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• MARCH 22, 2019 • Midlands Business Journal
A section prepared by the staff of the Midlands Business Journal
March 22, 2019
Architects shine a light on district building as cultural celebration, economic engine by Michelle Leach
The metro’s burgeoning districts are vehicles to celebrate history, promote diversity, and spur economic wellness, among other wins. CEO Jack H. Jackson spotlighted architectural and design firm Jackson-Jackson & Associates’ work on Gifford Park Elementary School at the former Creighton Hospital’s parking lots at 32nd and Burt streets. From the outset of designing the new school, Jackson said the team met with community members six times to gain input. “Their interest revolved around how they could support the new school, and how the school could be used for support and enhancement of existing community groups and activities, including peripheral learning and recreational activities,” he said.
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The Gifford Park neighborhood, bounded by Cuming Street on the north, Dodge Street to the south, Interstate 480 on the east and 40th Street to the west, was described by Jackson as having an active neighborhood association — and a community of strong gardening and biking advocates with a “hands-on interest” in projects that have an impact on their surrounding environment. “In addition to the Gifford Park Elementary School, other notable projects include the new pedestrian bridge across Interstate 480 and the conversion of the Creighton Hospital into Atlas apartments,” he said. Via the process of working with Omaha Public Schools, Jackson said they learned the diversity of the Gifford Park Neighborhood District’s people is a microcosm of Greater Omaha’s diversity.
Adam J. Andrews, president of the board of directors at Restoration Exchange Omaha, at the Carnation Ballroom, a historic building along the North 24th Street corridor. “The color palette of the school was cho- over in terms of investment,” he said. “With sen to celebrate a connected multi-cultural the transformational work being done in community that lives in coexistence, with the Highlander neighborhood, we see huge colors that you would see in a Moroccan potential in the rebirth and reuse of properties market,” he said. near the North 24th Street corridor, as they Board President Adam J. Andrews feed off the development along 30th Street. said the most notable neighborhoods on As a former streetcar stop, the remaining Restoration Exchange historic commercial Omaha’s radar are buildings around 24th Millwork Commons and Lake streets are and North 24th Street. perfectly suited for “Black Dog Desmall businesses and velopment is just startups.” kicking off a really exWhile developciting master plan for ment continues on a neighborhood north the urban edges and of Cuming Street that throughout the metro, has been cool for a Omaha by Design’s long time, but overExecutive Director Jackson Dobbe looked — the Ashton Scott Dobbe said inBuilding renovation being the first project, vestment is increasingly drawn to areas in and North 24th has several projects already the city’s historic core. completed and a number in the works — so “This is certainly true in downtown propmuch potential there,” he said. er, but can also be found in smaller clusters Related to North 24th Street, REO wrote of redevelopment throughout our older urban the local nomination for the Carnation Ball- neighborhoods,” he said. “In particular, we’re room and advocated for saving the Webster seeing sizable momentum around the MillTelephone Exchange buildings a few years work Commons/New North Makerhood area ago when it was threatened, according to north of Cuming Street, Blackstone/Midtown, Andrews, who also referenced nominations in and the Hoff Arts & Culture Center/Harvester the works for other north Omaha landmarks. II Building in Council Bluffs. Additionally, I “It’s no secret that north Omaha think Vinton Street has a lot of potential, as has long been marginalized and passed Continued on page 11.
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VOL. 45 NO. 12
WoodmenLife reassesses product delivery, fraternal presence
THIS WEEK 'S ISSUE:
by Richard D. Brown
40 er d Un 40 Community involvement informs Ferguson’s career at Pinnacle Bank. – Page 3
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The 2019 YP Summit hosts sold-out crowd for a day of professional, personal development. – Page 8
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Work habits redefining workspaces, office services. – Page 22
Omaha-based Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, a 129-year-old insurance firm that historically has pegged much of its growth nationally in cities with populations under 30,000, is coming off a multi-year, companywide assessment of its insurance products, service delivery to customers and — with equal emphasis — the contemporary relevance of its multiple fraternal initiatives in communities throughout the country. Ask President and CEO Patrick L. Dees, and he references one of his predecessors, the late Nick Newberry, on the importance of change. “He had the courage to disrupt things a bit if it would lead to doing our jobs and delivering services better,” Dees said. Newberry served as president from 1967 to 1984. Dees started his Woodmen insurance career in 1988 in Angleton, Texas, before moving to Woodmen’s headquarters in Omaha in Continued on page 6.
President and CEO Patrick Dees … Identifying efficiencies in products and catering to consumer (Photo by MBJ / Becky McCarville) interests.
V2verify disrupts conventional user authentication with voice technology by Michelle Leach
Omaha-based V2verify is positioning itself as an industry disruptor with its precision alternative to the passwords or credentials that, when lost or stolen, are responsible for more than 80 percent of data breaches, according to global industry resource FindBiometrics’ Year in Review. “The good thing about tech-
nology is it doesn’t matter if it’s a five-person business or a 500-person business, we have the ability to add a voice biometric to just about anything you want to authenticate,” said Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Development Roxana Safranek. “We have examples where people want to use voice authentication in place Continued on page 6.
Managing Partners Lindsay Warren, left, and Cam Vacek … Focusing on finishing basements of newly built homes in Elkhorn.
Hawthorne Finished Basements bridges communication gap using technology by Becky McCarville
Roxana Safranek, vice president of marketing and strategic development, with a prototype that demonstrates voice authentication for unlocking doors … Biometrics increasingly accessible to eliminate timecard fraud, hassles and security issues associated with passwords, key cards, fobs and other conventional technologies.
As the ice and snow melts, Hawthorne Finished Basement’s Managing Partners Cam Vacek and Lindsay Warren anticipate an increase of homeowners looking to finish their basements in Elkhorn and west Omaha’s new subdivisions, including Gretna and Bennington. Spring isn’t too early to start thinking about Husker parties,
they said. “We had a conversation last summer at our housewarming party, talking about all the houses being built in Elkhorn where predominately most of them won’t have a finished basement,” Vacek said. “Lindsay’s background is in construction; mine is in project management and technology, so why not combine our super forces Continued on page 27.