TEN

Hosted by Nebraska Tech Collaborative

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206

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Welcome to TEN, a Nebraska Tech Collaborative Podcast, powered by Aksarben. We talk all things tech and/or entrepreneurship with people doing the work in Nebraska for 10-ish minutes max.

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October 21, 202610 min

Your Career Does Not Have to Be a Straight Line | Kari Schmitz

A winding career path is not wasted time. For Kari Schmitz, Assistant General Counsel at Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company, every unexpected turn added something she could use later. In this special Nebraska Women in Tech Summit series of the TEN Podcast, LaShonna Dorsey and co-host Dr. Jessica Olsen, Ed.D., sit down with Kari to talk about career pivots, taking risks and trusting the value of the experiences you collect along the way. Kari’s path has taken her from university admissions and entrepreneurship to state government, law school, Hudl and now Mutual of Omaha, where she focuses primarily on technology agreements. That winding road became the foundation for her lightning talk at the 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit. Kari shares why she wanted to be open about the choices, risks and even mistakes that shaped her career, and why she believes investing in yourself is rarely something you will regret. The conversation also gets into what made the Summit’s lightning talks so powerful, why networking does not have to feel forced, and why you should not talk yourself out of sharing an idea because you think someone else has already said it. Your perspective is still yours. And sometimes the person sitting in the audience needs to hear the message exactly the way you tell it.

October 14, 202613 min

Be a Bridger: Connecting People, Ideas & Innovation | Lindsay Ruby Yardley

What does it really take to create change? Sometimes it's less about having the perfect idea and more about bringing the right people together. In this special Nebraska Women in Tech Summit series of the TEN Podcast, LaShonna Dorsey of the Aksarben Foundation and guest co-host Dr. Jessica Olsen of Kiewit welcome Lindsay Hruby-Yardley, Innovation Consultant at Don't Panic Labs and a 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit lightning talk presenter. Lindsay brings a unique perspective to innovation, leadership, and problem-solving. After nearly 22 years of service in the Nebraska National Guard, including serving as Chief of Innovation, she transitioned into the private sector, working in software product management, startups, and innovation consulting. She shares how being a "bridger," someone who connects people, ideas, and opportunities, has helped her drive change across organizations and industries. Lindsay also reflects on presenting at the sold-out 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit, why more women should share their expertise, and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are ready to get things done. One of her biggest messages? You don't have to be the person leading the charge to make a difference. Sometimes raising your hand and joining the effort is where the real impact begins. Learn more about the Nebraska Women in Tech Summit, returning April 2, 2027: https://aksarben.org/women-in-tech-summit

October 8, 202610 min

AI as Your Assistant: Grant Writing and Better Work with Frank Shimerdla | TEN Podcast

AI can save time. But should it be doing the thinking for you? For Frank Shimerdla of A&O Grant Consulting , the answer is pretty clear. Frank has worked in grants for about 25 years. Over the past year, he has started incorporating generative AI into different parts of his work, from early drafts to prospect research. What started as some experimentation has changed the way he approaches the grant process. In this episode of the TEN Podcast, Frank joins LaShonna Dorsey and guest co-host Shayla Kelly of Complete Weddings + Events to talk about what AI actually looks like in his day-to-day work. Frank describes AI as an assistant. It can help with some of the heavy lifting and more tedious parts of the process, giving him additional time to focus on the areas where his experience matters most: research, strategy, strengthening the appeal and making sure the final proposal truly represents the organization. His advice for other grant professionals is simple: Remain the expert. Steer the process. Use AI as an assistant. Frank also shares why he would never take an AI-generated narrative without reviewing and editing it, and why maintaining your own voice and authorship still matters. The conversation also looks ahead at what may happen as AI-generated writing becomes easier to recognize and how grant proposals themselves could evolve as these tools become more common. This is a practical conversation for grant writers, nonprofit professionals, entrepreneurs and anyone trying to figure out how AI can make their work better without replacing the expertise they bring to it.

October 7, 202621 min

The Case for Divergent Thinking | Audrey Crane on Building Better Technology

Before you build the solution, how well do you understand the problem and the person you are trying to help? That question runs through this episode of the TEN Podcast’s Nebraska Women in Tech Summit Special Series with Audrey Crane, Partner at DesignMap and a speaker at the 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit . Audrey’s path into technology started with an unusual combination: theater and pure mathematics. That combination helped her stand out early in her career and eventually led her to Netscape during a defining period in Silicon Valley. There, she discovered product design as a field that brought together creativity, empathy, technology and problem-solving. Today, Audrey is a Partner at DesignMap, a digital product strategy and design firm approaching its 20th anniversary. She has worked with startups and major technology companies including Salesforce and Cisco, and she has also taught design thinking at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this conversation with LaShonna Dorsey and guest co-host Jessica Olsen, Ed.D., Senior Data Privacy Analyst in AI Compliance at Kiewit, Audrey talks about why divergent thinking matters, especially as new tools make it easier to move quickly from an idea to execution. But speed is not the same thing as insight. Audrey shares why great product strategy starts with understanding the people behind the workflow, why customers may need something very different from what a team initially assumes, and why different backgrounds and perspectives can lead to better technology. She also shares what brought her to Nebraska, what surprised her about the technology community here, and the connections she made through the Nebraska Women in Tech Summit. This episode is a reminder that as the tools change, curiosity, creativity, empathy and the ability to ask better questions still matter. The 2027 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit returns April 2, 2027, at Kiewit in La Vista. Learn more: ⁠Women in Tech Summit - Aksarben Foundation⁠

October 1, 202612 min

People, Performance & Building a Business | Stephanie Clark, GMP Pros

Can you build a high-performing company without losing the people-first culture behind it? Stephanie Clark believes you can — and should. In this episode of the TEN Podcast, LaShonna Dorsey and guest co-host Shayla Kelly of Complete Weddings + Events sit down with Stephanie Clark, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of GMP Pros® , an engineering and technical staffing company serving life sciences manufacturers. Stephanie brings more than 25 years of operations and leadership experience to her work. She is also a 2024 Pipeline Entrepreneurs Fellow and a member of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) , with a leadership philosophy centered on building organizations where people are valued, empowered, and accountable. The conversation gets into: • How Stephanie and her husband and co-founder, Eric Clark, combined operations and engineering expertise to build GMP Pros • Recruiting specialized engineering talent in Nebraska and across the country • Why developing and investing in talent matters • The role small businesses play in creating opportunities • How Nebraska’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has supported GMP Pros • What Stephanie gained from Pipeline Entrepreneurs — and why the network continues to matter after the fellowship ends • Why entrepreneurs need to take ownership of finding resources, building relationships, and asking for help And Stephanie offers a reminder that applies well beyond entrepreneurship: find people who are where you want to be and reach out. They can only say no.

September 30, 202610 min

The $5 Trillion Opportunity: Investing in Women Entrepreneurs | Molly Huyck

Up to $5 trillion. That’s how much closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship could add to the global economy, according to research from the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Boston Consulting Group. Cherie Blair Foundation for Women It’s also a statistic that helped shape what Molly Huyck decided to do next. Molly is the founder of Aequitas Invest and Set the Bar and the 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Diversity Champion of the Year . After more than 20 years in corporate America, including a global leadership career at PayPal, Molly was ready for a new chapter. While at PayPal, she had the opportunity to mentor women entrepreneurs around the world through the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s Mentoring Women in Business program. PayPal has been a longtime partner of the program. Cherie Blair Foundation for Women That experience helped Molly see both the potential of women entrepreneurs and the barriers they continue to face when accessing capital. So she decided to build something. In this special Nebraska Women in Tech Summit series of the TEN Podcast, Molly joins LaShonna Dorsey and Dr. Jessica Olsen to talk about creating Aequitas Invest, using crowdfunding to expand opportunities for women founders, and why she chose Nebraska as the place to do it. We also talk about Molly’s other venture, Set the Bar, Nebraska’s first women’s sports bar , and how she has intentionally created a space centered on sports, community and belonging. The conversation covers: The multitrillion-dollar economic opportunity connected to women’s entrepreneurship Access to capital for women founders Molly’s transition from 20+ years in corporate leadership to entrepreneurship Technology, regulation and building trust with investors Why Nebraska is home for Molly and her businesses What intentional inclusion looks like in practice What being named the 2026 Diversity Champion of the Year meant to her Why communities like the Nebraska Women in Tech Summit matter Molly’s story is a great example of what can happen when experience, purpose and a problem worth solving come together. 📅 The Nebraska Women in Tech Summit returns April 2, 2027. Reference: The $5 trillion figure discussed in the episode comes from research published by the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women and Boston Consulting Group. The analysis estimated that if women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could increase by approximately $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.

September 30, 202610 min

Closing the Capital Gap for Women Entrepreneurs | Molly Huyck

Women entrepreneurs continue to face barriers to capital. Molly Huyck decided she wanted to build something that could help change that. In this special Nebraska Women in Tech Summit series of the TEN Podcast, LaShonna Dorsey and Dr. Jessica Olsen sit down with Molly Huyck, founder of Aequitas Invest and Set the Bar and the 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Diversity Champion of the Year. After more than 20 years in corporate America, including a global leadership career at PayPal, Molly turned her experience in technology, compliance, leadership, and customer experience toward a new challenge: expanding opportunities for women entrepreneurs. She shares why she built Aequitas Invest around crowdfunding, how she thinks about creating greater access to capital, and why Nebraska has been the right place to build a community around women founders. We also talk about Set the Bar, Nebraska’s first women’s sports bar, and Molly’s very intentional approach to creating a space where everyone feels welcome. This conversation covers: Why access to capital remains a challenge for women entrepreneurs What Molly learned from more than two decades in corporate leadership How technology, regulation, trust, and investment intersect Why she chose to build her businesses in Nebraska What genuine inclusion looks like when you design for it from the beginning Why the Nebraska Women in Tech community continues to matter Molly’s story is a great reminder that experience doesn’t have to lead to doing more of the same. Sometimes it gives you the tools to build something entirely new.

September 24, 202613 min

AI Needs Structure | Rob Ruiz on WordPress, Open Source & Smarter Development

AI can generate code. But that doesn’t mean it always generates the right code. In this episode of the TEN Podcast, LaShonna Dorsey visits with Rob Ruiz , an Omaha-based full-stack software engineer, Certified Advanced Professional WordPress Developer, AI expert, and owner of Bizzle Interactive . Rob is also the lead maintainer of WP Rig , an open-source WordPress theme development framework used by developers and agencies building custom WordPress experiences. Rob shares how he went from graphic design and Flash development to becoming deeply involved in WordPress, open source, and software development. The conversation also explores how AI is changing the way developers work—and why giving AI structure, documentation, rules, and a strong development framework can lead to better results. Rob and Shonna talk about: Rob’s path from designer to full-stack developer His involvement with WordCamp Omaha and the local WordPress community How he became the lead maintainer of WP Rig Why open-source contribution still matters How WP Rig supports custom WordPress development Why AI can perform better inside a well-defined framework What developers and agencies should be thinking about as AI becomes part of everyday development Rob is based in Omaha and contributing to a global open-source developer community. Learn more about Rob and Bizzle Interactive at bizzle.dev .

September 23, 202614 min

Build Something Worth Coming Back To | Liz Morel | TEN Podcast

What if the answer to brain drain isn't convincing people to stay, but building opportunities so strong they want to come back? In this special Nebraska Women in Tech Summit series of the TEN Podcast, Liz Morrell, Director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership at the University of Nebraska, joins LaShonna Dorsey and co-host Jessica Olsen, EdD of Kiewit for a conversation about manufacturing, technology, talent, and Nebraska's opportunity to compete. Liz brings nearly two decades of manufacturing experience to the conversation. After earning her chemical engineering degree from the University of Kansas, she spent 15 years working in technical and operational roles at ExxonMobil facilities across the country. She later returned to Nebraska to join hard-tech company Monolith Materials, where she led engineering, strategic planning, and manufacturing. Today, Liz works with small and mid-sized manufacturers across Nebraska to improve processes, adopt technology, develop new products, and scale their businesses. We get into: Why manufacturing is a powerful economic engine for Nebraska communities How technology and innovation are changing modern manufacturing The role Nebraska can play in helping manufacturers and startups scale Why there are multiple pathways into STEM and manufacturing careers What Liz means by "boomerang and build" Why relationships and community matter when building a stronger technology ecosystem Liz also reflects on her 2026 Nebraska Women in Tech Summit lightning talk and why Nebraska shouldn't only focus on keeping talent here. Her challenge is bigger: build great companies, careers, and opportunities that give people a reason to stay—or a reason to come home. It's a conversation about building hard things, creating opportunity, and what becomes possible when talent, technology, and community come together.

September 17, 202611 min

Helping 500 People Get Better at AI | Hunter Bergman | TEN Podcast

Hunter Bergman has a goal: help 500 people become more confident and capable with AI. And he’s already more than 200 people in. Hunter is the founder of XPM and XPM Labs. Originally from Northeast Nebraska, he started building what would become XPM while attending Northeast Community College and continued growing the company after transferring to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. For the past four years, Hunter has worked with businesses to modernize their marketing, operations and use of technology. Increasingly, that work has focused on a practical question: How can organizations use AI to improve their people and systems without losing the human side of the work? In this episode of the TEN Podcast, Hunter joins LaShonna Dorsey to talk about: • Why AI literacy matters for people at every stage of their career • The difference between simply using AI and using it well • How businesses can move from AI experimentation to practical systems and workflows • Why human connection may become even more important as AI use grows • How AI can reduce time spent on lower-value tasks and create more room for meaningful work • What Hunter is learning as he works toward training 500 people through XPM Labs Hunter was also recently selected for the Google AI Data Center Fellowship and continues to explore how these tools can help businesses, nonprofits and communities across Nebraska work smarter. And when LaShonna finally turns the tables and asks Hunter, “What question do you want to answer?” — the conversation gets even more interesting. Want to be part of the 500? Learn more about practical AI training for your team, school or organization at xpm.agency/labs.

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