Tickets are available for the Greater Omaha Chamber’s second annual POWER Conference on Oct. 8.

POWER is an acronym for people, opportunity, workforce, excellence and retention, the focus of the chamber’s new Workforce Development initiative.

“By integrating discussions around talent attraction, talent retention and employer excellence, we aim to tackle the comprehensive challenges and opportunities within Omaha’s talent pipeline and workforce opportunities in a singular, powerful platform,” Dell Nared Jr., the Greater Omaha Chamber’s chief workforce excellence officer, told SPN last year.

Attendees at the 2025 conference represented all corners of Omaha, from the nonprofit sector to fintech, health care and local government.

This year’s keynote speakers are Dr. Andrea Hollingsworth, an expert on compassionate leadership, and Damus Smith, a leadership strategist.

Breakout speakers come from organizations ranging from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and JE Dunn Construction to the City of Omaha Human Rights & Relations Department and Omaha 100 Inc.

(Editor’s note: Omaha 100 owns SPN.)

The conference aims to address workforce needs at a pressing time for Omaha and Nebraska. A lack of jobs and wage growth is leading educated and high-earning Nebraskans to leave the state for opportunities elsewhere. Meanwhile, the state’s population is trending older, and the younger generation is more diverse.

That is changing how employers need to approach workers and becoming a focus of a new “brain gain” initiative between companies and the City of Omaha.