuss programs they are involved with to attract and retain tech talent and to continue to develop a strong tech startup culture in the region. Economic development programs and strategies have historically focused on established companies that have been in communities for years, also known as mature or Houghton legacy companies, but in the past 15 to 20 years there has been a strong emphasis on adding entrepreneurial programs, accelerators and incubators. “A significant win in the entrepreneurial field is to find founders who start companies that grow in size and revenue quickly and those are often referred to as ‘unicorns,’” Baird said. “This panel will highlight how these two segments of our business community are working together to build an even better tech industry in the region.” Baird will ask the panelists to each share
key initiatives they are currently leading that audience members may be unaware of. She will also ask them questions about how they’re working together to solve these issues and about what success will look like in five to 10 years. “There’s been tremendous support, energy and collaboration happening in the last few months by some of these companies and others that will be news to the audience,” Baird said. “More importantly, I want the audience to understand the significant leadership and resources that will be deployed in 2019, which will have a positive outcome on our future economic growth.” Panelist Dan Cassling Houghton, co-founder and executive vice president of Buildertrend, said he started the company with two good friends 13 years ago. Buildertrend now has more than 400 employees and is one of the fastest growing tech firms in the United States. “We’re proud to be part of the growing tech community in Omaha, and our goal is to see the city and the local economy thrive,” Houghton said. “Our community needs to foster a culture of inclusiveness, entrepreneurship, and really work hard with businesses and government to create economic incentives to both keep and Continued on next page.
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit
Closing panel ‘Chasing Growth’ to look at Omaha’s strategies by Gabby Christensen
This year, the CRE Summit will bring forth a multitude of industry experts to speak for its closing panel, “Chasing Growth - What We’ve Learned, Where We’ve Been Successful, What’s Next.” Closing panel moderator Steve Seline, president of Walnut Private Equity, said the panel will discuss how public policy can be used to help grow the state of Nebraska. “One of the greatest problems the state has is that we don’t have enough population,” Seline said. “People on this panel will have insight into how public policy shapes the opportunities for growth in the state.” Seline said this topic is very relevant
right now. “The legislature is looking at numerous tax bills and legislative actions that relate to growth,” Seline said. “It’s really important for our state to have an updated incentive package that can be used to compete with other states to bring new business to the state of Nebraska.” Overall, Seline said Burke the goal of the discussion is to provide a framework for people to
understand how public policy and growth can interrelate, while also providing an update in the real estate industry as it relates to the public policy arena. As a panelist, Timothy Burke, president and CEO of OPPD, agreed that this session will primarily discuss what drives Omaha’s growth. “Industry leaders will discuss best Lund practices for growth strategy, the results of recent pursuits of major
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national and international companies, and the leaders’ perspectives on how Omaha and Nebraska can attract and retain talent to drive development,” Burke said. “Since OPPD is typically involved in most economic development initiatives, I plan to discuss how OPPD, in conjunction with the chamber, developed the Site Targeted Advisory Group, which has been instrumental on the Highway 50 corridor and a strategy that has worked. I will also talk about the economic development activities that OPPD has initiated to create a more competitive and attractive region for data centers and other large companies.” Burke said he believes it is critical to share with the development community what the regional organizations, individual companies and the legislature is doing to make Nebraska and the region more attractive for business growth and development. “This CRE Summit has exceptional speakers and topics to think about and discuss as a development community,” Burke said. Jay Lund, principal of Greenslate Development, will also take part in the panel. He said he aims to bring a unique perspective to the conversation. “I’m always excited to participate in the CRE Summit, as they do a great job of bringing a diverse group of informed industry leaders together,” Lund said. As far as the panel discussion goes, Lund said he will use scenarios and advice he’s gained from his own career — real life examples to help attendees understand. “I hope to bring forth my experiences and development work of the Blackstone District,” Lund said. Lund said the main topic will be about the labor shortage in Omaha and how to fix it. “We’ll discuss the growing trend of urbanization and neighborhood creation,” Lund said. “This is more relevant than ever before and I’m excited to share my perspective.”
Legacies and Unicorns
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Continued from preceding page. recruit great companies and individual talent to Omaha.” Panelist Mike Cassling, chairman and CEO of CQuence Health Group, said the panel will focus on the challenge of attracting and retaining IT professionals. “I’m heading up this piece as part of the Aksarben Foundation Workforce Development, but it’s really everyone working together,” he said. “It involves marketing, internships, working in education — seventh and eighth through 12th grade and then higher education. We have to start working on all of these pieces, and we’re behind. This is a major area of growth nationally and if Nebraska is going to keep companies — and more importantly, grow companies — we need to bring more IT professionals here.” Cassling wants the audience to understand that industry and the public sector are coming together for the first time to address this problem. “We’ve had multiple meetings, and more will be coming up with specific action areas,” he said. “There will be short-term, long-term and mid-term actions we need to take. Our goal is to grow companies that are already in Nebraska and to attract new companies and startup firms in the technology space, but in order attract and grow a startup culture we need people. Some of that’s going on already, but I think this is the first time we’re pulling all the industry together as well as the public sector — both the education side and the Chamber — to really address the issue. It’s exciting, but it needs to happen fast.”
CRE Summit • Midlands Business Journal • MARCH 29, 2019 •
‘Changing the Face of Retail’ gives glimpse into future by Lee Nelson
Consumers have many options to buy and order the services and items they want and need. During the CRE Summit, a panel of experts will provide their perspective on how things are changing quickly and provide their own thoughts on what’s working in today’s retail. “There are some really innovative things retailers are doing, so we’ll be touching on some of those,” said Ben Meier, vice president, brokerage services at The Lerner Company and panelist. As an example, Sadler artificial intelligence lets people put virtual clothes on so that they can decide if they want to buy them without trying them on, he said. “The evolution in retail is obviously catching a lot of headlines, but it’s not necessarily being told from a macro-perspective. It’s more a sky is falling spin,” he said. “The evolution is really exciting for retail. We hope to bring the attendees a snapshot of what is currently happening in retail as well as what we see the future looking like.” The panel will have perspectives from the retailers themselves as well as professionals working in the field. “Everyone is extremely busy right now,
Ben Meier, vice president, brokerage services at The Lerner Company. which is a great thing. But that does tend to Jim Sadler, senior general manager at make us lose sight of planning to navigate Westroads Mall, will be serving as moderafor the future,” he said. “In a world with a tor of the breakout session. million opinions with varying degrees of “The panel will consist of several real-world experience being subjected to prominent retailers from around the area, headlines and tweets, it’s helpful to come to and they will all be discussing how their a summit like this to distill down what real- businesses have changed and how they ity is in our industry and be able to make continue to evolve going forward,” he said. early year adjustments to our businesses.” He said the evolution of retail has been
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taking place for several years now. “In 2019 and beyond, it’s important to embrace the changes we have already seen and the changes yet to come,” Sadler said. He said he hopes participants from the retail industry will walk away with some of their fears subsided and with encouragement that change in the retail industry can be a very good thing if you are ready for it. Panelist Beau Starkel, who is owner of Thunderhead Brewing, said the subject of the evolution of retail is important now for the survival of the fittest and an increased visibility for parties involved in transactions. He said it will be good to help business owners understand the strategy in opening locations as rents are coming down, and strategy in leasing or buying in the right areas. “I just want some engaging conversation to learn from and perhaps educate how we shop for space, and I want attendees to learn something from what the new lessees of property are looking for.” Panelist Josh House, director of real estate development at Kum & Go, said you have to respond to what customers want incredibly fast these days, otherwise, they will find another option that better suits their needs. “We need to take advantage of these changes and embrace them as we redefine the business moving forward,” he said. “I think it’s important to talk about how digital media and smartphones have changed the way customers do business. It evolves at the speed of light, and it can be hard to keep up with the change in technology if you’re not vigilant in your efforts.”
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• MARCH 29, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal • CRE Summit