Chief Innovation Officer Dell Gines participated in a panel on brain drain in his hometown of Omaha, NE, on Tuesday, Dec. 2. He joined city officials, researchers, and business leaders at Creighton University to address Nebraska’s long-standing loss of educated talent.

The City of Omaha hosted the forum to support the development of a new 20-year comprehensive plan. Using real-time polling of roughly 70 attendees, the event aimed to identify why people leave and what might encourage them to stay.

Respondents cited better jobs, career growth, recreation, and a stronger sense of diversity and belonging elsewhere as key reasons for leaving. They recommended strategies such as offering higher-wage jobs, affordable housing, improved transit and bike lanes, attractive public spaces, and responsive political leadership to help retain talent.

UNO researcher Josie Schafer presented data showing that since 2019, about 17,000 people with at least a bachelor’s degree have left Nebraska, including over 10,000 from the Omaha area. She noted that Omaha loses hundreds of domestic migrants annually, while peer metropolitan areas are experiencing strong population gains.

An Aksarben Foundation study found that Omaha and Lincoln are about 68,000 jobs behind where they would be if they had matched job growth in competitor regions. This has helped spur the launch of a new nonprofit, Strengthening Nebraska Families, which focuses on primary job creation.

During the “We Make Omaha’s Talent x Place” panel, Gines emphasized the importance of building a distinct city identity and improving the quality of life instead of simply focusing on population growth. Fellow panelists highlighted the need for skills development, welcoming environments, and a strong entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem to convert brain drain into brain gain, all grounded in local data and surveys.