Omaha Chamber names new entrepreneurship director, Dusty Reynolds

The Greater Omaha Chamber has informed Silicon Prairie News that Dusty Reynolds will take over as the Chamber’s new director of entrepreneurship and innovation, effective Nov. 14. Reynolds will be part of the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership, whose mission is to increase business, investment and employment in Greater Omaha. In his new role, Reynolds…

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce has selected Dusty Reynolds as its new director of entrepreneurship and innovation. Photo courtesy of the Greater Omaha Chamber.  

The Greater Omaha Chamber has informed Silicon Prairie News that Dusty Reynolds will take over as the Chamber’s new director of entrepreneurship and innovation, effective Nov. 14. Reynolds will be part of the Greater Omaha Economic Development Partnership, whose mission is to increase business, investment and employment in Greater Omaha.

In his new role, Reynolds will work to identify opportunities for new companies and existing ventures. He will continue efforts, already underway, to build and strengthen the area’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and will work to improve the human capital pipeline for entrepreneurs and innovators. Rod Moseman, the Chamber’s vice president of economic development, said in a press release that Reynolds “will be a key leader in the Chamber’s five-year strategy to support the creation of more than 60 high growth businesses in the metro area.”

A native of Nebraska and graduate of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Reynolds has built two businesses from the ground up — one in Nebraska and the other in West Africa. The latter, Sababu Conscious Clothing, is a socially conscious, for-profit clothing manufacturer based in Mali that, per the company’s website, “maximizes the potential of all employees by acknowledging their needs holistically.”

“I learned what struggles entrepreneurs face first hand,” Reynolds said in a release. “More times than not, solutions can be found once the entrepreneur is plugged into the right resources. I look forward to working with the many individuals already working in this space and finding others who can join us in building entrepreneurship and innovation in Omaha.”

Reynolds will report to Anne Branigan, the Chamber’s senior vice president. He fills a position vacated by Tom Chapman, who left the Chamber in August to take a job with Nebraska Global, a Lincoln-based software investment fund.

“More times than not, solutions can be found once the entrepreneur is plugged into the right resources. I look forward to working with the many individuals already working in this space and finding others who can join us in building entrepreneurship and innovation in Omaha.” – Dusty Reynolds

“I am pleased that someone with Dusty’s entrepreneurial experience and enthusiasm will be filling this critical position,” Branigan said in a release. “The Chamber remains committed to supporting the area’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

SPN will have lots more in the coming days on Reynolds, who takes over a post vital to the continued growth of entrepreneurship in Omaha and across the entire Silicon Prairie. In the meantime, you can find Reynolds on Twitter, @dreynolds41, reach him via email at dreynolds@omahachamber.org or catch up with him at Thinc Iowa, which he plans to attend.

Disclosure: Silicon Prairie News founder Jeff Slobotski and co-founder Dusty Davidson consulted the Chamber in the search for its new director of entrepreneurship and innovation.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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