The Southeast Community
College Board of Governors, during a special meeting Jan. 21 in York,
unanimously appointed Tim Cerveny of Wilber to fill the vacant at-large seat on
the Board.
Board members Bob Feit and Ed
Price were absent from the meeting.
Cerveny, who graduated from
SCC in December 1991 with a degree in Electromechanical Technology, will be
sworn in during the Board’s Feb. 18 meeting in Lincoln. His term ends in mid-January
2021. The Board’s at-large seat was vacated last November upon the death of Steven
Ottmann.
“I saw this as a new
opportunity to give back,” Cerveny told the Board during his open-meeting
interview. “This looks like something I’d like to do.”
Cerveny was one of four
candidates selected for interviews from a pool of 31 applicants. Other
finalists interviewed were Jeanne Stec of Crete, Chad Aldrich of Wahoo and
Keith Muller of Wilber. Each of the four finalists was asked the same seven
questions by Board Chairperson Nancy Seim. After interviews were completed the
Board deliberated before voting 8-0 in favor of Cerveny.
Cerveny, manager of resources
and transmission at NMPP Energy in Lincoln, grew up on a farm outside of
Clatonia and worked as a welder in high school. He secured a job with Nebraska
Public Power District before graduating from SCC. During his 13 years at NPPD,
Cerveny held a management position, was involved in the building of a Beatrice
power station, and then took a non-management position with the company. He
began working at NMPP Energy in June 2016.
Cerveny earned a bachelor’s
degree in management from Bellevue University in 2013.
“I’m not an accountant, but I
have worked with large budgets and understand how to fund projects,” Cerveny
said. “I am familiar with SCC’s campuses and some of Milford’s instructional
staff.”
Cerveny will take the oath of office on Feb. 18, 2020.