The Nebraska Women in Tech Summit is back for its second year to celebrate and support women in technology roles

The summit was launched in 2025 by the Nebraska Tech Collaborative, a talent and workforce initiative under the Aksarben Foundation, after seeing Nebraska women fall behind. The event returns with new panels and sessions on leadership and work-life balance. An awards ceremony will also honor five Nebraska women for their work.

Lev Gringauz

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February 13, 2026

Noni Williams, a senior cloud data engineer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, speaks on a panel at the 2025 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit. Photo by Ani Schutz/Silicon Prairie News

The Nebraska Women in Tech Summit is back for its second year on March 6 at Kiewit La Vista, organized by the Nebraska Tech Collaborative, a talent and workforce initiative under the Aksarben Foundation. The event aims to “empower, celebrate, and connect women in technology at every stage of their careers,” the website says.

Tickets are $100, though admission is free for students or people attending only the Nebraska Women in Tech awards ceremony. This year’s awards include five categories such as tech innovator and mentor of the year. There will also be a free pre-event mixer on March 5 at the Kiewit Luminarium along the Omaha riverfront.

The summit comes as Nebraska struggles with keeping women in technology roles. While the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs has barely increased in the state, they also have seen a widening pay gap with men.

“We have peer states … that have fewer women in these occupations but are paying them better,” said Josie Schafer, director of the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, during a presentation in 2025.

The morning of the summit includes a variety of panels and sessions. Many focus on leadership, with one panel highlighting how to make an impact in Nebraska beyond official job titles, interactive how-to sessions for confident leadership and visibility at work and a panel about balancing work and well-being.

The afternoon will have lightning talks from leaders at Mutual of Omaha, Don’t Panic Labs, Tech Nebraska and other Nebraska organizations and companies. Panelists and speakers are drawn from Nebraska talent, with support from LinkedIn for resources at the summit.

Tech resource booths from organizations such as Wayne State College, the Nebraska Business Development Center and Women in Tech of the Heartland will also help guide attendees to further develop their skills.

Last year, the summit brought together 300 attendees, included 18 resource booths and resulted in over $2,000 donated to Nebraska nonprofits serving women and girls in tech.

Lev Gringauz is a Report for America corps member who writes about corporate innovation and workforce development for Silicon Prairie News.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lev Gringauz

Before joining Silicon Prairie News, Lev Gringauz reported on the Jewish communities of Minnesota and Cincinnati for Jewfolk, Inc., and was a regular freelancer for MinnPost, covering the business of media in Minnesota. His writing career started with making love songs for high school sweethearts. On a two-year leave of absence from college, he fell into journalism while exploring Ukraine and Belarus, where his parents were born. As a freelancer he developed a niche in enterprise philanthropy reporting, while also writing stories on subjects ranging from cybersecurity issues to the intersection of AI and journalism.