PCDC Board Selects DeWald to Help Area Grow & Prosper
August 26, 2019
A Holdrege native who returned home and started a thriving young law firm has joined the PCDC Board of Directors.
Nate DeWald said he is honored to be asked to serve on the board for the Phelps County Development Corporation.
“I only like to serve where I feel like I can ‘move the needle,’ and business is one of my favorite topics of discussion,” he said. “When we are talking about economic development, we are talking about improving the overall well-being and quality of life for all of the people in Phelps County. To borrow an agricultural image, we are cultivating the economic soil to create an environment where individual people and businesses can grow and prosper. It will be great fun.”
Nate will replace longtime board member Jim Wiser, who recently retired from the board due to health reasons.
Nate and his wife, Sarah, both graduated from Holdrege High School and initially didn’t plan to return to Phelps County to live and work. Nate earned a bachelor’s degree at Doane College and then his law degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Law. After law school, he worked as in-house counsel for a 500-person corporation and in a law firm that specialized in environmental and water law.
When their first child was born, they had a change in heart on where they wanted to live.
“Both of us wanted to raise our children in the same environment we had,” Nate said. “Having roots in the area helped us to return, where our extended family has come around us to support us as we raise our own children.”
Nate has now been working as an attorney in Holdrege for about 10 years. He and his business partner, Luke Deaver, started their law firm in January 2014. The firm has recently welcomed a new partner and is now called DeWald Deaver L’Heureux PC LLO.
Nate said he enjoys practicing law in rural Nebraska because of the high need for legal services here.
“Ultimately though, Phelps County is just a county with much to offer, and I think we are seeing a wave of young professionals come back for that very reason,” he said.
Nate said that if a business is open to operating in a small community in Nebraska, there are few communities of our size that are as great as Phelps County.
“I know a lot of people who were not sold on the idea of moving to Holdrege until they came and saw the community for themselves, and then they were hooked,” he said. “I think, if we get our foot in the door, Holdrege ‘interviews’ quite well. If the business owners invest themselves in this community once here, my assumption is that they will stay for the long term.”
Nate and Sarah have now been married for 16 years. Sarah is finishing a degree in special education and will seek a job in that field in the next few years. Their children are Caleb, 11; Leah, 9; and Isaac, 6. In addition to the PCDC board, Nate also serves on the board of the Trinity Evangelical Free Church.