SEPTEMBER 17, 2021
THE BUSINESS NEWSPAPER OF GREATER OMAHA, LINCOLN AND COUNCIL BLUFFS
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
$2.00
VOL. 47 NO. 38
i3 Bank represents expansion for institution founded in 1928 by Michelle Leach
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Opportunities abound for accounting professionals for sought-after services. – Page 5
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Health care, science, tech degrees popular among Lincoln educational institutions. – Page 21
Many are familiar with i3 Bank, they just may not realize it at first blush. That’s because the organization featured recently on Husker Football radio spots and on digital billboards has been around since the Great Depression era — only that rare-breed, fifth-generation family bank operated under a different brand over the preceding 90-plus years: Bank of Bennington. “We’re growing dramatically,” said CEO Leslie Andersen. “We have entered new markets. So, we’re not only in Bennington and Omaha. But we’re also in Ashland and Lincoln, and we bought an insurance agency. We had all these different brands. It was an effort to bring them under one brand that represented who we are.” The bank started by Andersen’s great-grandfather and grandfather, Charles F. Roe and Harold E. Roe, and whose Bennington branch is based out of 12212 N. 156th St., turned to another longstanding local firm, Smith Kroeger, for assistance in its new brand development and Continued on page 9.
CEO Leslie Andersen leading rebranding from Bank of Bennington following series of expansions. (Photo by Jim Scholz)
Appsky’s KIPS offers early childhood development tool to broader base by Michelle Leach
Since acquiring 17-year-old KIPS (Keys to Interactive Parenting Scale) last summer, Omaha-based Appsky leadership note the parenting assessment tool has acquired its own “steady stream” of new programs and organizations to its client roster, with a more “significant push” in the works with the rollout of a KIPS 2.0 designed to increase access for non-native English speakers.
“ S u p p o r t i n g c h i l d r e n ’s growth and development is something we’re passionate about as a business,” said Chief Operations Officer Jade Jensen, when asked about the motivating forces behind the acquisition for Appsky Ventures, the venture capital arm of the local custom software development, design, and consultative agency. “At the time, we previously developed Continued on page 9. Executive Director Monte Lamond looks to increase teaching awards and scholarships each year. (Photo by Monica Sempek)
T.E.A.C.H. Omaha honors local teaching professionals, students by Brooke Strickland
Chief Operations Officer Jade Jensen helps lead VC division of Appsky to grow with tool designed to support professionals in early childhood development fields. (Photo by Roger Humphries)
Teachers invest a lot — their time, their energy, their creativity, and even their financial resources. T.E.A.C.H. Omaha, a nonprofit that opened in 2020, recognizes the value that teachers have and strives to strengthen the Omaha community by supplying monetary teacher awards, in addition to providing scholarships for graduating seniors pursuing an
education degree. Monte Lamond, executive director of the organization, said that he started the organization for several reasons. He grew up with parents that were educators and a deep understanding and love for education was instilled in him from an early age. “I grew up with a strong affinity for education and an unContinued on page 10.