Ty Hughes moved to Nebraska in 2000 from Kansas City. He grew up on Walnut Hill Farm hence our firm’s name. After becoming a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan he applied to graduate school and used that as an excuse to relocate permanently to rural Nebraska. He is married to Rebecca and has four children.

Ty always had a desire to build his own practice and began that effort in 2014. He has been employed in the industry since 2000. He enjoys coming into work every day and building the relationships he has with his clientele. He also loves the team with which he is privileged to work.

Outside of work, Ty coaches his kids in sports, enjoys golf, reading, live music, and training for different races with his wife. He is involved in his church, a men's group, and the Elkhorn/Bennington community where he lives. Professionally, he is a:

- Board member of Advisory Board for Finance, Banking and Real Estate at the University of Nebraska Omaha
- Host family for the Safe Families for Children Organization

In his first two years of practice he was recognized as the 2015 and 2016 leading advisor in the Nebraska office and in 2016 was ranked as the #2 overall New Advisor at Principal. He attributes that to doing business the right way and being a part of a team that is effectively serving their clientele.

Interesting fact: Our logo hails from 1908 when my family farm, Walnut Hill Farm, was in operation. The primary structures (barns and farmhouse) on this farm were constructed from indigenous walnut trees and rock that were harvested, milled and still remain standing to this day. Excess lumber and stone was hauled down the ¼ mile drive from atop the farm nearly 500 feet above the Little Blue Valley. There it was sold and shipped on the local Union Pacific railroad that cut through the valley adjacent to the Little Blue River. The Little Blue River feeds directly into the Missouri, a common waterway for transport and trade, and often utilized in the early 1900’s.

Jill Ehlers, originally from Iowa, is a graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City. She played basketball on a team that won back-to-back National Championships in 2004 and 2005. After college, she moved to Omaha where she met her husband, Landon. They have one son, Leo, and a dog, Charlie.

Jill is a member of Lifegate church and enjoys being active within the community including:

- an active PAYBAC partner with Willowdale Elementary School
- Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation board member
- Junior League of Omaha
- Member of Women in Insurance and Financial Services
- HOAA member – a group supporting spouses of Resident Physicians

She received the "Expanding Horizon" (14-15) for her work with Millard Public Schools. Jill has achieved recognition as a member of *Million Dollar Round Table.

Alicia Elmore was born in Omaha but moved many places as a child. She settled in Bellevue after completing her degrees in business and mathematics. Her first career began as a mathematics teacher while she completed her master’s degree in leadership/administration from Doane College. She then continued in education as a middle school and high school principal before ending her career in education as the Director of Secondary Education for the Bellevue Public School District.

Alicia was anxious to take on a new challenge in 2008 as a financial advisor as she believes in the importance of financial literacy. She has always enjoyed helping others and meeting new people while valuing faith, family and friends. Alicia has three children that keep her very busy and is married to Jason.

Alicia has served as a Board Member and President of the Bellevue Public Schools. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Bellevue Community Foundation and is part of National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and has met the qualifications for Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT). She enjoys traveling, listening to music, running and spending time with her family doing anything.

Debbie serves in our Client Advocate role with a focus on Client Service. She focuses her time on ensuring our client experience is top notch. Debbie interacts with clients frequently when they are setting up new accounts or preparing for a financial plan review. Debbie is highly detailed oriented and will help research any question or process we need to serve our clients well. We hope our clients gain confidence in our abilities because of her attention to the particulars of each client relationship.

Debbie and her husband, Darran, grew up in Bellevue after moving there as children with their military fathers. They moved to Plattsmouth after building a house and have resided there since 1999 with their son. Debbie has a bachelor’s degree in accounting with a minor in business administration. She also possesses her registered tax prepared designation and has been doing tax planning independently for over 20 years. Debbie focuses on family, friends and food in her downtime. She also enjoys reading and gardening.

MaryJo serves in our Client Advocate role. She is here to provide client service to our friends of the firm. There's nothing she doesn't know or cannot find the answer to in this area. She excels in the details and won't accept 'no' for an answer when it comes to providing service and answer on our client's behalf.

MaryJo and her husband Pat relocated from eastern Iowa to Nebraska in 1992 for his career in education. Although both remain die-hard Iowa Hawkeye fans, they call Omaha home and have raised two children and three dogs here. MaryJo has a bachelor's degree in nursing and worked intensive care early in her career. She focuses on family, faith, fitness and food in her downtime.

Jennifer serves in our Client Advocate role with a focus on client engagement. She takes point on activities such as: organizing our communications with clients, scheduling reviews, our online marketing and making sure we are up to date on all our client’s life events. Jennifer has a special touch that clients see and feel early on which we believe builds trusts in our client relationships.

Jennifer and her husband, Scott, were born and raised in Bellevue. They have been married for over 20 years and have two sons. Jennifer graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Northwest Missouri State. Early in her career she worked as a paralegal for Sarpy county. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys spending time with her husband, sons, family and friends. She loves traveling, gardening and exercising.