Omaha philanthropist Mike Yanney was one of four business leaders named to the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame last week.
A native of Kearney, Neb., Yanney is founder of America First Companies, now called Burlington Capital Group, and chairman of Building Healthy Futures, a non-profit organization that works to improve educational outcomes for children in poverty in Douglas and Sarpy counties. His wife, Gail Walling Yanney, M.D., is a retired anesthesiologist and alum of the UNMC College of Medicine.
Mentoring legacy honored
Sen. Ben Sasse will present Michael Yanney with a 2015 Excellence in Mentoring Award from MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership during a dinner at the Library of Congress Wednesday.
Yanney was one of the primary backers of the Midlands Mentoring Partnership. He and his wife also founded an afterschool mentoring program, All Our Kids, which merged with another group and now operates as Partnership 4 Kids.
The Yanneys are longtime supporters of UNMC. In addition to their co-chairmanship of the campus’ $500 million portion of the Campaign for Nebraska, Mike Yanney has tirelessly led efforts to raise private funds for the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center. The Yanneys also were among the principal donors for the Harold M. and Beverly Maurer Center for Public Health at UNMC.
Joining Yanney as inductees will be JoAnn Martin, chairman, president and CEO of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. and president and CEO of Ameritas Mutual Holding Company; Earl May, founder of Earl May Seed and Nursery Co.; and Richard Reinke, founder of Reinke Manufacturing Co.
The induction ceremony will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 5 at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel in Lincoln.
Well deserved honor for Mike Yanney. Through his work in the community, he has made a difference for a lot of youth in the Omaha area.