Tech Refactored

S2E21 - Meet the Nebraska Tech Collaborative with Jona Van Deun

December 21, 2021 Nebraska Governance and Technology Center Season 2 Episode 21
Tech Refactored
S2E21 - Meet the Nebraska Tech Collaborative with Jona Van Deun
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode Elsbeth welcomes Jona Van Deun, the executive director of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative. The collaborative is a a business-led workforce initiative committed to convening leaders from government, education, and not-for-profit organizations across the state to develop, attract, and retain tech-talent and entrepreneurs to Nebraska.

Note:
Tech Refactored is on winter break! There will be no new episode next week as our team spends time with their families--see you in 2022!

Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and has not been thoroughly reviewed for completeness or accuracy.

[00:00:00] Elsbeth Magilton: This is Tech Refactored. I'm your host Elsbeth Magilton, the Executive Director of the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center at the University of Nebraska. And a producer of this podcast, I'm so excited to be on this side of the mic today to interview someone who inspires me and who is working for the betterment of our state and our community.

Jona Van Dune Jonna is the president of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative and has over 20 years of experience in government relations, event management, and public affairs. 

[00:00:44] Jona Van Deun: Jona, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. This is great. Um, I'm really excited, um, that you all asked me to, to come and talk to you today.

Yeah. Well, we're so excited 

[00:00:52] Elsbeth Magilton: that you're here. And of course, we have to start by thinking about what is the Nebraska Tech Collaborative. So can you give me the 32nd [00:01:00] one sentence, 

[00:01:00] Jona Van Deun: what is it? Sure. So the Nebraska Tech Collaborative is a consortium of business education, government not for profits, all gathering together to solve Nebraska's biggest challenge, which is workforce.

We do not have. Technologists in Nebraska. And so our sole focus is to develop, attract, and retain tech talent here in the state. And how did you get involved with the Nebraska Tech Collaborative? You know, it's, I, I wish I had some great, wonderful, exciting story to tell you. Actually what happened was my husband decided that he wanted to move back to Nebraska, um, three years ago and.

Announced that he, he, he had taken a position in Omaha and I said, Great, have a great time. I miss you, . And he said, No, no, no, we're all moving to Nebraska. Um, and I grew up in Lincoln. Oh, okay. Um, and so, um, I, and I was commuting between Washington, DC and here for over a year, and I really wasn't sure kind of what I wanted to do.

Not a lot of space in Nebraska for. Has [00:02:00] been political, corporate, American type . And so I was trying to wait for the, find the right thing. And this actually just fell into my lap where I was talking to a couple of CEOs who were, who were talking about this project, this project that Exurban, um, the Exurban Foundation we're a workforce initiative Exurban.

So they were talking about their challenges in workforce and tech, and they wanted to create this organization. I. Had gone into interview and they, I remember them saying, Well, you don't have a tech background. And that, that was, and at that moment it was challenge accepted cuz I may not have a tech background, but I know how to build stuff and this sound really exciting and an opportunity to create something and make something, and basically give something back to the state, which sounds so corny, but again, I, I love growing up here.

I love being here and it's nice to be back. So that's kind of how I inserted myself into that.

[00:02:51] Elsbeth Magilton: I love that you are from Nebraska. I think I knew that about you, but I had forgotten that about you. Right. And so, And your husband's from Omaha? 

[00:02:58] Jona Van Deun: No, my husband is also [00:03:00] from Nebraska, so he actually was a transfer student, I think my senior year of high school.

And he sat behind me in, um, history class. So-

[00:03:07] Elsbeth Magilton: That's so sweet. And so, you know, but now you're back to us from Washington DC I am. I, it's a more common commute that I think people give. Credit for . Yeah, the, the Omaha DC Lincoln, Omaha, DC Triangle. Right, right, right. . So how did the tech collaborative get started then?

Like the CEOs who were talking about it? Where, where did this idea start and how did it grow? You know, 

[00:03:30] Jona Van Deun: so this is really interesting. So it was actually the Lincoln Chamber, the Omaha Chamber Nelnet here in Lincoln. And Mutual of Omaha. In Omaha, James Blackledge and Mike Dunlap had gotten together with both chambers talking about what are we gonna do to solve these challenges that we're facing in workforce.

And as they kept talking about this and they, and like in a good group of CEOs, you start gathering your peers to talk. Is everybody else experiencing the same thing? And as this group started to grow. [00:04:00] A gentleman by the name of Mike Castling, who is an exurban governor, decided that he wanted to take this on as an as an exurban project, looking at workforce development.

So Mike Castling took this and ran and convened a good number of business leaders, nonprofit presidents, college and university p. Government entities and said, What are we gonna do and how can we do this? Um, because we know what the blueprint is for Nebraska. I mean, you have Blueprint Nebraska, you had accelerate Nebraska.

Everybody's got a plan for what they're gonna do in workforce. Um, but. Mike Castling and, and James Blackledge and, and Mike Dunlap, they really wanted to see this move. What were we gonna do to move the needle much quicker? Just because the other thing that was happening is they were seeing companies that had left companies that were going to find employees, overseas companies setting up second and third footprints in other cities like Austin, Texas, and, and Seattle and Utah, and they wanted that talent to stay here in Nebraska.

Exert had also done a [00:05:00] study. that we were losing close to 1600 bachelor's degrees every year and that, That's crazy. Yeah. And so the economic impact of that was close to a billion dollars. So, What are we gonna do to kind of stop the hemorrhaging? Yeah. And so Mike Castling, God love him, ran this out of Theban offices, out of his own offices, put a lot of his own resources into this and decided like this is where they were gonna move.

So, Mutual of Omaha, Nelnet, the Lincoln Chamber, the Omaha Chamber Huddle, um, whole host of c. Got together and said, Okay, we will, we will fund, um, a portion of this and we need an executive director. And I remember when they talked about trying to find somebody, it was one of those moments we kept thinking, Okay, so what are we gonna, like, what do we really need to do?

Like, there's so many issues facing us in workforce. Is it a K through 12 issue? Is it a higher ed issue? Is it an upskilling and [00:06:00] reskilling? How come we're not taking advantage? Veterans, Why aren't we attracting people from other states? There were all of these issues kind of converging together and they wanted a game plan on how they were gonna do this.

So I like to joke. Everybody has one boss. I've got 104 who all have their idea. No pressure, no pressure on what we, what needs to be done. So I joined the organization in October of 2019, and then March we had a pandemic. And we grew an entire organization in the middle of a pandemic, which was amazing. So this organization is, it's very new, it's very young, but we move really fast.

I think that's what makes it so exciting. So that's kind of how we got, we all kind of came together and, and now we're just moving forward and trying to figure out where we can affect change quickly. You know, I 

[00:06:48] Elsbeth Magilton: can empathize with that. The Governance and technology center here also started . We. We were actually in the thick of the pandemic already.

We were starting to build. Um, our [00:07:00] backbone and we officially launched in September of 2020. Um, you know, so, or the end of September even. So like our first year was solidly in pandemic and all of our lead up build time for, for Gus and I, and when we brought Li Sandra on, we were still sort of like, Well, we're figuring this out cuz everything that we had planned to do, we no longer can do.

[00:07:19] Jona Van Deun: Well, and that's what, well again, if there was a silver lining to the pandemic, it really was for us because I think we got a little bit more grace in building an organization than we would've received if we, if, if things would've gone as normal. I don't think we would've been able to touch as many people as we've been able to touch.

And I don't think we would be able to have the statewide reach, which we were tempting to have. Cuz initially when I think when this got started, I. Folks were looking at this as, you know, this is our project between Lincoln and Omaha. We're gonna look at this super region. But what we discovered is that this, these challenges of workforce were statewide.

And I remember getting phone calls and letters from people saying, Don't forget about us in Scott's [00:08:00] Bluff. Don't forget about us in Alliance and Valentine and North Plat and Kearney, and. I kept thinking, Oh my gosh, how are we gonna do this? But Covid allowed us to keep people somewhat connected during this time.

So again, if there's a silver lining to covid, that was it for us. 

[00:08:15] Elsbeth Magilton: Yeah, absolutely. I do wanna back up for just one second. Sure. For people who are not from Nebraska or who maybe just not familiar with what is Ex Arban? Oh 

[00:08:23] Jona Van Deun: wait, Ex, So Theban Foundation, So the Nebraska Tech Collaborative is an Exurban workforce initiative.

Exurban has been around for 126 years. And it's Nebraska backwards, which is 

[00:08:34] Elsbeth Magilton: Nebraska. It's my favorite to watch people's brains explode. And I'm like, What does that, you know, What does that mean? It's Nebraska backwards. 

[00:08:40] Jona Van Deun: You're like, For it. Wait for it. . Oh, I get it. But this funny thing is that again, this organization has had staying power for so long.

Leaders of titans of industry have gone through ex arban, you know, trying. Provide scholarships, and these are people looking at [00:09:00] how they're gonna build their communities. And so Exurban, you know, I think most people knew them historically for, they, they host a large ball. They remember the race track in Omaha.

So that's kind of how they funded all of those scholarships. And then five years ago when Sandra Redding took over as president, they made a pivot. They did, they made a, a conscious decision that if we are gonna grow and evolve, Um, as a state, we really needed to look at the talent in the state. We needed to focus on workforce.

Nebraska is like in the top three for people working more than one job, and that kind of stinks. So how do we provide opportunities for people to have one job? And how do we provide people opportunities for people to, to grow and excel and, and be prosperous here? Cause there's something special about being here.

And initially I couldn't put my finger on it. Um, But you know, we don't have mountains to look at. We don't have any water. But I will say, coming back from Washington, DC this is the best decision that I've ever made. For [00:10:00] me and my family, uh, I'm not upset about the traffic. I do make fun of the lady on the news every morning.

You know, it's gonna be an extra five minutes to work. I'm like, That's okay. Um, my c commute used to be an hour and 20 minutes. Yeah. And now it's 22 minutes. So the quality of life, our quality of life is so much better. And, and this is, and, and people have really welcomed us, um, back to this community. I mean, we were gone for 30 years and it's just nice to be back.

And, and again, it feels like. 

[00:10:25] Elsbeth Magilton: That's awesome. I, I do always think, you know, I'm a lifelong nebraskan and, and love the Midwest and love where I'm from and, you know, the ocean is beautiful. The mountains are majestic. I get it. They're lovely. I, I spend a lot of time in ES park, right? Like, I take vacations like the best of 'em.

Um, and have lived other places for certain periods, but there's a certain quiet, calm beauty about Nebraska. Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. It's not on your face like a mountain. It's not overwhelming, almost like the ocean, but it's this quiet, calm. Beauty that I, that it's restorative to me in my [00:11:00] life.

So I, I love to hear other people that maybe part of that resonates with others . But even people 

[00:11:04] Jona Van Deun: here are, it's not as closed off as other places around the country. I mean, we've lived in Chicago, we lived in New York, we lived in dc But I will say if you wanna build something in this state where you're creating something, The ecosystem is so connected, and if one person doesn't know, they're really willing to share their connections to, to kind of help you figure out like what your next thing is.

And that's the one thing I appreciated the most, just because, you know, I had two kids going into high school, you know, were they gonna make friends? You know, I've spent my entire, you know, I guess my kids growing up in DC with the same families and then returning here and trying to figure out, oh my gosh, how do we navigate?

Where do we go for this? And, but people were great. I mean, they. They pointed us in the right direction from the minute we got here. 

[00:11:49] Elsbeth Magilton: You hear that workforce, Nebraska, it's, it's a decent place to live. . 

[00:11:54] Jona Van Deun: Well, and during the pandemic, this place was amazing. Yeah. I mean, our kids were still able to go to school.

You could still, you know, [00:12:00] with some restrictions, but you would go to a restaurant and know I was out east last week and the, you know, they're still locked, pretty locked down. So we were able to. Move and navigate. And plus there's something hardy about Nebraskans too. We're resilient. You know, we kind of, we just kind of get in there and, and keep moving.

Cause we, there's, we recognize that nobody's coming to save us. We've gotta save ourselves. Yes and so's coming. How are we gonna innovate? How are we gonna innovate and how are we gonna help our neighbors? I think that's kind of the mentality around here. 

[00:12:30] Elsbeth Magilton: So, Yeah. Absolutely. Well, kind of turning. We've talked a little bit about what the Nebraska Tech Collaborative is, your story with the collaborative, the story of the collaborative, but I wanna explore the why a little bit more.

So, you know, we talked about the issues that are facing tech, tech companies in the Midwest today, and you so wonderfully ticked off all of these reasons that we struggle with workforce. I'm wondering if you could explore that a little bit more for us. Why is this such a struggle to get people to stay in Nebraska and work at these types of 

[00:12:59] Jona Van Deun: [00:13:00] companies?

So I don't know if it's, I, I think a part of it is people not recognizing what's here. I mean, we are the best kept secret. I mean, we've, there's some amazing companies here, you know, Huddle here in Lincoln, Open Doors Company Cam, Virtual Incision, Vera, All of these incredible C Nelnet are here. And I don't think people really think, When you think of big tech, you think about, I'm gonna move to Silicon Valley, or I'm gonna move to Seattle, Atlanta.

This is the best place to be an entrepreneur, which I don't think we screamed that enough from the rooftops. A hundred thousand dollars is gonna go a lot further here. Than it would in in Silicon Valley or anywhere else, and we're more connected, but I just, I, I just don't think that we've. That's not Nebraska humble.

Like we can't tell everybody how great and amazing we are. So when you look at, so the Nebraska Tech Collaborative, we kind of have, we operate on four main themes. We wanna bring 10,000 new tech workers to the state over the next four years. Now, and I didn't say [00:14:00] jobs, I said workers, and that there's, that's a huge distinction.

We have plenty of jobs in this state. We have 2,800 open tech. Every single day in the state. So we've got, we've got stuff going on. Um, and those are the ones that we know about. Of those 10,000 new tech workers, there is no reason that we can't lean into having more women and more people of color. I think those are groups that, because we live in Nebraska, sometimes we're like, Well, I couldn't find anybody, or I don't know anybody.

I don't think we look hard enough. I think there are some amazing organizations. I think we need to deep dig. Deeper into our higher ed institutions and really go after folks who, who can find a really nice place in this ecosystem. We wanna, we were looking at how do we help create 300 more startups, um, in the state.

So the state actually did that in over a tenure time period. I think they created something like 376 or something. But we think we can short circuit that in. And we've seen tremendous growth in the state on [00:15:00] entrepreneurship, in investments in entrepreneurs. I think we've seen over 500 million this year alone in investment in startups in the state.

Now granted that's probably like six or seven companies where that investment was made. But we saw that much money over five years, last cycle. So in one year we've done what we could do in five years. So we know that there's something happening. And then in answer to your question, our goal number four is raising Nebraska's tech profile.

And a lot of people hear me say this all the time, gotta stop standing out their hands in our pockets, waiting to get notice. And tell these stories and tell the stories not only about what companies are here, but talking about what technologists are here. Um, you've got amazing people of ConAgra. You've got amazing people sitting at Mutual of Omaha, ex Arban all across, all across the state.

There are people building some really cool stuff that we just don't talk about. And there, there's gotta be a better way, um, to do this. I'm so sorry to say this, but we cannot share like, and tweet our way to success. We really [00:16:00] need to put some effort and time into really getting connected with people, forcing people to write articles.

We have a lot of startups. I scream at them all the time. Send me a press release. Let me tell people what you're doing. Cuz what happens is you've, you get these big investments. There's some incredible companies that got some big investments and we're not talking about. And they're right here in, in our backyard.

So, in answer to your question, why are people leaving? I don't think people understand about what's here. But I partly blame us for that too, cuz I don't think we tell good stories, um, about who's here, what's here, and, and why you should be here. That is the 

[00:16:33] Elsbeth Magilton: perfect segue for what we're gonna talk about after the break, um, diving into some of this.

Stories of your partners and people who have been associated with the collaborative and and thinking a little bit more about how we tell those stories and what those stories mean. And we will be right back with John Van Dun, who's the executive director of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative.

[00:16:55] Paige Ross: I'm Paige Ross, a student fellow at the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center. [00:17:00] The student fellows at the center are drawn from across the University of Nebraska, including the colleges of law, business engineering, and journalism, and mass communications. In the program, we develop research projects focused on the intersection of society and technology, and working in multidisciplinary teams, think about how to communicate our work to the world.

Some of this year's subjects include designing autonomous vehicles with drivers in mind. Satellite congestion in low earth orbit and taking the politics out of online content moderation. We have some fun and network with fellow students and faculty too. The program is open to graduate or law students at the University of Nebraska and welcome students from all departments.

Now back to this episode of Tech Refactored.

[00:17:50] Elsbeth Magilton: and we are back with Jona Van Deun, who is the executive director of the Nebraska Tech Collabo. And I am so excited to talk a little bit more about the stories. Very, we just talked [00:18:00] about the power of sharing our stories and talking about what exists here in Nebraska and what tech companies are doing here.

So my first question for you is about the collaborative and the stories of the collaborative. What are some of the specific committees and initiatives 

[00:18:14] Jona Van Deun: that you're focused on right now? So right now we ha, this sounds like so much, but we have seven committees and they range from PK 12 higher ed talent attraction.

Diversity, equity, inclusion, career changers and veterans. Again, this was created by ceo. We like, there's a space for everybody to, to react. Internships is another space and so. But what makes this organization so special though, is that it's that these CEOs, CIOs, senior executives of of these 104 different entities decided that they're truly going to lean into this issue of workforce.

Some of the initiatives that we've got going are things like on the upskilling and reskilling. So a lot of times we talk about developing talent in PK through 12. [00:19:00] Or attracting talent from other places. But one of the things that we really wanted to lean into is this upskilling and reskilling piece. We have a lot of great people doing a lot of great things.

We have a a lot of new residents to Nebraska. So the only reason, the only way we grew last year is because people have more babies than died. And international immigration, that's where our growth came from last year. And so, One of the things that we want to, to be able to do is, and this is a great, great example, don't Panic Labs here in Lincoln and Don University, um, did a collaboration where they created a reskilling program, so somebody with no skills, and they created a software developer apprenticeship program.

That's crazy. So taking somebody that doesn't know anything and upskilling them into an entry level. Software developer and you're kind of like, Okay, great. This sounds really hard. It is hard. Um, so this was a 12 month program. Um, companies took people from inside their companies and then, um, a couple of [00:20:00] the other companies went to the new immigrant group here in town and said, We have two spots open for people to apply for.

This program. And so I don't, I don't think they, Their response they got was incredible. They had 70 people apply for these two positions, and I think I remember correctly, um, one person was a delivery person, um, and made it through the program and it's a 12 month program, so you. Work. You go through the program and then that employer pays you, I think it's $15 an hour, so you can, your sole focus is getting through this program.

And then Covid hit when they ran it. And so there's a capstone. They learn about computer science. They learn how to work in a company and work on a team. So that program was such a huge success that, um, Don't panic labs and don't figured out how to take that program and move it down to nine months. And then our CIOs were like, That's too much time.

We need, we need more [00:21:00] people. We need people now. So they figured out how to take that entire program and do it into 20 weeks. And so right now they're getting ready to do their next cohort, um, to find 25 people to go through. Program, um, over the next 20 weeks. But also I will say that they were responsive to the needs of the CIOs in the state.

So not only are they looking at people that have no skills, how do we re-skill people? So people that might have, um, experiences being cobalt programmers, not a lot of cobalt. Companies left over. There's a few, but not a lot. How can you take somebody with that type of skill set and re-skill them into cloud or cyber or something else?

So there's also a component to this program as well. And then the other component is how do we. School is very structured. Um, when kids go through the university, they go through code schools. It's very structured. But as you all know, code is messy. And so this, I think it's an eight week program, gives you an opportunity to go through the mess of code and then prepare you to go [00:22:00] into a company.

Um, and so a lot of the companies are moving. Taking some of their employees through that program. So that's one, and that one sounds cr absolutely crazy, but it, it, it worked well. You had another program, uh, Physician's Mutual and the AIM Code School did callers, decoders. So they went to their call centers and they took 10 people out of their call center, Reskilled, took them through a program to reskill them into software developers.

Um, Into software developers and then they just ba then they had, the company had to backfill those call center employees. But those call center employees up changed their entire trajectory in the company and are really excited about that. And Mutual of Homa, Omaha did something similar with Metro Community College, where they, um, took some folks that are inside their company that they could reskill from entry level jobs.

Call center a whole host of places. So the NTCs been experimenting with those types of things. Yeah. You know, I think it's so interesting and I, 

[00:22:57] Elsbeth Magilton: I should tread lightly being someone who works for a [00:23:00] university. Uh, that, but coding, if it's fits in that the, in an interesting space where it's really about experience and that languages and skills evolve so quickly 

[00:23:13] Jona Van Deun: that.

You can really have an entry 

[00:23:15] Elsbeth Magilton: point to that without necessarily the credentialing of a four year or graduate level degree and still be successful 

[00:23:24] Jona Van Deun: in a lot of those types of jobs. If you learn the adaptability and you 

[00:23:27] Elsbeth Magilton: learn the specifics of the type of hardware you're gonna be dealing with and the type of software you're gonna be dealing with, if 

[00:23:32] Jona Van Deun: you wanna learn, I think like.

I always say this, there's a place for every single person in tech, and it's not just about coding and I mean, I talked a little bit about that, but it's about they need business analysts. They need people that can analyze data. They need people that can write like the, The best project managers for tech are people that are psychology majors, history majors, and English majors.

Why their ability to take all of this information and condense it down into easy bite size pieces. And so [00:24:00] there's a space for everybody in this ecosystem. It's just trying to find your entry point. So when people are like, Oh, I, you know, this tech thing, it's too hard, it's too scary, I don't think I can do this.

That's not true. Because again, if you wanna enter this space, there is a place for everyone. So 

[00:24:16] Elsbeth Magilton: my next question was about partner success, which I think we've touched on a little bit now, between don't Panic Labs and sounds like Mutual of Omaha, some of the other groups. Is there any other sort of, uh, separate from the sort of workforce development, um, in terms of reskilling, any other different initiatives 

[00:24:34] Jona Van Deun: that some of the partners are working on?

So, um, our Talent Attraction Committee, this has been, I think, the, the most fun. Um, just because this is a group who believes in Nebraska, these are, there's gotta be close to 40 of them on this committee, . And every time I, I talk to them, I get excited. So they came up with something called looking at the new Pioneer.

So initially this was created to attract people from other places to come to Nebraska, that kind of, Hey, look what's [00:25:00] here. But what this has turned into, which will, and actually this will launch, um, in the spring of 2022. They have identified 50 people here in the state that are doing amazing things and tech and tech enabled.

So a certain type of chef, a certain type of artist, a software developer, an engineer, a cloud architect, somebody that's building something really cool, somebody that's created an environment where businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive. That will announce those names. And then we're gonna spend the year telling their stories and telling not only Nebraska, but the country about why these people are so special and the work that they're doing is so exciting and so important.

And then that group will actually nominate or go out and find people from across the country that they would like to work with here in Nebraska. And so, This is kind of a spin on the whole, um, I don't know if you've ever heard of the remote Tulsa project. So Tulsa, Oklahoma, paying people to relocate to Tulsa for [00:26:00] $10,000.

Um, nobody's gonna move anywhere for $10,000. Um, but a lot of people point to that program as a huge success, and I'm not convinced the money is great and important, but. That Talent Attraction Committee went and looked at the best pieces of remote Tulsa, and it was about the connectivity and the recognition and the programming around creating spaces for people to connect and learn from each other.

And so we took the best of remote Tulsa, some other programs across the country, and that's how Talent Attraction created, uh, that program. Another thing that we're looking. Is, um, diversity, equity, inclusion, It's a, this is a big deal. I mean, the Latino population is growing incredibly fast here, um, in the state.

And how do we lean into that community who, like some of the smaller, the demographics that we're seeing, smaller communities, not as much Lincoln in Omaha, but really in the central part of the state. How do we lean into that community, um, around tech? But the other thing about diversity, equity [00:27:00] inclusion is that this goes.

Every single thing that we do. And so I get a little upset sometimes, like, We have a committee on this. No. Every single thing that we do looks at this lens. Um, I remember somebody telling me once, Well, that diversity issue is a, an Omaha pro a problem. And my thought was, You know what? You don't have women where you live.

Um, we can lean into this. This is a great state to live in. We just need to figure out, you know, how do we bring more people into the fold? And so on the DEI side, we've been working with some really great groups. Um, Code Black, um, which is the, um, which is a 501C3 that looks at mentoring. And professional development for black and Latino, um, software developers, engineers and whatnot.

And that's been a great connection for us. Um, the disabilities community, um, one of our partners, Outlook Business Solutions, um, took us through an exercise. Looking at how accessible are our websites. Um, when you talk about diversity, equity, [00:28:00] inclusion, when you look at those articles, only 3% of those articles talk about people with disabilities.

Everything is racial gender. And so how do we expand the, the pool, um, of people that are entering into the system? And so we really, um, we think this is important, but what we also think is important is that we need to do some data collection. Um, I. A lot of times, you know, people are having some great programs, but we really need to find, find out where are these people sitting?

You know, are they all in entry level positions? Are they all in middle management? How come our senior ranks aren't as heavy with women and people of color? And that's just one piece that you can, um, you can measure. Um, but we have a huge opportunity here, and I think we, there's no reason why we can't, we can't do it here in the.

And then finally, um, we need to take a look at what our tech assets are in the state. So we've never, that's never been done. So, um, we've commissioned a study that will begin, um, in, uh, January. Um, hopefully we'll conclude by May, but we'll be [00:29:00] able to look at what are the tech assets, the tech companies, um, that are here in the state doing really cool stuff and how do we keep talking about that throughout the entire year?

Cause again, I said this earlier, you know, I don't think people understand. People understand what's here. We need to tell more stories, but we also need to do some data collection, I think, as well, to, to look at these things. So thinking 

[00:29:21] Elsbeth Magilton: about who's here, one of the things that, that at least I get asked about a lot, I'll frame it that way.

um, is 

[00:29:27] Jona Van Deun: Ag Tech. 

[00:29:28] Elsbeth Magilton: Yes, Right. We are Nebraska, we are an ag state, whether that be cattle or corn, that is what we do. Um, and so I'm curious about how you approach. You know, we're, we're talking about tech companies kind of interchangeably, but there's definitive sectors within tech that have very different challenges and that are operating in different spaces.

And I'm curious about how the collaborative is maybe engaged in Ag 

[00:29:54] Jona Van Deun: Tech or any other sector kind of specifically. That's a great question, and actually the reason I giggle about that [00:30:00] is because, When you look at agriculture in the state and you look at farming in the state, they are tech companies.

They're tech companies feeding cattle. They're tech companies growing food or growing soybeans or corn. And for us, it's been trying to connect with folks to. To kind of get them to understand like you are about tech. Um, the same thing with manufacturing in this state. And we've got a lot of great manufacturers who will, you know, they put their hand up and say, Wait a minute, we're a manufacturer.

We're not a tech company. You are a tech company. You are building stuff. You are making stuff you, and some of this is running off of. You know, apps and, and architecture and cloud. You're using all of these things to create, so you're tech enabled. Every company in this state has some type of tech component to it, but we don't recognize that.

And so a lot of times you'll hear me talk about, as a state, how do we innovate around these legacy industries that that gave Nebraska's. Celebrity [00:31:00] status. It's agriculture, it's it's finance and investment, it's manufacturing. And so it's, it's been very, um, interesting traveling the state, and going to other parts and they're like, Well, we don't do tech.

That's, that's, that's not us. And I, and so trying to slowly bring people into that fold has been a little bit difficult. But I think people are, the more we talk about it, I think people are beginning to understand it and, and to consider themselves. As a tech industry because, um, we hear anecdotes all the time about folks in, um, other parts of the state having to wait weeks to get a piece of equipment fixed because the guy that can fix it is from Boston or New York or from Texas.

And why can't we figure out how to create those people to fix it here in Nebraska? So, no, absolutely. 

[00:31:46] Elsbeth Magilton: So, you know, we spend, uh, particularly with security recently, or cybersecurity issues in Ag Tech and thinking about, um, How we support the agricultural industry in Nebraska. And one of my favorite stories that I may have told on the podcast before, I don't, I'm [00:32:00] not even sure.

We took students across the state of Nebraska and we were working with, um, a specific farmer and we're out in his feed lot looking at the cell tower that's right there, that he leases part of it to know like the go go airline, uh, internet. So you know, if you ever been flying over Nebraska using that wifi.

You're welcome. Oh, thanks . Uh, but also, you know, how their, what their upload needs are. And so we were kind of digging in. I said, Well, why do you have so many upload needs? And so we said, Look at my cows who were, you know, to our right. And they all have these tags on their ear and that's telling us all of these metrics about them, right?

Is their heat too high? Can I pull out the sick cow before it gets all the other cows sick? Nice. You know, all all of these different things about what it's measuring for their herd so that they can manage them effectively. And one of our students stops, he. This isn't the internet of things. This is the internet of cows.

Yes. And that has just stuck with me. And I tell this story constantly cuz I, I mean, I could not stop laughing, but he was so Right. It's the internet of cows. And so when we think about [00:33:00] what's a tech company and how do we define that, you can't tell me that the, the person running that ranch and that in that operation.

Isn't a technologist, right? Like the amount of data usage, the understanding of how he uses this land and this farm. Yeah. To support all of these different broadband activities and, and access as well as operation of something that's something as simple as herd management. 

[00:33:23] Jona Van Deun: Um, no, I love it. I, I totally agree with you.

I mean, you've got, um, you've got the grain weevil that's out in Grand Island, Chad Johnson. Um, that's an incredible, I mean, that could save people's lives. Um, you've got the young man from the university who cur, I think it's called Corral. Yes. We've had him on the 

[00:33:38] Elsbeth Magilton: podcast. Yes. Yes. He was on a talk about his fencing.

[00:33:40] Jona Van Deun: Yeah. The ben like, you know, you think of your wireless fence for your dog. He's like, he's trying to create this for cows. 

[00:33:44] Elsbeth Magilton: Yeah. And was, it was a battery problem and so it's this really interesting engineering challenges. Because I have to admit, when we had him on my, you know, we were producers on the show, so I'm listening to this and I'm thinking, Why is this different than the dog fences that I remember we had in like the nineties?

Right? And when he is explaining [00:34:00] it, I was like, well, oh, when it's that many miles and your herd is that big and you have to put collars on, like. 5,000 head, right? Like, Oh, okay. That's, that's a different challenge. Right. So you, again, you can't tell us that those are not, um, technically advanced individuals who are working on a remarkable scale in terms of tech companies.

[00:34:18] Jona Van Deun: Yeah. I mean, you've got those guys. You've got, um, the folks that are flying drones looking at, you know, the levels of water on the soil. Mm-hmm. , um, there's another company. Called Field to Freezer, which I didn't even think about until I moved here. But Field to Freezer was interesting because it's, he created an app, which again, technology, but it's an app, so hunters don't have to wait in line to get their deer processed.

Oh. And you don't have to work, figure out, go back and look through your paperwork about what you got last year. You pull up the app on your phone, you, you, you give them your tag number and all this stuff, and then when you get up there, instead of sitting there for a couple hours, you're there for like 20 minutes.

I'm like, That's brilliant. I mean, That's like, yeah, this person's solving for, you know, something, I mean this [00:35:00] constraint. So, um, there's a lot of great ideas here. It's how do we get those funded, Um, uh, Invest Nebraska and Burlington Capital. Mike I, Ben Williamson, um, created an Ag Tech fund and they really wanna put Nebraska on the map as it pertains to Ag Tech.

They think that. There are a lot of great companies and a lot of great ideas that they're making huge investments in. Um, and I know they just made their first, um, first two or three investments in in the past few months. But again, keep an eye on that cuz I think they're really going to, um, talk about telling stories.

I mean, they're traveling the country, um, trying to find, um, the greatest, the latest and greatest, but, um, they've really focused in on the state and they found some really good companies to really make some good investments. That's awesome. That's cool to 

[00:35:45] Elsbeth Magilton: hear. So thinking about company success is fantastic, um, but I know I love hearing about student or intern success.

Um, so through all of these amazing programs that you've talked about, and these are raising companies and cool, um, things that people [00:36:00] are doing, do you have some wonderful, even just from, you know, the collaboratives not that old, but in the last year, Some success stories of some of the students or interns or folks who have engaged with these companies who are going 

[00:36:11] Jona Van Deun: through We Well, I think of one story and again, the pandemic was tough on all of us and a lot of students, lesser internships and they weren't able to, um, to find new ones.

And I will say there were two companies that really. Rose to the occasion when a lot of our friends were like, We're not having interns, we're not doing this. Mike Dunlap from Nelnet, um, went to the staff and said, you know, we're, we need to make, build greater capacity, um, for more interns. And I think they had over 80 interns.

Oh, wow. Last year during Covid, because so many kids. And he was like, We have to make this happen. Um, Mutual of Omaha again went completely remote. Um, the gentleman that runs their program, Bob Herrera, just, he was like, I don't care where you live. I don't care where you are. Um, we're gonna make sure that if we've got enough [00:37:00] space for you, we're gonna create internships.

And those are the, that's the, those are the great stories about the, in about internships, um, coming out of the pandemic and even moving forward. Because these same folks have been leaders, um, this year in trying to help companies not only jumpstart their programs. Um, and we, we've held a series of webinars, which again, is the only way we've been able to connect this year.

Um, but held a series of webinars on how to jumpstart your internship. Program. And then if you're a smaller company, how do you get one started and what do we need to look for? Um, and we need to get over this fear of creating internships, not only college internships, but high school internships because the sooner we start talking about what's here and what's amazing and cool, um, I think students are, students and kids are gonna be more interested in coming into this field.

Um, you've got companies like Score Vision, which make cr they make those big billboards for football games. The folks that test out their technology are students. Why? Because usually it's students running [00:38:00] this technology during football game. So they have a huge number of, um, of student interns, of high school interns, um, that work with that technology.

And, and so again, they've been another leader. So I don't, I'm not sure if there's. One student or one really great story, but the fact that the business community, um, a lot of businesses came together during Covid to say, We're not gonna let our kids miss out on this experience. I think that's the story in itself.

Yeah. We, we 

[00:38:26] Elsbeth Magilton: experienced that here. It was devastating. Yeah. The amount of internships and, and experiential learning that couldn't happen. Yeah. Um, and we am so thankful for. Groups that helped make it happen virtually so that they could still at least have some of that on some of that experience and have that on their resume and graduate with that, some of that there.

So that, that's cool and I'm glad to hear that that happened throughout the community and not just kind of in the academic side. 

[00:38:48] Jona Van Deun: Yeah. 

[00:38:49] Elsbeth Magilton: So this has been so wonderful. I've really enjoyed talking to you. Thank you. Before we send off, is there anything else that you want to share or, uh, 

[00:38:58] Jona Van Deun: tell us about the collabo.[00:39:00] 

Again, we just, we want as many people and as many companies to, to join our efforts. Um, you should can check out the work that we're doing. Um, we have a really good blog section looking at, um, BLS data from year to year on how are we doing, um, as the, how are we doing and find and attracting technologists, um, to the state.

Um, we're doing those types of things, but just one as many people to, to come and experience and give their. Send ideas around what we sh, how we think, how they think we should be solving these issues. And, and join the, join the fun. And where can we find you? What's your url? Www B tech colab.com. Awesome.

Any social media you wanna shout out to? Oh my gosh. Instagram, Twitter, B um, ne B underscore tech. Um, share like, and tweet if you really wanna find out what's going on in the ecosystem. I will say we have one of the. Um, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook pages, just because we are combing the state to evangelize about what great things are happening and what are happening [00:40:00] here and, and how we need to keep promoting them and sharing and liking and tweeting them.

But my other message is as, as people are going out across the country, not just in Nebraska, talk about all the cool stuff that's happening here. You know, invite people to come here, um, and, and show them that, you know, this is a great place, great place to. 

[00:40:18] Elsbeth Magilton: All right. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

I've been your host, Elsbeth Magilton. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Tech Refactored. If you want to learn more about what we're doing here at NGTC or submit an idea for a future episode, you can go to our website at ngtc.unl.edu, or you can follow us on Twitter at unl underscore ngtc.

If you enjoyed this show, don't forget to leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts. Our show was produced by Lysandra Marquez and I and Colin McCarthy created and recorded our theme music. This podcast is part of the Menard Governance and Technology Programming Series. Until next time, start up collaborate and listen.[00:41:00]