Success Stories

Other Success Stories

R.J. Bichlmeier - Professor
The career of R.J. Bichlmeier has come full circle. After spending 17 years working outside of Nebraska, 50-year-old Bichlmeier is home, teaching at Northeast Community...

Frank Cummings - Business Owner
Returning home from a long vacation seems a natural enough thing. It just doesn’t take most people better than a decade to get back to the nest. Frank Cummings would say he...

Patrick Dunlap - Business Owner
A combination of circumstance led Patrick Dunlap to return to his hometown of Norfolk two years ago. At the time, he had an active medical practice in Joplin, Mo. He also had just...

Steve Frerich -
Steve Frerichs’ parents always told him, “Go, get out, go somewhere where you can do something with yourself.” When your parents aren’t doing too well, they start preaching...

Tom Galloway - Business Owner
Tom Gallaway believes in coming home in a big way. He brought his growing business with him to Ainsworth, and now he is working to find employees for all of the jobs he has...

Craig Hagge - General Manager
Craig Hagge has made a successful full circle in his young life. At age 38, both he and his wife, Christy, are happy and settled in Northeast Nebraska, specifically at Fordyce....

Mark Hall - Business Owner
After spending more than 23 years traveling the world with the U.S. Air Force, Mark Hall said there really is “no place like Nebraska.” The fourth-generation Nebraskan was born in...

Andy & Brianna Hoffman - Attorney & Pharmacist
It’s the people of rural Nebraska who brought Andy and Brianna “Bri” Hoffman home. After graduating at the top of their university classes, this young couple could have found...

Mike Holton - Director of Rural Operations
A “flash of information” led Mike Holton back to his Nebraska roots. The Tilden native was on his way to a job interview in Texas when a moment of clarity made him decide to move...

Dr. Joshua Hopkins - Optometrist
The decision to return to Northeast Nebraska was clear for Dr. Joshua Hopkins. Hopkins, 30, who practices optometry in Norfolk and Wayne, always wanted to be in Northeast...

Courtney Klein-Faust - Attorney
Guess what? The grass can be green on both sides of the fence. Just ask Courtney Klein-Faust. But for a while, of course, she wasn’t sure. While attending Battle Creek...

Rachelle McCalla - Pastor
The trend, of course, is for many young adults to leave Nebraska, to say farewell to the place where their parents live, in search of a new, more exciting life. Ray and Rachelle...

Dr. Chris Price - Anesthesiologist
Dr. Chris Price almost left Nebraska once. And he did leave his beloved Norfolk just long enough to get his training as a doctor in Lincoln and Omaha. But other than that, he has...

Matt Skiff - Teacher
Colorado’s breathtaking scenery and wealth of cultural activities were not enough to eclipse Matt Skiff’s love for small-town values. “Family is more important to have...

Lynda Sock - Sales & Marketing Manager
Lynda Sock allowed the hands of fate to steer her life. They ended up driving her home. Sock said she wasn’t really even searching for a new job when the sales and marketing...

Troy Strom - Business Banker
Troy Strom is a man dedicated to his community. Happily, he now calls Norfolk his home. But the third-generation Nebraskan left the state for four years to further his career. A...

Brandon Theophilus - Entrepreneur
Brandon Theophilus trusts his gut instinct. Back in January 2000, that inner sage told him to give up the stock brokerage business and move back to Norfolk. So he did. Now,...

Kara Weander-Gaster - Museum Director
Family can be powerful, an irresistible force that no one member can ignore for too long. Kara Weander-Gaster says it was the main reason she returned to Nebraska. Weander-Gaster,...