Sep 25, 2026 · 18 min · 8 segments
Joseph Young, President & CEO of Nebraska Chamber of Commerce & Industry, joins Jason Ball, President & CEO of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, in the AOI Podcast Studio on the latest edition of the…
Joseph, before we jump into maybe some more specific topics, why this job? Why you as the leader? Why is now the right time? What motivates you to do this?
Yeah, you know, throughout my years in economic development especially, you really notice how much of an impact you can make.
And Michaela and I have always loved this state dearly, and it was hard to leave.
But you can see on a day-to-day basis the impact that you're making on the business community, which obviously drives the economy in Nebraska and does a lot of good for the citizens of the state.
Well, Joseph, you were able to come and talk with our board here not all that long ago.
And you enumerated a couple priorities that you're really trying to elevate right away in your time.
Under your leadership, what are your early priorities for the Nebraska State Chamber?
I tell people, and you can look this up, it's public information, but we've got about $70,000 in our PAC right now.
To really make the impact that we need to make and elect pro-business candidates statewide, we should be up between four and $500,000.
Those can be tough asks and gives for many businesses, but If they were able to see on the ground the legislation we're able to get passed because we have pro-business candidates in the legislature, it's enormous.
A lot of the policy that we're gonna try to pass over the next many years are won and lost in November, the year before.
And so we really think that we need to play a more robust role in the 49 state senator elections in the state.
Secondly, and this is related to PAC, we need to be a little more aggressive in the lobby and with our public policy.
We do, we just maybe don't, we're not, at least at the state chamber, haven't been as aggressive as we should be, I think in years past.
That's no reflection on any one person or the board of directors or anyone, we just, We can have the confidence to go into the lobby every session and say, this is the agenda we want to get passed.
Joseph, before we jump into maybe some more specific topics, why this job? Why you as the leader? Why is now the right time? What motivates you to do this?
Yeah, you know, throughout my years in economic development especially, you really notice how much of an impact you can make.
And Michaela and I have always loved this state dearly, and it was hard to leave.
But you can see on a day-to-day basis the impact that you're making on the business community, which obviously drives the economy in Nebraska and does a lot of good for the citizens of the state.
Well, Joseph, you were able to come and talk with our board here not all that long ago.
And you enumerated a couple priorities that you're really trying to elevate right away in your time.
Under your leadership, what are your early priorities for the Nebraska State Chamber?
I tell people, and you can look this up, it's public information, but we've got about $70,000 in our PAC right now.
To really make the impact that we need to make and elect pro-business candidates statewide, we should be up between four and $500,000.
Those can be tough asks and gives for many businesses, but If they were able to see on the ground the legislation we're able to get passed because we have pro-business candidates in the legislature, it's enormous.
A lot of the policy that we're gonna try to pass over the next many years are won and lost in November, the year before.
And so we really think that we need to play a more robust role in the 49 state senator elections in the state.
Secondly, and this is related to PAC, we need to be a little more aggressive in the lobby and with our public policy.
We do, we just maybe don't, we're not, at least at the state chamber, haven't been as aggressive as we should be, I think in years past.
That's no reflection on any one person or the board of directors or anyone, we just, We can have the confidence to go into the lobby every session and say, this is the agenda we want to get passed.
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