Steven “Chuck” Bates is a company partner at Bridgeway Capital Management, located in Houston, Texas. Bridgeway is a U.S. quantitative investment management firm that employs several multi-factor proprietary statistical models to assemble its investment portfolios. Bridgeway specializes in domestic equities, and is the adviser for Bridgeway Funds, the company's family of eleven no-load mutual funds. Bridgeway also provides subadvisory and separate account services.
Prior to working at Bridgeway, Bates also worked for Ameritrade in Omaha, Neb., and then moved to Fort Worth, Texas, to help hire and train staff in their branch office. Later Bates decided to learn more about the institutional side of the business, such as hedge funds and larger asset managers, so he took a job at Direct Trading in Dallas, Texas.
Bates is currently active in many charitable causes giving both time and money to help the Houston Parks and Recreation, as well as serving as treasurer on the board on Navidad en el Barrio, whcih provides Christmas presents to economically disadvantaged children.
Bates is a 1997 graduate of the University Nebraska–Lincoln with a degree in economics.
Betsy Branscombe is the web content manager at Speedway Motors. Her strategic social media effort for Speedway helped them snag 2011's coveted Marketer of the Year Award from the American Marketing Association. With previous experience in Internet marketing and social media, Branscombe and her team control and monitor the content published online at Speedway Motors and eBay.
Before joining Speedway Motors, she worked at the headquarters for First National Bank of Omaha. First in their management trainee program and then transferring into an online marketing advisor role with their national high-yield online savings account FNBO Direct.
Branscombe is a member of the American Marketing Association Board and serves as the vice president of programming, where she uses her smarts to continue the organization's commitment to quality educational programming.
She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in marketing and finance. Besides her enthusiasm for all things marketing, she spends her free time volunteering with Young Life and mentoring high school students.
Eric Dinger's entrepreneurial spirit and knack for business strategy led him to found Dinger Associates as a senior at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2003. His company, largely focused on creating ROI through marketing and promotions, found great success and grew quickly.
By 2007, the addition of graphic design and copywriting creative talent led Eric to rename the company Thought District. His role has him working in leadership, vision and strategic functions for both clients and Thought District, alike.
With expertise in growing manufacturing and franchise companies, Dinger and the team at Thought District are indispensable partners to some of the Midwest's most successful brands.
Nickie Hanson earned her bachelor of science in business administration from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2006 as an accountancy major, with economics and communications minors. While an undergraduate student, Hanson was the president of Beta Alpha Psi, a vice president of the CBA Student Advisory Board, a CBA Student Ambassador, and a member of Chi Omega.
At graduation, Hanson was named a Chancellor's Scholar for maintaining a 4.0 cumulative grade point average. She then completed a joint degree program at UNL, earning her juris doctor and her master of professional accountancy. While a law student, Hanson was an executive editor for the Nebraska Law Review, a member of the National Moot Court Team, the vice president of Pi Alpha Delta, and the coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. Hanson received the Guy Cleveland Chambers Gold Medallion for highest grade point average in the Class of 2009.
Since finishing her joint degree program in 2009, Hanson has been an attorney at Fraser Stryker PC LLO in Omaha, Neb. She focuses on corporate transactional law, primarily including mergers, acquisitions, contract and tax law.
She is an active member of the Omaha Jaycees, the National Association for Professional Women and the DECA Business Partnership Network.
Tom Heacock is treasurer and corporate controller of The Buckle, Inc., a specialty retailer with its corporate headquarters located in Kearney, Neb. Heacock has been employed by Buckle since October 2003.
He was previously employed by Ernst & Young LLP as a part of the firm's Kansas City audit practice. Heacock is the son-in-law of Dennis H. Nelson, who serves as president and chief executive officer and a director of The Buckle, Inc.
He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2000 with a degree in accounting and in 2001 with a masters in professional accountancy.
Nick Kepler joined the Wells Fargo Corporate Banking – Chicago team in 2007 as an associate relationship manager after completing Wells Fargo's Credit Management Training Program in San Francisco.
In 2009, he was named vice president and assumed primary coverage responsibility for corporate banking clients.
He first joined Wells Fargo in Omaha, Neb., in 2004 and held positions as a financial analyst and relationship manager in the business banking and commercial banking groups.
Kepler was born and raised in Nebraska and earned a bachelor's degree in international business from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He also serves on the board of managers of the Chicago Lakeview YMCA and is actively involved in tutoring and mentoring students of Holy Trinity High School.
Angie Klein is the executive director of marketing operations and execution for Verizon, where she leads a diverse team of six executives and over 100 managers. As a direct report to the chief marketing officer, her responsibilities are broad-based and include management of the strategic partnership with DIRECTV, oversight of a $100M-plus annual capital budget, design of the customer delivery plan for new product development, and overall IT systems execution and performance assurance management for marketing programs across the consumer and small business voice, Internet and TV businesses.
After joining Verizon in 2001 in a two-year development program, she has quickly worked her way up the corporate ladder. Her role as one of the initial members of the Verizon FiOS team, a $22B capital investment in fiber-to-the-home, served as a career launching pad.
She has held roles such as director of broadband solutions to director of core product line management. In her most recent role, Klein lead the Go To Market function across the Telecom segment, inclusive of execution design and training development for more than 10k sales reps nationwide.
Klein is a graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with degrees in both business and journalism. She continues her involvement with the university, where she has served on the Nebraska Alumni Associations Board of Directors and is a member of the Alumni Advisory Council. She is also a member of Cather Circle, a women's mentoring and networking group. She was the recipient of the UNL Young Alumni Achievement Award in 2011.
Kassy Knudson is a supplier performance engineer at Lincoln Industries. She represents the third generation of the LeBaron family at Lincoln Industries. Her grandfather, Dale LeBaron, founded the company 60 years ago. Her father, Marc LeBaron, is the current chairman and CEO.
At Lincoln Industries, Knudson has served in the sales and marketing department as a business development specialist prior to her current supply chain management role. Prior to joining Lincoln Industries in 2010, Knudson was an account representative at Sandhills Publishing in Lincoln.
Today, Lincoln Industries has grown to become the nation's largest supplier of products requiring high-performance metal finishing. Lincoln Industries sells its products to original equipment manufacturers, distributors and other customers throughout the nation, including the power sports, heavy duty truck, automotive and agricultural industries. Selected five times as one of the best companies to work for in America, Lincoln Industries has also been nationally recognized for its workplace wellness program.
Being a third generation member of the LeBaron family at the company, Knudson has long been exposed to the unique and nationally recognized Lincoln Industries culture.
Knudson is a graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a degree in biology and minor in biochemistry. She is a member of the Willard Community Center Board.
Mark Korell graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1993 with a bachelor of science in business administration. He spent 11 years in public accounting with Ernst & Young LLP in their Kansas City and Minneapolis offices.
Korell is currently serving as president of AmFirst Bank, N.A., a community bank with offices in Nebraska and Colorado.
He lives in Centennial, Colo.
Steve Korell acts as the general counsel to Woodlands Commercial Bank, a Utah industrial bank and an indirect subsidiary of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., where his duties include advising the management team and board of directors on transactional, regulatory, compliance and operational matters, acting as the corporate secretary and serving as an advisory member to all management committees.
Additionally, he serves as the chief legal officer of the loan products division of Lehman and as a legal consultant to and corporate secretary for another Lehman subsidiary, Aurora Bank, FSB, a federally chartered savings bank.
Prior to joining Lehman, Korell spent six years as a New York-based associate in the banking department of the international law firm of White & Case where his practice concentrated on corporate law matters with a particular emphasis on representing financial institutions in various financing arrangements.
Shawntell Kroese has worked with Union Pacific for 15 and has held various positions over that time frame. Currently, She is the general director of domestic intermodal, responsible for the pricing and equipment teams.
She completed the leadership development program at Union Pacific, in addition to sitting on the board of LEAD (UP's Women Initiative) for four years. She also created and has taught the Union Pacific class, which is offered at both UNL and UNO.
She has been recognized with the Educate Award through the LEAD organization and has also been recognized as both the Coach of the Year and the Quarterback of the Year within the marketing and sales department. In 2011, she led Union Pacific's Race for the Cure effort, which raised $121,000 for this important cause.
Kroese has her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in business management. She has her MBA from Creighton University.
She also has sat on a variety of different community boards and currently is on the board of directors of the YMCA, the Ronald McDonald House, Kids Can Community Center and Cather Circle, an organization that is part of UNL's Alumni Association. She lives in Omaha, Neb.
Chad Mariska is president of APS Fire based in Tulsa, Okla. He most recently served as vice president of finance and marketing focusing on the financial leadership of APS Fire and advancing its marketing capabilities.
Prior to joining APS Fire, he was a marketing manager for equipment manufacturer John Deere, information technology manager for management consultant Accenture, and financial analyst for industrial conglomerate Koch Industries.
Mariska is a YMCA Sports Coach, has served as a Vice President of Hope Valley Farms Homeowners Association in Durham, N.C., was on the United Way Cleveland GeneratioNEXT Leadership Council and has been a classroom volunteer for Junior Achievement in Kansas City.
Born and raised in Lincoln, Neb., he received a master of business administration from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration. Also, he is pursuing a Fire Protection Technology Certificate at Oklahoma State University.
Ryan Mendlik is an associate at Tenaska Capital Management, an Omaha based private equity fund manager with over $4.4 bn of assets under management. His primary responsibility is to perform due diligence and other analysis supporting the firm's power generation acquisitions and gas storage development opportunities. He has been with Tenaska since July 2010.
Prior to his time at Tenaska, he was an analyst and trader at Cascade Investment LLC, the investment manager for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the private partnership of the William H Gates III family office.
Mendlik started his career in 2006 at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as an analyst in its investment banking division.
He graduated with highest distinction from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a bachelor of science degree in accountancy and a minor in economics.
Ryan Merrill has over nine years of sports and entertainment marketing experience, having worked in both professional and collegiate sports. He is currently a senior account executive with IMG, specifically within its collegiate property sales group.
Merrill is responsible for developing new sponsorship and media relationships across IMG College's 80-plus university properties around the country. His specialties include sponsorship sales and negotiation, digital media strategy, brand strategy and event/project management.
Prior to his current position at IMG, Ryan spent six years as a sponsorship executive with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, owners of the NBA's Denver Nuggets, NHL's Colorado Avalanche, and MLS' Colorado Rapids. He began his career as a sponsorship and ticket sales executive with the Utah Grizzlies, a Salt Lake City-based minor-league hockey team.
He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where he majored in business administration. He served for three years on the CBA Student Advisory Board, his third as president. He also has a MBA degree from Arizona State University.
Chase Meyer joined McCarthy Capital the summer of 2008 while completing his MBA. His primary responsibilities include complex financial valuations, company and industry analysis, and the structuring and execution of private equity investments and financings.
Prior to joining McCarthy Capital, Meyer worked as a corporate auditor for Union Pacific and pension consultant for Towers Perrin.
He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and his MBA from the Harvard Business Schoo
Amy Morgan has over 10 years of marketing experience managing integrated marketing programs, as well as leading and executing customer experience events. For the past four years, Morgan has developed and executed marketing strategies and programs for Kronos, a labor management software company. She managed the marketing efforts of the services and distribution business unit overseeing new customer acquisition marketing programs, marketing strategy, social media and the domestic trade show program.
Prior to Kronos, Morgan was a senior event marketing manager for Salesforce.com. She was responsible for driving brand awareness and adoption of products and services through lead generation marketing programs and user events. Before Salesforce, she was a product marketing manager for MC Communications. She orchestrated the product direction and complete go-to-market strategy for all Pri-Med/Harvard Medical School conferences, the largest continuing medical education program in the country.
Previously, Morgan was a program manager at Harvard Business School. She directed the planning and implementation of a portfolio of executive education programs specializing in comprehensive leadership programs for top level executives and alumni. She began her career as an account manager for an event company in Atlanta, Ga., working on Scientific-Atlanta's worldwide event and trade show programs.
In 2007, Bryan Neary founded CSG Actuarial, LLC, an actuarial consulting company servicing insurance companies, reinsurers, financial institutions, and insurance marketing organizations. Subsequent growth has established CSG Actuarial as an industry leader.
Neary has more than 15 years of experience pricing and developing individual health and life insurance products. He started his actuarial career with Mutual of Omaha in the individual health division and then held management roles with several other insurance companies.
His last corporate position was vice president and chief actuary of Medico Insurance Group. He managed all actuarial functions including strategic planning and budgeting, valuation, risk management and product development.
His expertise is in strategic planning and budgeting, valuation, risk management and product development for the senior health and supplemental insurance markets.
Neary received his bachelor of science degree in actuarial science from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1996.
Jack O'Holleran is the co-founder and vice president of business development at IncentAlign, a SaaS Sales Optimization company in Silicon Valley. Since co-founding the company in 2008, he and his colleagues have taken the company from start-up to global leader in sales intelligence software. Their client list includes Fortune 500 companies in both the U.S. and Japan, and they have offices in San Francisco and Guangzhou, China. IncentAlign was recently selected to the JMP Securities' 2011 “Hot 100: The Best Privately Held Software Companies.”
Before joining IncentAlign, O'Holleran was vice president of business development at Integrated Corporate Relations (ICR, Inc.), where he was responsible for launching a social media division. Prior to ICR, he was senior manager of business development and product strategy at Motorola, where he managed business development activities and alliances for a suite of enterprise software products. He was also a sales executive at Good Technology, where he held a variety of sales positions, selling Good's Mobile Communications Suite to a clientele that included half of the Fortune 500.
O'Holleran is a graduate of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he was a member of the Cornhusker football team. He earned two varsity letters and was twice awarded First-Team Academic All Big 12 Honors.
Jocelyn Robertshaw is the owner of Ready or Knot, a wedding store that she opened in Omaha, Neb., in August of 2011. Ready or Knot is located in the Rockbrook Village shopping center.
A native of Aurora, Neb., Robertshaw graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2003 with a degree in business administration.
Upon graduation, she moved to Kansas City, Mo., and went to work for Cerner Corporation in the client representative program and later worked for Starkey Hearing Technologies. There she was a field sales executive for two separate territories, regional sales manager for eight states and corporate account manager for the largest national client.
Paul Schreier is a product marketing manager with Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) MEMS and Sensors Technology Division, where he has led the marketing and business development efforts for ADI's industry leading MEMS Microphones since April 2011. In this role, he manages strategic development priorities and drives engagement with industry-leading customers in consumer electronics, professional audio equipment and industrial applications.
Prior to ADI, Schreier worked for four years in Texas Instruments' Power Management division, marketing advanced technologies, such as power over ethernet, mobile device charging methods and intelligent data center management products. At TI, he grew his product's unique customer base by over 75 percent, nearly doubled revenues and increased penetration in emerging markets, such as China and India.
Schreier has also held various marketing and sales roles with other leaders in the semiconductor industry, including National Semiconductor and NXP Semiconductors (formerly Philips Semiconductors).
He holds bachelor degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in computer engineering and finance and business administration, as well as a MBA degree from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. He lives in Boston, Mass.
Tyson Stevenson is a vice president and account executive at Aon Risk Solutions in San Francisco. As a key member of Aon's National Technology Practice, he advises clients in the Fortune 1000, as well as pre IPO companies, on their executive liability risks and exposures. He is responsible for ensuring his clients have the best overall service experience by having a deep understanding of their business and delivering the resources and customized solutions unique to their specific needs.
Prior to joining Aon, he was a vice president and client executive at Marsh & McLennan in San Francisco. Before moving over to the brokerage ranks, he worked at Liberty Mutual in Omaha and Denver as an account executive, where he helped his clients design alternatively rated casualty programs to maximize their cash flow and reduce their overall cost of risk.
Stevenson is very active in the local community and currently sits on the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is a graduate of the Leadership San Francisco Class of 2009 and continues to serve as an alumni advisor to the program. He is also a member of The Guardsmen of San Francisco. Since 1947, The Guardsmen has been helping at-risk youth with the resources they need to thrive. He is a co-chair of the Fund Drive and the Second Saturday committees and also sits on the membership committee of The Guardsmen.
A native of Omaha and a UNL 2000 graduate, Stevenson now resides in San Francisco, Calif.
Angie Stiens currently works in Atlanta, Ga., as a regional pricing manager for IBM Global Financing, the commercial and client financing division of the IBM Corporation. In that role, she is primarily responsible for striking the proper balance between profit, financing volumes, and risk and ensuring compliance with business controls policies and accounting rules. She has also held finance and marketing positions at Emory University Healthcare in Atlanta and Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha, Neb.
Stiens graduated with highest honors from University of Nebraska–Lincoln in May 2005, as a marketing major with minors in economics and English, and she was a graduate of the UNL Honors Program. She also holds a masters in business administration from Emory University's Goizueta Business School, obtained in May 2009, and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.
A Lake Lotawana, Mo., native, Thomson is the chief executive officer for Allied Strategy, a company that focuses on improving the insurance experience for consumers.
He attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. After taking an internship in a traditional corporate job his sophomore year at UNL that he found “terrible compared to the adventures I had in startup companies in high school,” Thomson decided to start his own company with college friends during his junior year at UNL. He was 21.
He and two fellow Raikes School students - Jeff Runyan and Britton Nielsen who are cofounders of Allied Strategy - had worked on a project for Mutual of Omaha, which provided in-depth insight into the insurance world. The three friends then took the business planning course and won national business plan competitions.
The trio went on to earn their MBAs at UNL. In 2006, Allied Strategy opened a small office in downtown Lincoln and began preparing for launch.
Today, they work with more than 300 insurance companies and thousands of insurance agencies, and the products are sold across the United States. They have also spun off and invested in new companies.
Allied Strategy is located in Turbine Flats, a business incubator located adjacent to UNL. The incubator has had full occupancy since day one and is currently completing the first of
two expansions.
Laura Wicklund graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in international business and marketing, and was in the University Honors Program. She was a member of the College of Business Administration Student Advisory Board for three years, where she served as president and vice president her junior and senior year respectively.
The greatest experience of her college career was studying abroad at Oxford University in the summer of 2006. After graduation, Wicklund moved to Omaha, Neb., where she worked as an assistant product development manager at Mutual of Omaha Life Insurance.
In April of 2010, she moved to Dallas, Texas, with her best friend from college to start a new adventure. After moving to Dallas, she accepted a position in marketing at Frito-Lay.
Alex Williams is a recruiter in talent acquisition at TD Ameritrade, a leading organization that has provided brokerage and investment services for over 30 years. Listed in Forbes as one of America's best big companies, TD Ameritrade offers a full spectrum of investment services, including a leading active trader program, intuitive long-term investment solutions and a national branch system. Through its brokerage subsidiaries, TD Ameritrade provides innovative, powerful online trading tools and services to individual investors. Williams has been with TD Ameritrade for 13 years and holds his Series 7, 24, 63 and 66 Securities licenses. He has held numerous positions with TD Ameritrade including quality enhancement coach, investor services team manager, and learning and development facilitation manager. As a recruiter, Williams supports the investor services, retail strategy and operations, and investor education groups.
Williams graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in December 1998 with a degree in finance. He lives in Omaha, Neb.
John Wirtz is the chief operating officer of Hudl, a company he co-founded in 2006 to help coaches at all levels win. The company creates a suite of state-of-the-art video analysis and editing tools for coaches to break down the game and teach their athletes. Hudl got its start with the University of Nebraska Husker football team and quickly expanded to the NFL and throughout Division I football.
In 2008, the company adapted Hudl to fit the needs of high school and smaller college athletic programs across every sport and by the beginning of the 2011 football season their software was installed in over 5,000 high schools and colleges across the country, three NFL teams, and 45 Division I programs, including 19 of the top 25 Division I football programs in the country.
Over the last five years, the company has grown from its three founders in the basement of their duplex to over 40 employees based in Lincoln, Neb., and Austin, Texas. Hudl's main office is located in the heart of Lincoln's Haymarket.
Wirtz graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with an undergraduate degree and MBA from the Jeffrey S. Raikes School in Computer Science and Management. Before starting Hudl, Wirtz worked at Sprint and with the University of Nebraska Foundation.
He grew up in Blue Springs, Mo., just outside Kansas City, and now lives in Lincoln.
Jeremy Wortan has worked at TD Ameritrade in Omaha, Neb., since 2005. He serves as the director for organizational development and is responsible for organization-wide initiatives that improve individual, team, and company effectiveness. This includes developing and implementing solutions that seek to understand employee motivation at work and group dynamics in order to leverage each person's unique talents to drive organizational performance.
Wortman graduated with an undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in human resources and economics. In 2000, he received his MBA from UNL in marketing and strategy, and then went on to received his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the department of management in 2006.
Wortman grew up in Aurora, Col.
Katie Weichman Zulkoski joined Mueller Robak LLC as an associate in 2008. Zulkoski's practice focuses on government law representation and compliance. She works with a broad range of clients on legislative issues and government relations matters.
Zulkoski graduated first in her class from Creighton University School of Law in 2008 with a certificate of concentration in business law. She received her bachelor's degree from the Univeristy of Nebraska–Lincoln with high distinction in 2005. Zulkoski is one of three firm members who were elected president of the student body while in college.
Her professional affiliations include, the American Bar Association, the Nebraska State Bar Association, the Nebraska Women's Bar Association, the Lincoln Bar Association and the Young Professional State Lobbyists.
She was part of the Leadership Nebraska Class III and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the National Business Honorary. She was a G. Robert Muchemore Scholarship recipient and received the Creighton University School of Law Highest Triennial Average Award.
Zulkoski has served as president of the Nebraska CASA Board of Directors and aWholeBunchofPeople.org. She has been a tutor for Lincoln Public Schools and is a member of the Creighton University Alumni Advisory Board. She has volunteered for the Nebraska Human Resource Institute and the Special Olympics National Games. She is a member of Runners with a Reason and Westminster Presbyterian Church, and serves on the YWCA Lincoln Board of Directors.
