Rural/Metro Ambulance finds niche serving care facilities
by Richard D. Brown

Rural/Metro Ambulance, a national patient transportation firm that transports more than 1.3 million persons in 400 communities in 24 states, credits its growth in the Omaha market over the past 26 years to maintaining several partnerships with a wide variety of health care facilities.
“We serve predominantly skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and our revenues increased by five percent last year but that comes at a time industry wide when reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid are getting tighter,” said Division General Manager Michael W. Stuhr.
Stuhr, a native of Grand Island who came to Omaha in 1987, has seen the local operation grow from two ambulances and one wheel-chair van to a fleet of 50 vehicles. He moved through the management ranks from market general manager to achieve his current position in 2001.
Rural/Metro Ambulance’s local operation has 60 employees, most of who work out of the firm’s 18,000-square-foot office and service facility at 5921 F St. in a former restaurant building which was remodeled two years ago to accommodate the ambulance business. Previously the firm was located in central Omaha near 44th and Izard streets.


J.P. Cooke evolves as national company over 125 years, invests in e-commerce
by Michelle Leach

Back in 1887, Chicagoan brothers, John P. Cooke and James Cooke, seized upon opportunities in the packinghouses and with the railroads in Omaha to start J.P. Cooke Co. and, in a case of “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” the manufacturer and supplier of, among other items, pre-inked rubber stamps, remains in the family. But, in a nod to the “change,” is now a nationwide firm with a national sales force and significant investments in e-commerce.
“Our products are constantly evolving and changing,” said President John L. Cooke, who with brother Warren Cooke represents the third-generation of leadership. “Long ago we stopped being just a ‘rubber stamp’ shop.”
The business headquartered out of 1311 Harney St. also makes and supplies daters, desk nameplates, wall plates and signs, name badges, embossing seals, inks, cast bronze plaques, custom-stamped metal tags and sublimated badges. This is a far cry from when Cooke recalled his ancestors’ patent to produce the Cooke Time Stamp in the 1890s.


Bellevue’s Northrop Grumman adapts to federal cutbacks, re-prioritization needs
by Richard D. Brown

Bellevue’s Northrop Grumman branch, about 500 employees strong, is emerging from a companywide realignment directed out of its Falls Church, Va., headquarters with a more focused role for projects related to cyberspace issues and work being done for the federal departments of homeland security, defense and energy, among others.
“There’s more attention being paid to issues such as affordability and performance in evaluating the work of contractors such as us,” said Robert Hinson, corporate lead executive for the Nebraska region.
Hinson, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who came to Northrop Grumman’s Bellevue location in 2003, said while the handful of major projects Bellevue staffers work on may involve from 20 to 25 employees or up to 100 in the case of the needs of the Air Force Weather Agency located at Offutt, many of the competitively bid contracts extend up to five and even six years.



Change in security regulations signals potential boon for Central Data Storage
by Dwain Hebda

New regulations for physician offices currently being finalized in Washington could mean significant sales opportunity for Central Data Storage’s encryption, compression backup and retrieval products and services. The new standards will provide guidelines for doctors, dentists and other health care professionals in the manner they protect patient records, a market CDS of Lincoln has targeted since its founding four years ago.

Advance Design & Construction targets more commercial work, custom projects
by Megan E. Holt

Omaha’s Advance Design & Construction, run by President Steve Taft and Vice President Pat Knobbe, is a complete drafting and design-build company specializing in custom homes, and commercial and residential projects.

UNeMed’s Dixon works to bring new health care advances to marketplace
by Barbie Mully

Michael Dixon is president and CEO of UNeMed Corp., the tech transfer arm of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The entity promotes innovation and advances research and health care for the economic benefit of the university. Under Dixon’s leadership, UNeMed has increased the annual number of inventions and licenses three times previous numbers, while increasing yearly revenue tenfold.

More breakfast restaurants entering Omaha area market to meet demand
by Lori McGinnis Black

Going out to eat is increasingly happening in the morning. The growing number of breakfast restaurants is a trend in Omaha and across the United States, said Cindi Cisar, vice president and director of retail at Colliers International.

Variety of plants, landscaping services draw clients to Canoyer Garden Center
by Lee Nelson

Offering a variety of goods and services year round attracts more than 18,000 customers annually at the Canoyer Garden Center in Papillion. The family-run business since 1986, with another location in Griswold, Iowa, gives patrons a full-service garden center with add-ons such as a rewards program, a landscaping department with an in-house designer, a gift shop, hundreds of varieties of annuals and perennials plus a new lawn care department.

Omaha Business Hall of Fame recognizes eight business leaders
by Tiffany Gann

Eight business leaders were inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame April 24 at the Holland Performing Arts Center during a gala hosted by the Greater Omaha Chamber. The 2012 inductees were Michael G. Fahey; Paul and Lori Hogan, Home Instead Senior Care; Robert Gregg “Bob” Hoig, Midlands Business Journal; Jun and Ree Kaneko, Kaneko; Linda Hoeppner Lovgren, Lovgren Marketing Group and D.J. Witherspoon (1912-2000), Pamida..