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Rediscovering Omaha

Joel Russell, 32 Vice President and Chief Operations Officer Millard Lumber Inc.

Smart people are vital to keeping a city’s economy healthy and businesses thriving. Although a mix of all ages is important, young professionals are key to the future of a community. Their willingness to take risks and seize opportunities makes them unique sources of innovation and vibrancy.

From the city’s newest small businesses to the meeting rooms of our most established corporations, the best and the brightest young people are proving their worth and making an impact. Their eagerness to lead Greater Omaha forward is placing them on governing boards and organizational committees. You will find more than a dozen of their compelling stories, like the one below about Joel Russell, sprinkled throughout this publication.

Greater Omaha places considerable emphasis on nurturing, attracting and retaining a solid core of young professionals. From the Chamber-sponsored Young Professionals Council to scores of other groups and activities, the message is clear: We value your ideas and talents. It is equally clear that the extraordinary opportunities Greater Omaha offers means a lot to our young professionals.

Because for them, the most important day is tomorrow.

It’s the time of their lives.

www.omahachamber.org/ypc/

Joel Russell, 32
Vice President and Chief Operations Officer
Millard Lumber Inc.

Joel Russell grew up in Omaha, working in high school at Millard Lumber, the company co-founded in 1948 by his grandfather. After college, he got a job with Accenture LLP, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. The job took Russell to Chicago for a year. And Miami. And to Dublin, Ireland for a year.

The last place he thought he’d move was back to Omaha.

When he did return in 2000, it was to work as a computer consultant for his father at Millard Lumber. It was supposed to be temporary.

“We signed a one year consulting agreement,” Russell says. “That was seven years ago.”

After he moved back, he found no reason to leave.

“I’d only been gone three years, but I was amazed at what had happened in just that short time,” he says. “That’s when I realized it’s a great place to live.”

In 2006, Russell was named one of the Midlands Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award recipients. The annual awards honor 40 successful Omaha area professionals under the age of 40.

He gets frustrated by others his age who say there is “nothing to do” in Omaha.

“There’s plenty to do. There are great arts and entertainment opportunities. There’s a wonderful museum scene. There are sports events and beautiful parks. There are so many great restaurants and places to shop. All these things add up to a lot to do.

“This isn’t the same place it was 10 years ago.”

Neither is Millard Lumber, which has been built into one of the largest independently-owned lumber and construction services companies in the Midwest. Now with operations in Omaha, Des Moines and Waverly, Neb., Millard Lumber employs more than 300 people.

The company is continuing to expand. The Omaha operations are to move in the fall of 2007 into a 580,000-square-foot building on 70 acres in southwest Omaha.

It will allow the company to consolidate all its Omaha operations under one roof – and still have room to grow.

Russell says 96 percent of Millard Lumber’s business comes from professional contractors and homebuilders, a fact highlighted in a January 2007 episode of ABC’s popular television show, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

Millard Lumber donated its “Turnkey Building Solutions” services that utilize prebuilt floor and wall panels and roof trusses, including all the materials and labor needed to frame and close-in a construction project. The workers framed a new 4,000-square-foot Lincoln, Neb., home – the first for the show to be built with a basement – in just 14 hours.

“We actually were involved in the construction from start to finish. It was really a cool project, and a nice opportunity to give something back to the community.”

Greater Omaha is a community with promise, Russell says, one where other young professionals would find many career opportunities. “The job market here is much more dynamic than people might think it is.”

“If getting me to stay was my dad’s plan,” Russell says, chuckling, “it worked.”