的 Omaha Executive Institute is for senior-level executives who are new to their positions and/or new to the community as way to explore the issues, challenges and opportunities of Greater Omaha. Meet some of the trailblazers within the group.
Just weeks into it, Naomi Hattaway is already loving the Omaha Executive Institute 经验.
“Lynda Shafer (the Chamber’s Leader ‘Leader’) is a gem, and the events have been wonderful so far,她说。.
Naomi and the rest of the 2019-2020 class launched their OEI 经验 in August. (拿俄米的丈夫, 托德, a sought-after aviation expert, was slated to participate with her but later had to decline due to new work obligations.)
对她来说, Naomi is impacting the community as Program Director for Habitat for Humanity of Omaha – and there is a great, 这是一个完整的故事. When she and 托德 met, she was a Habitat for Humanity of Omaha homeowner. (She’d been one of the first single, teen moms accepted into the program.) After she and 托德 relocated to Omaha 大约两年前 – his first time living here, her second – Naomi wrote a 博客 about the power of home ownership and her connection with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat’s Executive Director and CEO saw the post and reached out.
“It just so happened that she was working at Habitat 20+ years ago when I got my home. She called and said, ‘Why don’t you meet me for coffee? It would be great to see you again.’ That turned into a job offer.”
In addition to her Habitat work, Naomi holds her real estate license and has spoken internationally several times, connecting her 经验s to a “leadership-based, community-building mindset.” She also has authored a guidebook for kids called “Delhi Bound.” (的re’s another great story there.)
After starting their married life in Georgia, the Hattaways moved to Ohio and then New Delhi, India. 的y were a family of five by then.
“We moved to India sight unseen,托德说。.
While 托德 worked for and grew a family-owned aviation company, one of the first aviation companies in India, Naomi ran the local American Women’s Association and was involved with Make a Difference, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring better outcomes for Indian children living in the slum across the street from the school her own children attended.
A pressing need of her own – a bout with a mosquito-borne illness called 基孔肯雅热 – led Naomi to Singapore for treatment. She brought the three kids. 托德 continued to live and work in India with occasional visits, but the strain on the family prompted a repatriation to 托德’s home state of Florida. A move to Ohio was next for the globe-trotting Hattaways and then, 大约两年前, a job opportunity brought them to Omaha.
“My initial thought was, ‘Am I sure I really want to move back to Omaha?’ I was happy to move on to the next chapter of my life when I left Omaha, but it’s been good being back,娜奥米说.
As her OEI 经验 gains even more momentum, she says she’s looking forward to getting to know fellow executives in a way that’s “deeper than surface level” and looks forward to the ripple effect and impact that will come from the relationships formed with her OEI colleagues.
“We do business planning together,托德说。. “We go home at night and get on the whiteboard and get in Visio and strategize. So, I think this is really going to be fun for us.”
Naomi says she’s looking forward to getting to know fellow executive in a way that’s “deeper than surface level” and to “hearing about the struggles that others in the community are having. … 的 impact that can come from this – the ripple effect – is huge.”
的 Hattaway’s children, two boys and a girl, are 24, 16 and 13 respectively. 的 oldest is studying aviation at Iowa Western Community College. Ready to settle in after logging thousands of miles, 托德 and Naomi say they’ve bought their “forever home” on the Elkhorn River.
“We’ve looked really hard at what is the next thing for us – what is our legacy?托德说。. “It’s time for me to get more engrossed in the community.”
He and Naomi will have that opportunity when the next session of OEI opens in the spring.
Omaha Executive Institute
的 program explores the issues, challenges and opportunities of Greater Omaha to help participants understand the environment in which they are now doing business.