Hundreds of local and national leaders are set to gather in Omaha for the Empowerment Network’s 16th Annual Rebuilding the Village Conference.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, five-time NBA champion and one of the world’s leading business executives, entrepreneurs and philanthropists is returning to Omaha as the luncheon keynote for the conference.
Conference and luncheon tickets are available at www.rtvomaha.com
The luncheon and conference promise to be even bigger and better. In addition to Magic Johnson, the Network will feature six national keynote speakers including Veta Jeffery and 50+ local leaders, experts and panelists.
Representatives from 20 regional and national cities will be in attendance to learn more about the Empowerment Network and Omaha 360 Collaborative approach. rtvomaha.com
Veta T. Jeffery will be featured as one of the national keynote speakers at the Rebuilding the Village Conference in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday, June 9th. Jeffery will present from the mainstage and share her experiences in helping to lead efforts to rebuild Ferguson, Missouri after the tragic police killing of Michael Brown, demonstrations, protests and national outcry. She will then conduct a breakout session focused on the successes and lessons learned from the economic development of the Ferguson community.
Later in the day, Jeffery will present and facilitate a separate session focused on pathways, networks and ecosystems for Black businesses and urban entrepreneurs.
Ms. Jeffery is an accomplished national speaker, representing the interests of corporations, organizations and communities utilizing her ability to bridge diversity gaps and inspiring others to do the same. She is passionate about growing businesses of all sizes, strengthening and building economically strong communities through work force development and helping families to build generational legacies.
Jeffery has spent her life advocating for the rights of others. She began her professional career advocating for the rights of Differently Abled individuals where her conflict resolution education and training allowed her to serve others by helping them to successfully navigate through education, employment, building and housing issues.
She went on to spend over 20 years working in the financial services and banking industry as a licensed professional and a member of Senior Management in both sectors. In financial services she ran agencies gaining national recognition for production and recruitment and retention numbers. In banking, as a Senior Vice President, her efforts helped to create new policies and new products creating a space for banking to be equitable for all.
Jeffery expanded her banking service to the development of small businesses which also included Mom and Pop shops, sole proprietors and M/WBE businesses by helping to develop programming which helped them build capacity. She developed programs that improved the technical aspects of managing their business and helping them to have control of their back-office challenges and creating paths for them to become bankable thus creating paths for them to have more access to capital. Her efforts drew businesses to change their banking relationships.
Jeffery accepted a Special Assignment following Ferguson under Governor Nixon serving as Manager of Community Development in the Office of Community Engagement and Department of Community and Economic Development. In this role she served on many significant projects again bridging gaps in difficult situations. The creation of the Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce was one of several successful programs that came from her service to the State of Missouri and is still in place today.
Jeffery was asked to join the executive team for the County Executive to serve St. Louis County as the Chief Diversity Officer where she had policy oversight for the MWBE Program and headed planning for St. Louis County ARPA Funding. She resigned that position to head the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
Jeffery left behind a number of board and taskforce positions. One notable board on which she served is the US Black Chamber of Commerce where they serve over 146 Chambers Nationwide representing over 175,000 members.
Jeffery is married to Pastor Tony Jeffery, Associate Pastor at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church and they are the proud parents of two beautiful girls, Ishmaiah age 22 and Toni age 13.
