Company: NEI Global Relocation
Company Description: NEI Global Relocation, a Nationally Certified Women's Business Enterprise, is one of the leading relocation and assignment management companies in the world. We support the needs of our clients by providing expert advice, minimizing related costs and maximizing services.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Lifetime Achievement – Business

Nomination Title: Kate Dodge: A Lifetime of Achievements

Describe for the judges the nominated individual's lifetime of accomplishments (up to 525 words):

Kate Dodge has had two distinct but complementary careers – 17 years as a school psychologist evaluating children and 29 years growing a successful relocation management company.

Today, NEI Global Relocation, a nationally certified Women’s Business Enterprise, relocates over 13,500 families annually for its 170 plus multi-national corporate clients, including 21 Fortune 500 and 34 Fortune 1000 companies provides them with a total diversity first-tier spend of over $663,000,000!

Eighty-three percent of NEI’s over 330 employees are women and in addition to Kate as President, its CEO, CFO, Senior Vice Presidents of Domestic and International Relocation, Sales and Marketing, Vice President of Database Management and Director, Talent Development are also all women.
Kate believes in mentoring individuals to develop their skills and grow both personally and professionally and promoting from within which has resulted in NEI being named Best Place to Work in Omaha by Quantum Workplace and the Best Place to Work for the Advancement of Women by the Institute for Career Advancement Needs (ICAN).

Kate is spearheading NEI’s Sustainability initiative which has resulted in great strides toward reaching the company’s goal of going paperless, reducing its carbon footprint and selecting partners with similar goals and initiatives.

NEI supports industry involvement and community involvement for its leaders. Kate has been a member of Worldwide Employee Relocation Council since 1986 and earned its Senior Certified Relocation Professional designation, received its Meritorious Service Award, served on its Industry Advisory Council and is a speaker at domestic and global industry conferences.

Social responsibility of the company is a key value at NEI. In addition to contributing at least 5% percent of before tax annual profits back to the community, Kate champions community involvement for herself and NEI’s employees. In 2013 NEI’s Omaha based employees volunteered approximately 5,500 hours of their time to community not-for-profits, supporting nearly 250 organizations.

Kate’s current community involvement includes:

--College of St. Mary’s Vice Chair of its Board of Directors,
--Omaha Business Ethics Alliance Governing Board and Board of Trustees,
--Nebraska Cultural Endowment Board,
--Methodist Health Systems Board,
--United Way of the Midlands Foundation Board,
--Advisory Board of Rebuild Together,
--The University of Nebraska’s Chancellor’s Advisory Committee,
--The National Board of Trustees for Boys Town,
--Omaha Public Library Advisory Council,
--Nebraska Methodist College Board of Directors.

Kate is currently beginning an additional leadership role as Co-Chair of a newly formed Strategy and Development Task Force of the United Way of the Midlands.

Four years ago as Honorary Chair of the Go Red for Women Omaha Campaign for the American Red Cross Kate inaugurated a Circle of Red for donors who commit to an annual contribution of over $500.00 to the American Heart Association. In its first year, this Circle was the largest in in the country in both volume and number of dollars raised – to date the group has raised $183,000.

Kate has served on numerous not-for-profit boards over her years in business and is the past president of the:

--Nebraska Food Bank Network,
--United Way of the Midlands,
--United Way of the Midlands Foundation,
--Omaha Public Library Foundation,
--Uta Halee Girls Village,
--Methodist Hospital Foundation boards.

Upload a collection of supporting files and web addresses to our server to provide more background information to the judges. You may upload any number of attachments and URLs through the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above. (Do NOT list your URLs below.)

Provide a brief biography of the nominated individual (up to 125 words):

A native of Massachusetts, Kate attended Mount Holyoke College, graduated from Trinity University. She completed her graduate work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and practiced as a school psychologist in a four county area of Eastern Nebraska before joining National Equity, Inc. (NEI) in 1985.

The following are some of the awards which Kate has received in recognition of her accomplishments:

--WBE Magazine Women Who Rock 2014;
--Silver Stevie® Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013,
--Omaha Business Hall of Fame,
--YWCA Women of Distinction Entrepreneur Award,
--University of Nebraska at Omaha Distinguished Alumnae Award,
--Honorary Member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society,
--Woman of Distinction by the Midlands Business Journal,
--Meritorious Service Award, WERC.