The award may have been announced in March, but the victory tour continues through 2019.

For the third consecutive year, Nebraska was awarded the Governor’s Cup by Site Selection magazine, representing the state with the most economic development projects per capita. Governor Pete Ricketts and members of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development kicked off a Governor’s Cup tour on Tuesday, July 9 that will visit facilities, expansions and numerous businesses across Nebraska, with stops in Lincoln, Omaha, Bloomfield, Norfolk, Columbus, Minden and Sidney.

At Tuesday’s Lincoln events, Governor Ricketts toured Nelnet and ALLO’s facilities in the Telegraph District in addition to GeneSeek’s expanding facility near 48th and Cornhusker Highway. Both companies have made substantial investment in not only hiring more employees but also to improve and expand their Lincoln facilities. In total, Nelnet, ALLO and GeneSeek were among the 118 expansion projects throughout Nebraska in 2018.

Governor Ricketts touted the achievements of businesses in the state by noting that the biggest strength continues to be the talented workers of Nebraska.

“Nebraska’s greatest resource continues to be our hard-working, dependable people. Companies come to our state because they know they’re getting the best of the best when it comes to our workforce.”

Since it’s acquisition by Michigan-based Neogen in 2010, GeneSeek continues to grow in its number of employees and its physical presence in Lincoln. Currently operating from a 30,000-square-foot building, GeneSeek will expand later in 2019 with an adjacent 19,000-square-foot building. In 2010, GeneSeek had a mere 32 employees—currently, the company has 183 employees and has plans to add even more in the near future.

“The state, through it’s various programs, has been a great help to us so we like to say we chose Nebraska and we chose Lincoln by choice, rather than by chance,” says Jim Herbert, executive chairman of Neogen.

Nelnet has had a similar success story in Lincoln, as the company has added over 1,000 employees in the past two years alone and now has nearly 3,500 employees in Nebraska. The growth in employees coupled with the investment of over $440 million in capital projects in Nebraska since 2010 according to CEO Jeff Noordhoek, means that the company continues to succeed in the city and state and remains a proud investor in Nebraska and its people.

“It’s such a great place to do business in so many ways. The state has always been a great partner for growth,” according to Noordhoek.

“Many in our company have roots in Nebraska and we’ve continued to grow as an international organization, and we want to say thank you.”

Governor Ricketts noted that Nebraska had more projects combined than South Dakota, North Dakota and Kansas. Could a four-peat be in the works for 2019? The governor and others around the state certainly think so and remain optimistic about continuing Lincoln and Nebraska’s success.