The Lincoln
OCTOBER 2019
BUSINESS Journal
Vol. 22 No. 10 $2.00
Reaanddit Reap!
Holiday Office Parties Pages 4-6 Blueprints....................Pages 8-9 Retirement .....................Page 10 Lincoln’s Sun Valley Lanes plans major expansion.
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Lincoln Business Journal — inside OCTOBER 18, 2019
THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER OF GREATER OMAHA, LINCOLN AND COUNCIL BLUFFS
THIS WEEK 'S ISSUE:
$2.00
VOL. 45 NO. 42
REI prioritizes national transportation industry market share by Richard D. Brown
Omaha’s tech firms diverse in size; lack diversity among women entrepreneurs, people of color. – Page 2
yee plo fits m E ene B
Health plan structures, ancillary benefits further reward wellness of employees. – Page 4
In its 81 years as a family-owned business, Omaha-based REI has evolved from a company that repaired radio communication equipment during WWII into a vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing company that designs, manufactures and services innovative surveillance, fleet management, safety and entertainment solutions for the global transportation industry. Over the past 11 years global revenues have increased from $25 million to more than $40 million. The firm has 164 employees operating out of its 180,000-square-foot headquarters at 6534 L St. Several hundred thousand dollars is being invested in renovating that structure, which was built in the 1950s and has had few upgrades, to accommodate the emerging needs of the fast-growing business. In addition to its Omaha presence, REI also operates a 15,000-squarefoot lite manufacturing facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Its staff there is being reduced from 35 to 17 as the electronics solutions supplier is Continued on page 10.
ief inancial Officer e in Herrmann e firm is expanding as it sees gro t in need for elec(Photo by MBJ / Becky McCarville) tronics for commercial transportation such as buses.
Thrive Space focuses on building community on business campus by Savannah Behrends
Pet parents increasingly crave ‘human-grade’ level of services, food products. – Page 11
What do you do with a former elementary school sitting on 10 acres of land? You turn it into a business complex suitable for small-to-medium sized businesses. Or at least that’s what Traci and Ryan Gratopp had in mind when they purchased DC West Elementary School in Waterloo, Nebraska in January 2018 and began renovations for what would
become Thrive Space. While the facility is now at 85% capacity, the duo said the project was a leap of faith. “We bought [the property] without any contingencies, so if we couldn’t get it rezoned as commercial then there was nothing we could have done with it,” Ryan Gratopp said. Re-zoning the medium-density Continued on page 13.
Founder Taylor Keen at the Sacred Seed Pop-Up garden at 13th and Leavenworth streets … Collecting, planting, harvesting and sharing indigenous and heirloom corn seeds and Native American culture.
Sacred Seed Pop-Up garden aiming to preserve heritage by Becky McCarville
Founders Ryan and Traci Gratopp … Repurposing a former elementary school into a business campus that offers tenants the opportunity to network and support other local businesses.
Taylor Keen, founder of nonprofit Sacred Seed, is harvesting the fruits of a labor of love at the Sacred Seed Pop-Up garden at 13th and Leavenworth streets. As each ear of corn is husked, unique hues of rose, purple, blue and yellow emerge. “Everything’s a surprise, [like] unwrapping little presents,”
he said. During the two-month pollination period, Keen is at the site “most nights, and we’re taking the pollen that is fresh to plants that are ready. In general, we’ve got pretty good pollination rates here.” In its fifth year, Sacred Seed’s mission is to preserve heirloom Continued on page 12.