Tim Kacena was born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, where he graduated from West High School in 2000.
Uncertain about what he wanted to do for a career, he decided to attend Western Iowa Tech Community College to take some general courses until he could make up his mind. With only a week to decide on attending culinary school to be chef or taking classes to become a police officer, he decided to achieve his Associates Degree in Police Science from Western Iowa Tech Community College.
Tim served as a Police Officer for 12 years and held several positions, including Street Patrol Officer, Detective, School Resource Officer, Honor Guard Member, and Hostage Negotiator. While working as a patrol officer, Tim went back to school to earn his four-year degree in Business Administration from Bellevue University in 2006.
Tim left law enforcement in 2016 and is now the Senior Physical Security Specialists and Investigator for the Nebraska Public Power District. In this role, he helps keep the electric grid safe and secure from attacks which could thwart NPPD’s ability to serve customers throughout the state of Nebraska.
Tim is a great example of an average- to below-average student and continuous procrastinator who eventually persevered. To this date, he credits much of his success to his first job at McDonalds which taught him how to communicate with people and work under stress.
Throughout all of Tim’s achievements in his professional career, he will always be most proud of his wife and daughters.