OUR TEAM

Christian Peters

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.

Jamie Connolly

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.

Olivia Daake

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!

Dyllan Usher

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.

Malika Yadgarova

A native of Tajikistan, Malika has lived in Lincoln for more than two decades and considers it her home. She started her career at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, working in comprehensive college transition programs. Her role involved retention efforts and providing academic and personal support for at-promise, first-generation, low-income, and ethnic minority students.

Malika knew she wanted to pivot in her career goals. At Don’t Panic Labs, she leads the Nebraska Dev Lab as its first Education Program Manager. What drew her to this position was her passion for making others’ lives better by enabling them to pivot their careers in a better way. Through Nebraska Dev Lab, she will be helping address the lack of developers in our area.

Outside of work, Malika enjoys working out, biking, hiking, reading, and hosting friends at her place. She especially enjoys her time with family: her son, Zafar, and her husky dog, Sky.

Kameron Heyen

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.

Levi Hagen

Levi Hagen is a creative problem solver with a flair for coordinating community.

Raised on a chicken farm in Ashland, Nebraska, Levi has cultivated a fascination for technology and diverse cultural experiences from a young age. Levi’s tech-savvy, computer-building family hosted 12 foreign exchange students from five countries, and his parents credit video games with teaching him to read. After an adolescence spent organizing creative teamwork and national tours with music groups, he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

At Don’t Panic Labs, Levi continues to nurture his love of collaborative project experiences that uplift their contributors and touch peoples’ lives. Outside of work, you might find him backpacking rainforests, writing and recording music, or managing his creative space — The Mez Collective — to create and facilitate audio/visual art experiences.

Megan Burma

Megan loves her role in UI/UX design because it requires her to think creatively about how to solve a wide variety of problems. She deeply enjoys collaborating with a team and together helping an idea evolve into a reality. She is driven by creating unique and effective outcomes and views every project as a chance to learn, grow, and innovate.

Megan has worked in graphic design throughout a wide array of industries. She got her start designing craft beer labels and making posters for local bands, and gradually expanded her skills into the UI/UX realm.

Megan lives in Omaha with her husband, Chris, and their big, orange cat, named Fletch. When she’s is not at work, Megan can be found teaching piano lessons or watching movies she’s probably seen too many times. Megan also loves to travel, try out local food and drink spots, and go antique shopping.

Anne Ruskamp

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.

Rafael Simosa

Rafael was born in Valencia, Venezuela. He graduated from UNITEC with a degree in Information Engineering and has been living in Nebraska for the past two years. He moved to Lincoln the last year and is happy to call it home. Rafael was part of the inaugural Nebraska Dev Lab cohort and joined the Don’t Panic Labs team full-time in January 2021 after completing the program.

Rafael likes to travel with his wife and hopes to visit all the countries in the world. In addition, he enjoys eating barbecue, camping trips, road trips, reading, playing computer games, and is a bit of a chess aficionado.

Mike Anker

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.

Christy Thomas

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.

Ryan Downey

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.

Sarah Kenny

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.

Jeff Hastings

Jeff grew up in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, but spent much of his time enjoying the city of Omaha.

After experiencing the SNES game Chrono Trigger, Jeff was inspired to become a software developer. He was fascinated by it and wanted to learn how someone could build an interactive and intricate world that people could explore.

But before becoming a professional software developer, Jeff dabbled in many other jobs such as shopping cart refurbisher, convenience store clerk, delivery driver, special education para, pre-med student, acute mental health worker, and substance abuse treatment tech.

After those adventures, he realized his place in the world was software development. He thrives in taking problems in the world and solving them through code.

In addition to software development, Jeff loves pets, music, sci-fi/fantasy, tabletop games, and (still) video games.

Jeff is married. He has one son, one stepdaughter, a dog, and a small business of ferrets.

Zahra NaminiMianji

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.

Shana Durham

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.

Ceren Kaplan

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.

Yan Xin Lee

Yan Xin graduated from UNL with a degree in Computer Science. She was part of the Stone Fin team for three years before Stone Fin joined forces with Don’t Panic Labs. 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.

Bob Whitmer

Armed with 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

Todd Guenther

Nathan Wilkinson

Zach Lannin

Jeff Kodad

Everett Rhodes

Chris Niemann

Branden Barber

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.

You’ll also see him at the monthly Beer and Code (@BeerCodeLincoln) meetup, which he organizes.

He lives in Lincoln with his wife and son.

Read Branden’s blog posts.

Lori McCarthy

Doug Durham

Bill Udell

Andrew Tarr

Kyle Versaw

Andy Unterseher

Chris Ford

Brian Zimmer

Russ Guill

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 video around Don’t Panic Labs.

At home, he can be found creating new beers in 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.

Chad Michel