Heath Mello

Chair, Board of Directors

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Heath Mello, a former state senator and higher education executive, began his role as the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce President & CEO in August 2023.

Mello brings more than 20 years of public policy, communications, marketing,
fundraising, and community relations in the nonprofit and higher education industry.
As President & CEO, Mello is responsible for the overall day-to-day management of the Greater Omaha Chamber, with a focus on economic development, public policy,
workforce and community partnerships across an eight-county service region.
Mello currently serves as a gubernatorial appointee to the Nebraska Highway
Commission and also serves as a member of the U.S. Strategic Command Consultation Committee and the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Nebraska Advisory Committee.

Mello also serves on numerous boards including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Committee of 100, Business Ethics Alliance, Heartland Workforce Solutions, Nebraska World Affairs Council, and Aksarben Foundation Board of Councilors.
Mello has served prior as a gubernatorial appointee to the Midwest Higher Education Compact, on the Board of Directors of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and as a presidential appointee on the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission.

For eight years, Mello served as a Nebraska State Senator representing South Omaha and spent four years as chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. While in the Legislature, Mello also served on the Nebraska Retirement Systems Committee, the Legislature’s Planning Committee, Legislative Performance Audit Committee and a number of select committees and task forces. Mello is the past co-chair of the Economic Development Committee for the Council of State Governments Midwestern Legislative Conference.

Prior to his time at the Greater Omaha Chamber, Mello previously served as the University of Nebraska System Vice President for External Relations, a nonprofit executive, and in various community affairs roles with Metropolitan Community College in Omaha.

An Omaha native, Mello earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.