2018 Annual Report

David G. Brown

President and CEO, Greater Omaha Chamber

TOTAL LANDED PROJECTS

For a community to thrive, it needs to bring the “new”: new growth within local business, new businesses, new jobs, new opportunities.

Over the past year, we celebrated the attraction or expansion of a string of high-profile companies, including ecommerce organizations, Spreetail and i2c, a global provider of payments technology and services. Our economic development team also helped usher in heavy-hitters Sojern and Populum. Warren Distribution announced a potential 211,000 sq. ft., $12.8M expansion in Council Bluffs, and R&R Realty Group cut the ribbon on its first building in the Omaha area – a 250,000 sq. ft. speculative warehouse in Sarpy County. It is the first of four buildings planned for a new R&R Commerce Park, an 80-acre site that will eventually house more than 1,000,000 sq. ft. of total building space. Also in Sarpy County, Facebook began its expansion resulting in $1.2 billion in investment.

All of these economic wins continue to channel national attention our way. In what’s become an annual celebration, 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 2017. It was the third year in a row, and the fourth time since 2014, the region has captured the award.

You have an innovative idea. We have your back. In 2018, we put the power of “we” to work supporting our entrepreneurs and strengthening our community.

Our on-demand startup accelerator, The Startup Collaborative, in collaboration with the Murphy Vision Fund and Invest Nebraska, announced it would begin making equity investments in early stage tech startups. We launched the collaborative Kitchen Council, the region’s largest incubator for food entrepreneurs, offering members access to a fully-equipped commercial kitchen and a foothold in the new food economy. And, the scope of our multi-partner REACH initiative continued to expand, connecting small and emerging businesses with even more business education, technical assistance and capital. Additionally, REACH helped facilitate 26 startups in our region.

For our region to continue thriving, we need to challenge our transportation ‘status quo.’

Our vision for Greater Omaha 2040 includes a top-rated public transit system, one that allows seamless travel between key employment nodes to a diverse mix of residential neighborhoods. We made strides in 2018 with the transformation of the Transportation Council and Chamber support of the City of Omaha’s Smart City Initiative.

Transportation and workforce development intersected at the Chamber in July when we hosted U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao. She announced a new pilot program to help qualified young veterans get jobs in the trucking industry – a way to help ease a national shortage of truck drivers and advance military friendly policies.

Our public policy team, meantime, notched significant business-friendly wins by successfully opposing property tax legislation and legislation that would have imposed burdensome, new regulations and costs on Nebraska’s employers.

Priority Bills Passed

LB 754: Creates the Commission on Military Affairs. Approved.

LB 947: Authorizes professional licenses for immigrants with lawful presence status. Approved.

LB 957: Provides $13.7 million for the Offutt Air Force Base levee upgrades, and
$4 million for the Site and Building Development Fund. Approved.

LB 960: Directs $450 million in state highway revenues to high priority construction projects.

LB 1093: Creates the Bioscience Steering Committee. Approved.

LB 1110: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Approved.

We proved again, in 2018, that we are a driving force in talent and
workforce development.

Our award-winning Careerockit program educated, excited and inspired tomorrow’s workforce with more than 22,000 career experiences – almost twice as many in Careerockit’s inaugural year. In March, more than 1,550 young professionals gathered for the region’s largest YP Summit, which celebrated changemakers, fostered inclusivity and fast-tracked connections. We continued to prioritize the development of community leaders – current and future – through Leadership Omaha and the 49 members of Class 41; Omaha Executive Institute, which introduced our community region to a diverse group of recently-arrived senior executives; and Mindset Leadership Series, a truly elite leadership training experience. Also on the talent and workforce front, we underscored our commitment to diversity and inclusion by joining with the Urban League to launch CODE (Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity and Equity), our collaborative new D&I initiative.

Being an essential partner for our world-class business community; representing your business interests, elevating our entire region in the process – that’s what drives us.

In 2018, members counted on us for – and received – more opportunities to build personal relationships with more than 40 networking events, and more quality professional development with education series and single-session workshops on everything from sales and leadership training to cybersecurity and operational “how-tos.”

Our annual Business Excellence Awards celebrated our region’s most impactful leaders, innovators and givers with an afternoon of toasts and take-aways. We delivered another round of future-focused economic insights at our Economic Outlook Luncheon with keynote speaker Rich Karlgaard, entrepreneur-turned-Forbes magazine publisher and futurist. Then, at the end of a busy year, our Member Appreciation Holiday Open House brought members together to network, unwind and enjoy the season in our brand-new office space.

• Total Number of Chamber Members: 2,907
  • New Members for the Year: 351
  • 82% Member Retention Rate

Events 

• Total Events Hosted: 70+
• Total Attendees: 10,000+
• Event Satisfaction: 4.4/5 Satisfied/Very Satisfied

Even though we are firmly-focused on the future, we took time in 2018 to celebrate our past – 125 years of serving as a community catalyst. We held a public open house on June 5, in our new location – a top-floor office space on the Conagra Campus.

As part of the festivities, we encouraged our members to plug into the power of “we” during 24 Hours of Impact in July. Hundreds of volunteers answered by hitting the streets in “We Don’t Coast, We Impact” T-shirts to help others.

For our part, we will keep advancing toward our Prosper Omaha goal of prosperity for all, cheering each sign of economic progress, including our 2018 Barometer, which showed entrepreneurs in Omaha earn twice as much as the U.S. average, and innovation is consistently increasing in Greater Omaha.

Financials

• Total Revenue (Estimated Through Nov. 2018): $7,460,460
• Total Expenses (Estimated Through Nov. 2018): $6,865,941

Prosper Omaha 2.0

• Investors: 140
• 5-year Investment/Fundraised: $22,112,956 (Goal $32M)

Gallup Q12

• 86% Overall Satisfaction

WeDontCoast.com

• 43,339 Total Site Visits