Cindy Gonzalez
LINCOLN — Gov. Jim Pillen has called upon Daryl Bohac to direct the embattled Nebraska State Historical Society, drawing Bohac back into public service after he retired 18 months ago from leading the Nebraska National Guard.
Pillen said the decision to recruit and redeploy Bohac to fill a post that oversees collection, preservation and sharing of Nebraska history was based on his view of leadership.
“When you spend 45 years of your life in public service, when you’re the adjutant general of the Nebraska Air and Army National Guard, you develop extraordinary leadership characteristics and qualities,” he said of the Nebraska native.
Pillen said he needed someone to steer the 146-year-old historical agency he said had veered “off the tracks.”
Scrutinized, restructured
Renamed History Nebraska by the previous director, the agency has been scrutinized and restructured. It recently became part of the governor’s cabinet following the arrest two years ago of the former executive director, who faces theft charges for allegedly improperly handling a private donation to the state agency.
Bohac will oversee more than 60 full-time employees, and start with a $175,000 salary.
Questioned about Bohac’s qualifications for the history-centric job, Pillen cited his track record in creating a “culture of team.”
During the past two years, turnover at the society was 22% and 31%, respectively, among the highest of state agencies, according to state personnel figures.
More than once, Pillen mentioned Bohac’s work with the Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward, which preserves state militia history and educates about the guard’s role during peace and war.
Introduced in his new role at a Thursday news conference, Bohac said he had received a phone call from someone outside of the Governor’s Office inquiring about his interest in taking over the agency, which also publishes a quarterly magazine and operates a state history museum in Lincoln and six other historic sites across the state.
He said he talked to his wife and others and felt it was a “good fit — perhaps a good opportunity in that I could bring some leadership values to a complex organization.”
He said the past 18 months of retirement had been good for him and his family. “But it’s time to go back to work for the people of Nebraska.”
Bohac goals
Among top priorities, Bohac said, is improving financial accountability. He referred to the past executive director.
Former director Trevor Jones is facing felony charges for allegedly misappropriating a private donation. He resigned in 2022, after serving six years as the top administrator, saying he planned to do some traveling.
Shortly after Jones resigned, he was charged with theft by deception in connection with diverting two donations from a foundation that had been intended to over anticipated agency revenue losses due to COVID-19. He instead deposited the funds in a foundation he had set up.
Jones recently asked the court to dismiss the felony charge, saying he has been denied his right to a speedy trial. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Tuesday.
Pillen also pointed to the past.
“It takes a lifetime of having a culture and it got tore down in a few simple years and it’s gonna take a lot of work to rebuild it to what Nebraskans expect.”
The governor said he expects Bohac to lessen the society’s reliance on taxpayer dollars and to build active public and private partnerships.
“It’s a $9 million a year budget but it doesn’t necessarily have to stand on the backs of taxpayers,” Pillen said.
Bohac said he is excited to dive into his new mission — noting what he described as one of the first decisions presented to him in 2013 when he became the state’s adjutant general. It had to do with relocation of the military museum from the old Nebraska State Fairgrounds.
He said the operations model relied on a combination of private, state and federal funding, a mix he plans to build upon at the state historical society.
Other priorities in his new post, Bohac told reporters, include rebuilding core history museum exhibits to create a more alluring place for tourists and Nebraskans. He also wants to improve public access to archives.
‘Nonpolitical, adept’
Bohac’s hire follows the passage earlier this year of Legislative Bill 1169, which made the historical society a code agency and part of the governor’s cabinet. That shift from independence status, and governance by a citizen Board of Trustees, worried many society employees who feared politics might enter into decisions about subject matter in museum displays, research projects and magazine articles.
State lawmakers who supported LB 1169 said it should increase financial oversight and restore trust in the agency. Others feared potential impact.
He has managed to adeptly thread the needle of keeping focused on mission and setting aside politics.
– State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln
State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln put forth an amendment intended to protect the academic freedom of choosing museum displays and public outreach.
Thursday, upon hearing of Bohac’s appointment, Conrad she welcomed the “sound” choice.
She sees Bohac as an “adept leader” and a “nonpolitical person.”
“He has managed to adeptly thread the needle of keeping focused on mission and setting aside politics,” she said.
Conrad, a Democrat, said she believes Bohac will be supported across the political spectrum to “stabilize the important work of this agency which has been mired in controversy for far too long.”
‘Hardcore reality’
Founded in 1878 by people who saw a need to record stories of both the state’s indigenous and immigrant populations, the historical society was designated a state institution and began receiving funds from the Legislature in 1883.
In July, Pillen appointed Cindy Drake to be interim executive director. She had been at odds with the policies of the former director, Jones, and was dismissed after 45 years of serving as chief librarian at the society.
Drake and Pillen moved swiftly to make changes at the agency, restoring the name to the Nebraska State Historical Society, rescinding a Jones’ decision to rebrand as “History Nebraska” in 2018.
Employees also were reassigned. Public visiting hours were to be added at the society’s research room.
A diversity council established by Jones was disbanded.
During the media event Thursday, Bohac said he was eager to jump into his new job.
As adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Bohac was responsible for programs affecting more than 4,500 Army and Air National Guard personnel. He oversaw the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency and served as the state’s official channel of communication with the National Guard Bureau to the Departments of the Army and Air Force.
Said Pillen: “The hardcore reality is Daryl and I see a lot of things alike. One is how important leadership is, how important culture