NORFOLK, NE - Northeast Community College has honored three individuals for career success and achievement following graduation from the institution.
Daniel Geary, Norfolk, Lisa Guill, Lincoln, and Randy Noecker, Hartington, were inducted into Northeast’s Alumni Hall of Success during a reception and ceremony recently at the Lifelong Learning Center on the Norfolk campus. The Hall of Success recognition is awarded to individuals for achieving significant professional success, exhibiting exemplary citizenship qualities or making significant contributions to their communities and/or community affairs.
Awards were presented by Dr. Michael Chipps, president of Northeast, and Dr. Tracy Kruse, associate vice president of development and external affairs.
Originally from Craig, Geary is a 1974 graduate of Northeast, then Northeast Nebraska Technical College, where he studied electronics. He is the owner, president and project manager of DEG Enterprises, Inc., a Norfolk construction company that installs navigational aids on airports throughout the United States. Geary’s first airport job, when he was in business as Geary Electric Company, was in 1979 at Karl Stefan Field in Norfolk. Presently, DEG Enterprises has projects in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Aberdeen, SD.
Geary has also served on the Norfolk Airport Authority for 30 years and was recently presented a Certificate of Award from the City of Norfolk airport manager and Norfolk Airport Authority for his service. He also serves as an executive board member, and has previously served as president, of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America - Aviation Division. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 1990 by the Nebraska Center for productivity and Entrepreneurship.
Geary has also worked extensively to revitalize Norfolk’s downtown area. With his wife, Connie, they have remodeled and updated various downtown buildings that now house a number of businesses.
In her nomination letter, Geary’s sister-in-law, Marcia Field, praised her brother-in-law’s vision and perseverance.
“Dan has always been the person who sets out to do the extraordinary, the challenging and the unique things in life, and follows through with them. He is an endless worker, advisor, helper, mentor and encourager to business associates, his children and other young people starting out in business as he shares the knowledge of a lifetimes and of learned skill and experience.”
In accepting his Alumni Hall of Success recognition, Geary encouraged Northeast students to take every opportunity, however small, that comes their way. As a student at Northeast, Geary said he helped a repair technician fix a copier in the Maclay Building and also volunteered to wire a house.
“If you get an opportunity, take it,” he said. “God has given you talents, and I believe that God gives you the opportunities, so take them. I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of secrets other than that. Just take the opportunities that come your way.”
The Geary’s have five adult children, Aaron Geary, Abe Geary, Cari Mittelstaedt, Chris Cash, and Danielle Kubes.
A native of Norfolk, Guill graduated from Northeast, then Northeast Technical Community College, in 1981 with an Associate of Arts degree in broadcasting. She is currently vice president of broadcast technology for Gray Television, where she supervises the Gray Graphics hub and oversees the acquisition, installation and implementation of automation, weather and graphics systems and technology throughout the country.
Guill began her broadcasting career in 1981 shortly after her graduation from Northeast, where she served as a production assistant at KHGI in Kearney. She then spent several years as a director/producer at KETV in Omaha. Between 1998 and 2008, she held various management positions at KOLN/KGIN in Lincoln, initially in production and operations management and later as general manager. Gray promoted her to her current position in 2013. Guill was also briefly employed by the Child Advocacy Center in Lincoln, where she secured a $1 million donation for a much-needed addition to their facility.
Guill was nominated for the Hall of Success by Jason Effinger, chief digital and technology officer for Gray, who said Guill is “an impressive broadcast executive and a compassionate humanitarian.”
“She has been integral to the outstanding success of Gray Television as she helps guide all broadcast and advanced internet technology for our company. In addition, she is Gray Television’s pivot-point for large company projects, such as construction of new stations, as well as renovation of existing facilities. Her impact not only affects stations in every market in Nebraska from border to border but also across the country.”
At the ceremony, Guill said in high school that she had planned to study at another college to become a photographer or journalist, but a tour of Northeast changed her mind.
“I walked right past the broadcasting program. And I saw the radio board, and I saw a couple of cameras, and the truth of it is, I changed my decision on my college at that moment, and I came to Northeast. And little did I know how that was going to impact my life and my career.”
Guill was joined at the ceremony by her mother, Gwen, and a number of family members and colleagues.
Noecker earned an Associate of Applied Science degree in electrical construction and control (residential-commercial) from Northeast in 1990. He entered into employment with Interstates Companies as an apprentice electrician immediately upon graduating from Northeast and continues to be employed with Interstates today.
During his 26 years with Interstates, Noecker has advanced from an electrical apprentice, to journeyman, to foreman with master electrician status, to superintendent, into his current position as project manager.
Noecker helped with the rapid expansion of the ethanol industry and has been instrumental in creating economic advantages for communities and companies such as Cargill, AGP, Iams, Pfizer and others. He is also a member of the Electrical Construction and Control program advisory board at Northeast.
In his Alumni Hall of Success nomination letter, Dan Frohberg, electrical construction and control instructor at Northeast, noted Noecker’s dedication, leadership and service.
“Randy’s record of achievement, service to the profession and support of education is immense. He was an excellent student-scholar, as well as a person of tremendous character with strong leadership skills as demonstrated in his involvement with campus activities such as intermural sports and campus clubs. As if his record of achievement is not enough, Randy’s record of service to the profession and to education is commendable. He is not shy to pay his success forward by offering advice or a hand to train others to be the best they can be in the field. “
In accepting his Alumni Hall of Success honor, Noecker said he was “a little less than sure” what he wanted to study after high school.
“I came down to Northeast on the day that I thought they were registering the general courses, but they were registering electrical. So I thought, ‘Well, let’s just do that.’ And it changed my life.”
Noecker also thanked Interstates Companies for giving him a career opportunity as a young graduate.
“It is all about the opportunities we get when we graduate from here. Companies want to hire the students that come from Northeast. We can’t live without it, as a company. I can’t say enough about encouraging our kids in high school to come to Northeast, to come to any technical program. The jobs are here. Come get them.”
Noecker and his wife, Donna, have three children: Wes, Cole and Laney.
Geary, Guill and Noecker join nearly 240 other Northeast alumni who have been inducted into the Alumni Hall of Success.
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PHOTO IDs: Randy Noecker, Lisa Guill and Dan Geary. (Courtesy Northeast Community College)