Public Information and Communication
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 19, 2018
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Rod Wagner
402-471-4001
800-307-2665
Gov. Ricketts Names Appointments
to Nebraska Library Commission
Gov. Pete Ricketts recently appointed Arunkumar
Pondicherry and Lois Todd-Meyer, both
of Lincoln, to three-year terms on the Nebraska Library
Commission. Gov. Ricketts also reappointed Debby
Whitehill Bloom, of Omaha, to a second three-year term.
Arunkumar Pondicherry is a committed
community leader serving on many committees representing the
state. Pondicherry is currently serving his third term as the
President of the India Association of Nebraska Lincoln, a
nonprofit organization. He is also currently serving as the
Finance Chair for the Lancaster County Republican Party and is
in the Nebraska Republican Party State Central Committee.
Pondicherry has served as a Fundraising Committee member and
Executive Committee member for the Hindu Temple of Omaha
Nebraska, a nonprofit organization. He has also served as a
Charitable and Fundraising Committee Member for Telugu Samiti of
Nebraska, a nonprofit organization. Pondicherry attended and
represented the State of Nebraska at the White House Briefing
for Hindu American Seva in 2014. Pondicherry has served in the
Matt Talbot Kitchen as a volunteer, and currently helps fund and
organize First Friday Lunch every month.
Pondicherry currently works as a Consultant for IS&T /OCIO -
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. In the past,
he has been integral with his work as a consultant to the
Nebraska Real Estate Commission in implementing critical
legislative changes in their system. His work as a consultant
has led him to projects with Central Data Processing /DAS/Child
Support division /Medicare/Medicaid to fulfill many legislative
changes and federal requirements for their statewide system.
Lois Todd-Meyer is a long-time Nebraska
educator who has a deep understanding of the important role that
public libraries play in supporting the education of Nebraska’s
youth. She taught high school English/Language Arts for
twenty-eight years in two rural Nebraska school districts and
earned her Doctorate in Education from UN-L in 2015, as part of
their second cohort of the Carnegie Project on the Education
Doctorate. The focus of her dissertation is adolescent literacy.
She has been a member of Nebraska State Education Association
throughout her career and serves on the State Government
Relations Committee. Todd-Meyer is currently an adjunct English
instructor at Southeast Community College and adjunct education
instructor at Concordia University, teaching literacy classes at
both the undergraduate and graduate level. She is a board member
of the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association and Nebraska
Center for the Book, for which she serves as board secretary.
She is also a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international
organization for key woman educators.
Debby Whitehill Bloom is an Investor
Services Broker at TD Ameritrade and serves as Vice-chair of the
Nebraska Library Commission. She is an entrepreneur with an MBA
in finance and management, with specialties in recruiting,
marketing, insurance, finance, and written communication. She
holds series 7, series 63, life and health insurance licenses
and is the owner of Whitehill Bloom Consulting, LLC, which
provides recruiting services for national insurance
institutions. She worked in marketing and accounting for
Enron/Northern Natural Gas for eighteen years. She volunteers
with King of Kings Church, Republican Party of Nebraska, Alpha
Xi Delta, and Omaha Liberty Ladies. Whitehill Bloom is the
author of two books: Wisdom, Whimsy and Drivel, an
inspirational poetry book and Fall Textures, a
children’s picture book. She is also working on other children’s
books.
They join current Commissioners Michael LaCroix
(Chair, Omaha), Charles Peek (Kearney), and
Sandy White (Sidney) serving on the Nebraska
Library Commission—the policy-making body ensuring that the
agency is fully responsible for the statewide promotion,
development, and coordination of library programs and services.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library
Commission is an advocate for the library and
information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library
Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination
of library and information services “bringing
together people and information.”
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The most up-to-date news releases from the Nebraska Library
Commission are always available on the Library Commission
website,
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/publications/newsreleases.