OUR TEAM

Mike was born and raised here in Lincoln. He graduated with a degree in Finance from the University of Nebraska in 1999, and in 2003 earned his M.B.A. from Creighton University in Omaha. While working in the insurance industry, he discovered that his love of building things extended to software development and never looked back.

Mike has developed applications across several different platforms in the insurance, financial, and medical industries.

Living in Lincoln with his wife and three children, Mike enjoys gardening and home improvement projects.

Branden (known as “Beebs” around the office) had the unique opportunity of testing the waters as a Don’t Panic Labs intern in 2011 while working toward his Computer Science degree at UNL.

Don’t Panic Labs’ passion for building quality software and company culture is why he stuck around. He enjoys collaborating to find the best solution and is quick to pick someone’s brain.

In his spare time, Branden enjoys cycling, bird photography, and tinkering with electronics. He will talk your ear off about anything related to solar energy or electric vehicles – you’ve been warned.

Jamie was raised in Norfolk, Nebraska, and moved to Lincoln to attend the University of Nebraska.

She has worked in different roles, including Business Analyst, Product Owner, and Product Manager. Jamie enjoys collaborating, planning, and navigating challenges to help ensure projects are successful.

Outside of the office, Jamie and her husband enjoy traveling and spending time with family and friends. They especially enjoy outdoor activities like camping and fishing.

After spending the last six-ish years in web design, Olivia has switched to UI/UX Design. She loves the creative aspect of product design paired with the ability to creatively anticipate the user’s needs.

When she’s not glued to the computer, she’s spending time with her husband Tyler, stepson Anders, and her two dogs: a Dachshund named Miller and Great Dane (indoor pony, we say) named Todd. You can also find her at the gym teaching cycling and working out, or playing volleyball.

Fun fact about Olivia, she is a Polydactyly, meaning she has an extra toe on one foot!

A proud native Lincolnite through and through, Steve found his way to Don’t Panic Labs as a college intern while at UNL and has been somewhere in the team’s general orbit ever since. He’s currently a utility swingman of sorts, dipping his toes in everything from implementing and maintaining internal systems and tools to project management, grant writing, ongoing client support, and more.

Outside of Don’t Panic Labs, Steve is heavily invested in Lincoln-area middle- and high-school students, serving as a high school soccer and debate coach and volunteering with several youth development and mentoring organizations. In his spare time (the little he has), you can find him running on Lincoln’s many wonderful trails, playing soccer wherever it’s found, geeking out over anything data-related, and at any concert he can find a cheap ticket to.

Ryan is a former electrician-turned-software engineer. After deciding to make a career change in 2015, he began to pursue a bachelor’s degree. He decided to take Computer Science 1 at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and was hooked. He interned at Don’t Panic Labs during his senior year and joined the team in 2020.

Ryan loves working with the talented people at Don’t Panic Labs to create robust software solutions for their clients and partners.

In his free time, Ryan enjoys reading, watching movies, listing to and playing music, playing video games and board games, and hanging out with friends and family.

Shana might be the first friendly face you see when you arrive at Don’t Panic Labs. She supports the whole team to make our work environment the happy place that it is. She coordinates all our company events throughout the year and assists with marketing, visitors, and tours. She tries to remember all the birthdays, regularly feeds us, and is likely behind any sort of goofy mischief going down. She reads fiction but is picky, and watches English tv programmes that often have a murder and a vicar, in the countryside (bonus points if there is a dog.)

Shana and Doug have three great kids that they are very proud of, and also Ginger, one of the dogs that enjoys working at Don’t Panic Labs.

Chris is the Don’t Panic Labs software quality assurance engineer. He supports multiple software applications ranging from desktop to mobile. He ensures the team releases quality software before it is deployed to the public through automation and manual testing on multiple devices and browsers.

When he is not traveling with his wife he calls Lincoln home.

Born and raised in Lincoln, Andre’s roots in the Cornhusker state run deep. After completing his studies at the Raikes School at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he swiftly embarked on a career in software development, ultimately joining Don’t Panic Labs two years later.

Andre is passionate about creating exceptional products that have a positive impact on people’s lives.

Andre loves spending time at home with his partner Anna and their pets – two cats and a dog. Together, they enjoy exploring their Mexican and Korean heritages through cooking, savoring the flavors of their cultural roots in every bite. Andre is an avid supporter of Sporting Kansas City, sharing his passion with his older brother. Growing up with five siblings, Andre has always cherished connecting with his sister and four brothers over video games, music, and sports.

Russ loves the power of stories. He enjoys helping others tell their stories because he believes that everybody has one. That is why you’ll find him writing, photographing, or shooting videos around Don’t Panic Labs.

At home, he can be found creating new beers in his basement brewery. Recipe ideas from the Don’t Panic Labs team are always entertained, and he admits to writing way more recipes than he brews.

He lives in Lincoln with his wife, two daughters, and Rosey the family Danoodle.

Kameron is a Software Engineer born and raised in South Lincoln. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and was a member of the first cohort of the Software Engineering major. He has been drawn to computers and software since he first played Halo at the age of 5. In high school, he gravitated toward the computer programming classes offered at his high school.

Kameron found Don’t Panic Labs after a year and a half in the industry. He likes the commitment the team has to the practice of software engineering and its commitment to educating the Nebraska software community.

Outside of the office, you will find Kameron spending time with his dog and cat, playing video games, riding his bike, skiing, snowboarding, or playing ultimate frisbee.

Jered is a systems engineer who loves to uncover win-win paths to success. He has broad experience learning customer business models, co-creating attainable project goals, managing products and projects, and leading development teams. He draws from this wide range of experience as a Project Integrator for Don’t Panic Labs.

Outside of the office, Jered spends most of his time with his family. He enjoys cooking and outdoor activities like disc golf, hiking, camping, and fishing. He also sneaks in video games as time allows. Jered is a lifelong Nebraska resident.

Ceren graduated from UNL with a degree in Computer Science. She became interested in technology as she grew up watching her dad program embedded systems at home. What really excites her about building software is the idea of solving problems and impacting people’s lives.

In her free time, Ceren enjoys jigsaw puzzles, yoga, and making pottery. She is also an avid reader and a movie enthusiast.

Sarah has a passion for learning new things and loves the ability to move between different technologies and projects at Don’t Panic Labs. Outside of work, she likes to keep learning by studying German. According to an internet test, she has almost B1 proficiency.

Sarah has spent most of her life in Nebraska. She graduated from the Raikes program in 2019 and graduated from UNL with a degree in computer science one year later. She had an opportunity to intern at Don’t Panic Labs in her final year of school before transitioning to full time.

Sarah spends her downtime cooking, reading, and playing video games.

Rebecca has a holistic background in business, with experience in finance, human resources, client relations, and general administration. With a gift for detail, problem-solving, and connecting with others, she works her magic to manage all the “behind the scenes” details in Human Resources that keep Don’t Panic Labs moving forward.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Rebecca calls Nebraska home for the second time. She loves spending time with her husband and pets, as well as hiking, reading, and being active in her community.

Born and raised in Lincoln, Zach is an avid Husker fan, golfer, and sand volleyball player. Zach was reluctant to become a programmer, but after giving it a try he instantly became hooked and has been programming professionally since 2008.

Upon working at Don’t Panic Labs, he began to learn how to better architect software and became hooked to IDesign.
Zach enjoys traveling and hopes to see more of the world in the upcoming years.

Outside of work, you can find Zach eating at taco joints around the town. A lifetime goal of his is to compete in a steak-eating challenge.

Yan Xin graduated from UNL with a degree in Computer Science.

She likes solving problems and creating software solutions that help people with their day-to-day activities.

Outside of work, Yan Xin enjoys reading, food (both eating and making), traveling, and the outdoors.

Lori helps connect all the teams and partners together and keep projects moving on schedule. She helps keep track of and report on things so her engineers don’t have to worry about them. She enjoys the chance to explore challenges across a variety of companies and industries.

At home, she partners with her husband John as they try to keep up with their son Owen.

Her random claim to fame is that she has won 5 “Food for a Year” prizes at restaurants.

In 2000, Chad graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering. He then graduated from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln in 2003 with a Masters in Computer Science.

After college, he worked for STI, MindVision/eSellerate/DigitalRiver, and Internap before ending up at Nebraska Global / Beehive Industries / Don’t Panic Labs.

Chad is a lifelong Nebraskan. He grew up in rural Nebraska and now lives in Lincoln. Chad and his wife have a son and daughter.

Zahra graduated from NMSU with an MSc degree in Computer Science. She has always liked the idea of facing challenges and making people’s lives easier. She became interested in building software and decided to pursue it as a career.

The opportunity of active learning and finding the best solutions to problems plus the company’s culture is what really excites her about working in Don’t Panic Labs.

In her free time, Zahra likes to cook, read novels, and play board games. She is also a swimming and movie enthusiast.

Christian is an experienced full-stack developer focused on front-end frameworks. He is passionate about learning, growing, and helping others find ways to continually improve. He also contributes leadership, mentorship, and coaching to help teams work together better and grow individually in their strengths.

He graduated from Southeast Community College in Lincoln, where he studied computer programming. He experienced network administration and help desk support as part of his curriculum but realized that programming was what he enjoyed the most.

In his spare time, Christian reads a lot of books. He also runs a book club where any number of topics are covered. Outside the office, his daughter keeps him and his wife busy. New games and types of make-believe play scenarios keep them on the move.

Chase was raised in Seward, NE and attended the University of Nebraska – Lincoln for a degree in Computer Engineering. After graduating in May 2022, he started working at Don’t Panic Labs. He enjoys the hardware and software of computers and working on projects that mix the two. Since he began at Don’t Panic Labs, he has been excited to tackle real-world challenges, continue learning, and make an impact.

While away from work, Chase likes to travel to new places, try different food, bowl competitively, and hike. When Chase is home, he enjoys playing video games and is equally interested in creating them. However, much of Chase’s free time goes to his ball of energy, Mini Schnauzer, Moose, who he shares with his fiancée.

It’s the excitement and challenge of the journey that drives Everett. He sees software development as providing endless learning opportunities.

He feels lucky to have had a high school physics teacher who taught a programming class as a hobby and gave Everett his first real introduction to software development. He has been driven to learn more ever since. And he will tell you that he learns more every day.

Continual self-improvement is Everett’s goal and that extends beyond his professional career. Outside of work, he has many hobbies that rotate often as he tries and learns new things. Many of his interests involve the great outdoors, with camping and hiking as mainstays. Whenever he can, he brings his family along for new adventures.

After graduating from the University of Nebraska and Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, Anne has spent her tenure in software engineering within the Nebraska Global family of companies.

While filling a variety of roles, she has always found motivation in being able to solve problems and take care of people.

When not in the office, her boys keep her busy with a myriad of shenanigans and getting outside as much as possible. You will regularly find her family on a walk, hike, or playing in the backyard.

Andrew is constantly challenging himself to try new things, both professionally and personally. This attitude has served him well in his ten years of service in the Nebraska Army National Guard and at Don’t Panic Labs, where he has worked on mobile and web application development since 2014.

He is a proponent of open-source software, a privacy advocate, a testing evangelist, and an all-around web3 fanboy. He tries to stay current with new techs and is always looking for ways to contribute.

When he is tired of computer screens, Andrew can usually be found at home with his wife Kayla and various pets, reading, writing, gardening, and figuring out what to do next.

Christy is motivated by connecting businesses that have challenging problems to solve with innovative software engineers that believe in quality, precision, and accuracy. As an Account Manager at Don’t Panic Labs, she strives to maximize relationships and discover opportunities for projects that enable sustainable business agility. She has spent the last 20 years managing software development projects in enterprise, startup, government, academic, and non-profit environments.

Christy is a native Nebraskan who grew up in the small town of Bellevue. She currently lives and gardens with her family in Lincoln where they create pollinator habitats for the birds, bees, and butterflies.

Andy has a passion for software architecture and building software with a disciplined engineering approach. He has been working with local companies and startups for Nebraska Global and Don’t Panic Labs.

At home, he enjoys reading, cooking for his family, and getting in as many rounds of golf as he can. He enjoys volunteering as a youth basketball, baseball, and soccer coach for his kid’s teams, and is a huge fan of all things Huskers and the U.S. Soccer team.

He lives in Lincoln with his wife and three kids.

Dyllan is a North Carolina-born Software Engineer. His first exposure to computers was on his high school robotics team. He went on to study Mathematics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

He finds software engineering extremely satisfying because it enables him to tackle real-world problems using some of the tools he learned from studying Mathematics.

Dyllan naturally gravitated toward Don’t Panic Labs as he’s a huge fan of Douglas Adams and has a “Don’t Panic” tattoo! He enjoys working with open-minded people who foster a supportive, productive work environment.

When he isn’t creating software for clients, he can be found at Salt Slope Farm growing fresh veggies for his CSA members, recovering from some injury, or climbing at the local gym.

Ethan is a software developer born and raised here in Lincoln, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in May 2022, and in less than a month thereafter he began working at Don’t Panic Labs. He’s been interested in understanding how computers work since middle school, and he’s happy to finally be pursuing his passion in the professional world.

When he’s not busy writing code or sitting through meetings, you can usually find him playing video games or D&D with his friends and roommates, weightlifting at the gym, or cooking with his parents over the weekends. He also loves talking about music that he enjoys. If you’re looking for recommendations – or if you just want to hear his opinions – then please ask!

Armed with over 20 years of HCI, user interface design, visual design and development skills, Bob merges his passion for understanding people with the skills for understanding business to create products and services that transform complex interfaces into practical, user-friendly experiences for devices of all shapes and sizes.

Before Don’t Panic Labs, Bob worked for a variety of companies (both as an employee and as an independent consultant) including PenLink, Prairie Cloudware, Intuit, and Union Pacific Railroad to name a few. In his free time, you can find him hiking and camping through the backcountry with his black Lab Nash, cooking for family and friends, or traveling with the love of his life, Mary.

Bob’s first car: 4-door ‘69 Chevy Impala
Kids: Ryan, Maddison, Kate, and Jack
Hobbies: BJJ, The Outdoors, Travel, Cooking
Work Nickname: Brisket

Brian became deeply interested in software and technology when he saw the difference it could make in people’s lives. He found a passion for innovation (defined as transforming ideas into market-sustainable products and companies)—especially when technology is leveraged as part of the solution. It might be hard to find him at his desk—he’s generally out meeting entrepreneurs and corporate innovators to help them take the next step or explore how we might turbo-charge their efforts.

In his downtime, Brian spends time with his wife and two children. As you might expect, he has a few geeky hobbies including automating his home, playing strategy board games (Star Wars Armada), and enjoying a good Xbox game (Titanfall).

With that said, he still exercises his farm roots by spending way too much time on his lawn.