TEN
by Nebraska Tech Collaborative
Welcome to TEN, a Nebraska Tech Collaborative Podcast, powered by Aksarben. We talk all things tech and/or entrepreneurship with people doing the work in Nebraska for 10-ish minutes max.
Podcast episodes
Season 2
TEN: Get to Know Your Hosts Shonna and Brian
Get to know your hosts of TEN (Tech. Entrepreneurs. Nebraska.) as they chat about their backgrounds into tech, and how this podcast came to be! Brian Poppe is Senior Vice President of Income and Wealth Planning at Mutual of Omaha. He provides strategic direction, ensures growth and profitability, manages risk as well as return, and manages the end-to-end customer experience for the Income and Wealth Planning strategic business unit. Poppe joined Mutual of Omaha in 2009 and served in a variety of actuarial roles on both the product side and the corporate side, including starting the innovation practice at Mutual. He has successfully led the Departing Well strategic business unit as well as served as Chief Data Officer; Senior Vice President of Technology Modernization; Vice President of Innovation Strategy; and Vice President of Enterprise Risk Management. Before coming to Mutual, Poppe was a Senior Actuarial Assistant at the Lincoln Financial Group. Formerly an Information Services Manager for Mutual of Omaha for nearly 5 years, Shonna is now the Executive Director for the Nebraska Tech Collaborative and interim Executive Director for InternNE, both Powered by Aksarben. Previously, Shonna was a Sr. Business Systems Consultant for Mutual of Omaha, an Adjunct Instructor for MindSet, LLC teaching themes around culture, leadership and inclusivity, and she was the Vice President of Business Development and Tech Talent at the AIM Institute.
TEN Podcast Subseries: Tech Culture (E0/20) - How We All Contribute to Company Culture
TEN: Elevator Co-Warehousing + Community with Nezzie Hardges
Nezzie Hardges is the Community Director of Elevator, a co-warehousing company that offers small and medium businesses with physical goods the space, logistics support and community they need to scale and thrive. She is a veteran of the United States Air Force, which molded her to become a dynamic leader in customer experience, a connector amongst businesses, and a resource to her local and global community.Nezzie is from Gautier, Mississippi and a graduate of the Air Force Community College and the University of Nebraska Omaha. She has her A.A in Restuarant, Hotel, and Fitness Management & Hospitality, and B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Global Strategics, and a double minor in Political Science and Global Human Rights. Before landing her role at Elevator, Nezzie was a Store Manager for Sprint now T-Mobile, leading her Florida team to the top 5 nationally recognized locations in operations and sales for 8 consecutive months. After moving to Nebraska in 2019, she made a career change in a role as the Partnership Coordinator for the Aksarben Foundation’s, Nebraska Tech Collaborative, where she grew 100+ tech/tech-enabled business partnerships and collaborated with business leaders on the tech workforce across the state of Nebraska. Nezzie is a member of the Air Force First Sergeants Association, Aksarben Foundation Floor Committee, Women in Tech of the Heartland (WiTH), Board member of MomPower, Inc, HutchFest, and a Covenant Partner and Server of her church, Ambassadors Worship Center. Nezzie enjoys life with her partner, Edward, and cuddling with her Yorkie child, King. In her free time, she enjoys studying new fashion trends, listening to podcasts, being an Aunt, and traveling by throwing darts at a map.
TEN: Startup Insights with Corey Spritzer
Corey Spitzer has over 20 years of professional experience in software engineering and has spent the last decade founding or working with startups. In that time, he has led teams of engineers, managed complex projects, and seen a lot of trends come and go in business and technology. Driven by creative ideas and promoting a healthy team culture that achieves great things, he’s currently a fractional CTO and startup advisor.