Events

Susanne Shore is a community leader, former First Lady of Nebraska, registered nurse, and higher education professional whose career spans public service, healthcare, higher education, and nonprofit leadership.

After earning an English degree from Oklahoma State University, Susanne worked in higher education student services while earning her MBA. Later she earned a nursing degree from Creighton University and worked as a registered nurse.

As Nebraska's First Lady from 2015 to 2023, Susanne led statewide initiatives bringing together business, nonprofit, government, and community partners to strengthen families and state, including Bring Up Nebraska, which contributed to an 18% reduction in children entering foster care in its first three years.

Susanne has spent decades in nonprofit leadership, chairing the Child Saving Institute Board and volunteering as a CASA advocate for foster children.

She is married to Pete Ricketts and the proud parent of three adult children.

Susanne is currently running for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

Lynne Walz is a farm kid from outside Fremont who grew up hauling water and feeding animals – lessons in hard work that never left her. After working as a caretaker for women with developmental disabilities, she returned to school as a young mom, earned her education degree, and taught in public and Catholic schools while serving on the Bergan School Board and Fremont Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, she flipped a State Legislature seat in a district Trump carried by 33 points, and earned a reputation for reaching across the aisle and delivering results on rural broadband, highway projects, and support for first responders. Lynne and her husband, Chris, live in Fremont with their three children and eight grandchildren.

Growing up in Northeast Omaha, Justin Solomon’s path was paved by Omaha Public Schools—attending Benson West, Hartman, King Science Center, and Northwest High.

For Justin, the decision to attend college was made possible by Nebraska’s commitment to its students. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a Pell Grant and a Regents Scholarship. Having lived the "Nebraska Promise" himself, Justin is running for the Board of Regents to ensure that the same affordable, high-quality experience is protected for the next generation of students.

Justin’s deep understanding of the University of Nebraska system began in 2010 when he was elected UNL Student Body President and Student Regent. Serving on the Board of Regents gave him firsthand experience in university-wide leadership and higher education governance. During his time on campus, he was a member of the Nebraska Human Resources Institute (NHRI), Phi Delta Theta, and the Innocents Society. He later returned to his alma mater to earn his MBA, further grounding his leadership skills in fiscal responsibility and strategic growth.

Professionally, as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Integrated Life Choices, a human services company headquartered in Lincoln, Justin manages the complex financial and operational health of an organization that supports people with disabilities across Nebraska, Colorado, and California. 

Whether he is managing budgets for a multi-state company or serving as Treasurer for local nonprofits, Justin’s leadership is defined by three core principles: Accountability. Accessibility. Advocacy.

Community Leadership & Service

Lifetime member, Nebraska Alumni Association

Treasurer, CASA for Douglas County

Treasurer, Dundee Elementary School PTO

Former Treasurer, Research Nebraska (501(c)4)

Member, Nebraska Association of Service Providers

Member, Alliance Colorado

Alumnus, The Innocents Society (UNL)

Ashley Olson has been a member of the National Willa Cather Center staff since 2008 and has served as the organization’s Executive Director since 2014. In this role, she oversees a museum, arts center, ten historic sites, and a 612-acre native prairie—together comprising the largest collection of nationally designated historic sites dedicated to an American author. 

Under Olson’s leadership, the Center’s assets have grown by more than $17 million. She has strengthened institutional capacity by growing the staff from a primarily part-time team to a majority full-time workforce. Olson has also led strategic initiatives to expand the Center’s core programs in an effort to broaden the organization’s local and national reach. A cornerstone achievement of her tenure was the $7 million adaptive reuse of the historic Moon Block building, transforming it into a museum and archive that anchors the Center’s operations and interpretive work. Building on that momentum, the Center later accepted a major gift of six historic sites and an associated collection of more than 8,000 objects. Olson has since overseen significant capital improvements to preserve these sites, improve accessibility, and prepare them for new exhibits and interpretation. She has secured and administered grants from the National Park Service and from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to restore the Willa Cather Childhood Home and to develop new permanent exhibits. 

Olson holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She also holds a Certificate in Fundraising Management (CFM) and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), reflecting the highest standards of ethical and professional practice in the field.

Since 2021, Jo Giles has led the Women’s Fund of Omaha’s work to address gender-based inequities through collaboration that identifies, researches, and innovates solutions to advance, educate and fund lasting impact.

Before joining the team, Jo was the Policy and Training Director for the Coalition for a Strong Nebraska (CSN), where she created training sessions for members and others in the nonprofit sector, to be able to participate more fully in the public policy advocacy process. She is also an award-winning media relations professional and journalist and was a television reporter/anchor for Omaha’s KPTM Fox 42 News.

Jo has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia, a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and a certificate in public health from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Jo enjoys community service and is a board member of Omaha Community Foundation, Omaha Public Library Foundation and Omaha Public Radio KIOS. In her spare time, Jo is an avid reader, enjoys running and spending time with her family, including her husband, their son and goldendoodle.

Garry Clark now serves as the Executive Director of the Omaha Inland Port Authority. Garry Clark, Jr’s (Clark) career in economic and community development has evolved over the last 18 years, beginning as a city planner in Newberry, Florida, following this, he served as an economic development specialist in Bowie, Maryland (Prince Georges County), then served as the first Executive Director of the North Capitol Main Street organization in Washington, D.C.; to his most recent role serving as the President CEO at Economic Alliance Snohomish County (EASC). Which is the county’s economic development and countywide chamber organization. EASC represents the county just north of Seattle, Washington and includes the Port of Everett and the Tulalip Tribes, representing 840,000 people, with The Boeing Company being the county’s largest employer. During this tenure Clark, rebranded EASC, moved staff size from 7 to 18, and created a chamber partnership to umbrella the organization to support smaller chambers, EASC also received the 2023 NAACP Civic Leadership Award for his efforts to create an equity and inclusion chamber of commerce.

A few of Clark’s career highlights are: WholeStone Foods (Pork) Acquisition and Expansion $300 million 1,000 workers, in Fremont, Nebraska; Local Option Sales Tax/ New Market Tax Credit expansion of RTG (Traveling Nurses) Headquarters project $40 million; Canadian Company – No Meat Factory – relocation to Stanwood, WA $200 million dollar project; Amazon Facility - $355 million – 4,000 acre mega site Arlington, WA; Housing – creation of a revolving loan fund for workforce housing which created planned 2,000 units of housing in one year – Fremont, Nebraska. Clark also led two separate revolving loan funds for housing that secured $10 million in housing funds through Nebraska Investment Finance Authority and the Greater Fremont Development Council in Fremont, Nebraska.

Clark also served as the first economic development director in Cuming County, Nebraska for six years while serving a dual role as the county’s Zoning administrator. This county was the top cattle feeding county in the state. Clark also served as the National President for the National Rural Economic Developer’s Association in 2021. In late, 2018, Clark was awarded the Midland Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award for his aggressive workforce housing efforts in Fremont, Nebraska.

Clark has served as a community columnist for the Omaha World Hearld, and travels nationally to speak on economic development, motivation, and Inclusion, as a keynote speaker/instructor for many economic 0development organizations.

Clark received his BA in Sociology from Dana College, Blair, N.E. and his Master of Science in Urban Studies/Public Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Although his Alma mater (Dana College) is no more, Clark was inducted into the Dana College Hall of Fame for Track and Field in 2010 and received the Outstanding Young Alum Award in 2018. He holds 11 records (most ever in the school’s history) and was the first male National Champion for Dana College.

In early 2019, Clark published his first work as a published author, with the memoir, Unlikely Viking – From the D.C. Projects to Rural Nebraska. Clark completed a TedxOmaha Talk at Creighton University in 2019, his talk was titled, “Running shoes, Food stamps, and Cornfields “, the talk can be found on Youtube.