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Open for Business

“Open for Business” is a sign of the times in Greater Omaha.

Building upon the foundation of four Fortune 500 headquarters – Berkshire-Hathaway, ConAgra Foods, Kiewit Corporation and Union Pacific Railroad – a variety of well-known and start-up companies are being attracted by the area’s loyal workforce, extensive telecommunications infrastructure and location in the central United States.

Omaha and its business community are models of diversity. The online stock brokerage Ameritrade, now TD AMERITRADE, was founded here. Pacific Life Insurance Co. opened a regional business center here. Gallup built its university campus along the riverfront. Degussa Corporation’s lysine production facility and Cargill’s ethanol plant have been built in nearby Blair. The CLAAS Group’s giant Lexion Combine Division and the Brazilian Consortium of Stones are here.

Drawn by the presence of U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) at Offutt Air Force Base, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Lockheed Martin have built facilities here. And, in February, XIT Networks, LLC., announced its intent to join the widening roster of technology firms and build its Cyber Defense Security Center here.

Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey says many factors have combined to spark Omaha’s current economic momentum, “but it’s the common vision of building a better, stronger and more vibrant city that Omahans share and work to achieve that drives us forward and allows us to overcome any obstacles.”

Dan Neary, chairman and CEO of Mutual of Omaha and chairman of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce board of directors, says a workforce that is dedicated and intelligent is helping to fuel the economic boom.

“Mutual of Omaha’s growth has been directly tied to the work ethic, talent and loyalty that are part of the fabric of Omaha,” Neary says. “Omaha is fortunate to have schools and universities that ensure a qualified labor pool.”

Mutual, the 99-year-old insurance giant which entered the banking business as a step toward offering its customers complete financial services, is investing in Omaha’s future through the ambitious Midtown Crossing at Turner Park development, just to the east of the Mutual headquarters.

“Midtown Omaha has been home to Mutual of Omaha for more than 60 years,” Neary says. “We owe much to the neighborhood, and we want to give much back.”

The development represents a $300 million investment in the neighborhood and is the first major project to grow from the Destination Midtown effort.

The Destination Midtown initiative is a cooperative effort of public and private interests working together to return the Midtown area to prominence and make it a destination of choice in Omaha.

The initiative brings together representatives from the largest corporations in the area, 11 neighborhood associations, city government and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to develop a plan of action that promotes economic development opportunities and advances neighborhood goals.

“We’re confident that Midtown Crossing will revitalize the Turner Park area and promote economic development throughout Midtown,” Neary says.

The project is a 15-acre mixed-use development being built around an expanded and revitalized Turner Park. Its seven buildings will feature luxury condominiums and apartments, corporate extended-stay residences, a health club, a five-screen theater, full-service grocery, retail space for restaurants, entertainment and shops, and parking for more than 3,000 vehicles.

The project is on track to open the fall of 2009.

More than a great place to do business, Omaha is also attracting attention as a great place to work. Forbes magazine ranked Omaha the “8th Best City for Jobs” in 2008.

“This ranking is a positive reflection of Greater Omaha’s business climate, workforce development and continued economic growth,” says Rod Moseman, vice president of economic development for the Chamber.

Gallup tapped into the local workforce when it became among the first corporations to join in Omaha’s vision for a downtown riverfront renaissance. The research-based management consulting firm, perhaps best known for its Gallup Poll, chose an expansive site along the Missouri River to build an $81 million campus that includes Gallup University.

“The Chamber first took us under its wing in 1989 or 1990,” says Jane Miller, Gallup executive vice president and Chief Operating Officer. “Rod Moseman rolled out the red carpet and showed us the whole city. When we made a decision to move here, we knew a lot about Omaha.”

In January, the organization announced it will add 300 employees in Omaha in the next two years and build a 100,000-square-foot addition to its riverfront campus to meet a growth surge. More than 600 people already work at the riverfront campus.

“We’ve seen the boom in Omaha, and it’s tremendous for us to be a part of it all,” Miller says.

Each year, approximately 5,000 top-level executives from around the world come to the city for leadership training.

Additionally, Gallup is an active partner with area higher education and the Omaha community.

The riverfront campus has joined with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to offer a Master’s in Business degree with an emphasis in Global Leadership, and with the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Information Science and Technology and The Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) to offer internships, data visualization classes and speaker seminars. And, it plans to utilize the new Firefly supercomputer at PKI to compute and store its Gallup Poll data.

Miller describes Omaha as a “business-minded community” that benefits from an “intelligent, professional, highly educated and talented” workforce.

“Omaha,” she says, “has been a great fit for Gallup.”

Clearly, Greater Omaha is wide open for business.