C.R. “Bob” Bell is among six outstanding Omaha business leaders to be inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame.
Bell, retired admiral and president of the Greater Omaha chamber of Commerce from 1989 to 2001, serves as vice president for business and community development for UNeMed Corp., a company that is instrumental in transferring research discoveries and intellectual property at UNMC into the marketplace.
Honorees, who were inducted during an April 10 ceremony, will have a display at the Durham Western Heritage Museum. The Omaha Business Hall of Fame honors men and women whose accomplishments in business were historically significant to the development of Omaha. The Chamber initiated the award in 1993.
“Bob played a key role in the substantial growth of Omaha’s downtown and has been instrumental in our effort to relate science to business development and community benefit,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D. “He is truly deserving of this honor.”
During Bell’s tenure as president of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the staff grew from 26 to 43 people and its overall budget rose from $1.8 million to nearly $4.8 million. His many accomplishments as Chamber president include initiating the Target Omaha campaign in 1994 to boost Omaha’s economic development efforts and establishing the Applied Information Management (AIM) Institute, the Omaha Job Clearing House and the Omaha Business Hall of Fame.
A native of Baltimore, Md., Bell joined the Chamber in 1989 after retiring from the U.S. Navy as a vice admiral with 35 years active duty. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, in 1953. During his naval career he held a variety of positions, serving in the U.S. and Europe. His area of expertise was nuclear submarines. He wound up in Omaha when he was named vice director of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff at Offutt Air Force Base.