Nebraska business leader Bryan Slone to leave state chamber post • Nebraska Examiner

But Slone, 67, said he is far from ready to retire and will pursue other possibilities in Nebraska, where he grew up and graduated college. He said he has not made a decision on his next step, but his options include work in the private sector and politics. He wouldn’t specify any office.

“Everything is on the table,” he said.

Slone was a finalist for the University of Nebraska presidency that went to Dr. Jeffrey Gold in March.

In 2014, he was a Republican candidate for governor of Nebraska and, in 2023, after re-registering as a nonpartisan, was among applicants for Gov. Jim Pillen’s appointment process to replace former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who had resigned to lead the University of Florida.

Unafraid of controversy

Slone said the end of the legislative session is a good time to make a transition, as a “dynamic young leadership team” is in place and changes his team initiated are in motion.

He said his goal coming into the office was to stay five or seven years. As he approaches the seven-year mark, he said, he is proud of having led the chamber in being “effective” lobbying for what he called complex and sometimes controversial issues including tax policies, the workforce shortage, the push for Nebraska to become a “technology state” and making the state a more welcoming place for the foreign-born.

“We’ve not been afraid to be an advocate for economic growth, even when the issues were controversial, and I think we’ve made a difference,” Slone said.

He said he wants to remain active in areas such as workforce development, reducing brain drain, housing and child care development.

Slone often raised alarms over the state’s number of unfilled jobs, saying it had reached about 80,000. He said Tuesday that some “progress has been made – but not for the right reasons.”

Today the number of unfilled jobs in Nebraska is closer to 50,000, Slone said.

“That’s because federal policymakers intentionally slowed down the economy to try to fight inflation by raising interest rates,” he said. “And so most of what I’m seeing in terms of lowering that number relates to slowing down the economy, primarily from interest rates.”

Slone projects the number of unfilled jobs to rise as interest rates fall.

Recruitment gap

Asked whether the state is making progress in attracting talent, Slone said: “Not anywhere close to the extent we need.”

He pledged continued support for immigration reform. “Once we get legal immigration reform at the federal level,” he said, Nebraska would have to figure out ways to better incorporate newcomers to grow the state’s workforce.

Slone said he’s healthy and active. “I’m not anywhere near close to wanting to stop.”