Tamsen Butler—Contributing Writer
A military veteran and California native, Butler is the award-winning author of five nonfiction books. She works as a copywriter for Oriental Trading Company, writes freelance on the side, and teaches fitness classes in the little spare time she has. She’s a certified personal trainer, certified fitness nutrition specialist, and a group fitness instructor. Currently she teaches indoor cycle classes at Papillion Landing. Butler is an active advocate for stroke survivors and heart health, having survived a massive stroke in 2015. She’s also a mom to two ridiculously clever and talented teenagers.
Ed Cochran—Director of Sales
Originally from Chicago, Cochran’s experience includes time with Allstate Insurance, American Express, and IBM. He is also the founder of “Leadership RocketFuel,” a consulting firm focused on leadership, sales growth, and resilience, and is a proud recipient of a key to the city of Savannah, Georgia. Cochran is active in community organizations. He currently serves on the board of Nebraska Children’s Home Society and is a former president and CEO of the Urban League of Nebraska. Cochran’s passions also span academia, where he is a faculty member of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and has appeared as a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School. In his spare time, Cochran enjoys salsa dancing and can be found anywhere he can hit a golf ball.
Jeff Lacey—Contributing Writer
Lacey has lived most of his life in Omaha and has been a secondary school teacher for 20 years, having taught everything from seventh grade English to 12th grade AP English. Currently, he teaches American literature, creative writing, AP literature, and AP composition at Ralston High School. He believes one should ‘practice what you preach’ as far as writing goes, so he has been freelancing since 2019. Besides being a teacher, Lacey is also a certified Nebraska Master Naturalist and enjoys supervising the writing hike program at Fontenelle Forest. Lacey earned a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, an M.Ed. from the University of Arizona, and has a master’s degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Lisa Lukecart—Contributing Writer
It started when Lukecart drove to work at 3 a.m. In the grand scheme of things, who cared if some bigwig in California’s e-mail server was down? As snow drifted down on her windshield that cold January day, Lukecart decided to change careers from a software engineer to a teacher. She wanted to make a difference. Lukecart has taught at Millard West for the past 12 years, eight of those as the journalism adviser. She started with four newspaper staff members and transformed it into a prestigious program. That “Fab-4” launched the school’s first online paper and weekly broadcast. The Pawprint became the top paper in the state. After winning a second state championship and numerous national awards, Lukecart was removed that same year after advocating alongside her students for a free press. She now teaches English 9 and 11 and still reminds students to leave a legacy. She thanks her “legacies,” her mentor Karen Palmer, and her dog, Izzy, for making her a better educator and person.
This article first appeared in the October 2020 issue of Omaha Magazine. Click here to subscribe to the print edition.
