“Omaha? Why the heck would I want to go to Omaha?” That was Jay Prestipino’s unvarnished response when a colleague sought to recruit him to Nebraska from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. “My assumption was that Nebraska was flat with nothing but cornfields,” Jay recalls.
“Just come up,” his friend suggested. “I think you’ll really like it. It’s a lot different than you think it is.”
Jay begrudgingly accepted the offer to visit, and, sure enough, was intrigued by what he saw. A good mix of restaurants, first-rate museums, great healthcare—Omaha had all that he was looking for, minus the traffic and crowds of the DFW metroplex. “Omaha has very similar amenities to Dallas/Ft. Worth without all the people,” Jay says. “World-class services are a given here.” Liking the area, and the career opportunity with First Interstate Bank, Jay decided to relocate to Nebraska in the spring of 2022.
It took some salesmanship to convince his wife, Bella, to make the move. “Initially, she was apprehensive about coming here because it meant moving away from everything she had known,” said Jay. Yet, Mrs. Prestipino’s impressions of Omaha mirrored Jay’s own. She found the city to be much prettier than she had imagined, with plenty of hills. In fact, the Prestipinos located a property in the Pacific Springs neighborhood on a hilltop with a fantastic view of the surrounding area. Finding a house was only part of Omaha becoming home for the couple. “Neighbors came out to talk with us as soon as we moved in,” said Jay. “They were friendly from the start. My wife spends time with several of our neighbors; it’s like nothing even changed for her with the move [in terms of being connected to a vibrant social circle].”
Two years after Jay and his wife moved to Omaha, a massive tornado tore through Elkhorn, a community on the western edge of Omaha. The storm was awful, but Jay found Omaha’s response the day after the storm to be even more awe inspiring.
“My wife and I got up that morning and went to help out,” Jay recounts. “We figured there may be a few hundred people there. When we got to the Relevant venue—near 204th and Maple St.—there were probably 2,500 people already there with more cars streaming in.”
Jay was astounded by the outpouring of support. “If I was wondering why I live in Nebraska, that answered my question. The people came from everywhere to help. I don’t want to give the impression that the community wouldn’t have responded to something like that in Dallas/Fort Worth. But the scale on which it happened in Elkhorn was utterly amazing.”
The civic-mindedness Jay witnessed in the wake of the tornado, he has also seen in Omaha’s philanthropic culture. “Omaha has a lot of wealth on a per-capita basis,” he says. Yet what stands out, “is not just that there is wealth, but that the wealth is given back to the community.” Jay and his team at First Interstate Bank actively display this giving spirit. On June 13, 2024, the Greater Omaha Chamber honored them with a Business Excellence Award for the bank’s ongoing philanthropic efforts.
When asked how he would promote Omaha as a destination for other business leaders, Jay emphasized the importance of firsthand experience—recalling how his initial visit to Omaha changed his perspective of the city.
“A simple word for Omaha is ‘welcoming.’ It’s a different atmosphere, a nice atmosphere. Set aside your preconceptions and come see it. That’s the message to deliver. Come and see what’s real.”