Dr. Jessica Meeske, Hastings, Neb.; and James Creigh, Omaha, Neb.; have joined the Hastings College Board of Trustees. The 32-member board will meet Thursday and Friday, Jan. 25 and 26, at Hastings College.

Meeske, a 1991 graduate of Hastings College, is a dentist at Lockwood and Meeske Pediatric Dentistry in Hastings. She completed a doctor of dental surgery degree at the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Dentistry, and a master of science degree in dental public health at the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

Meeske served as national president of the American Student Dental Association from 1995 to 1996, and was president of the Adams County Dental Society from 2000 to 2001. In 2001, Meeske was named the American Dental Association’s New Dentist of the Year. She chairs the Political Action Committee of the Nebraska Dental Association and is legislative liaison for the Nebraska Society of Pediatric Dentistry.

Meeske founded and is clinical director of the Sonrisa Dental Project, which provides basic dental services for underserved children who do not have a dental home. In 2005-06, she chaired Citizens for a New Hastings Middle School, which successfully passed a bond issue by a 70 percent vote.

Meeske and her husband, Dr. Todd Pankratz, a 1988 graduate of Hastings College, are co-chairing the alumni campaign committee for a new science building to be built on the Hastings College campus.

Creigh is vice president of strategic business development for West Corporation in Omaha, and is president of the Creigh Family Foundation.

Creigh completed a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a master of business administration degree and juris doctor degree at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Prior to joining West Corporation in 2006, Creigh practiced corporate and securities law with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP in Omaha, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, Palo Alto, Calif.

In 2005, Creigh established the Creigh-Weyer Scholarship for Hastings College students, an honor that includes $40,000 in post-graduate scholarships and mentoring by
national business leaders. The Creigh Family Foundation also provides ongoing funding
for the forensics team and for the Dorothy Weyer Creigh Endowed Scholarship.

Creigh is the son of the late Thomas Creigh, trustee at Hastings College from 1962 to 2002, and the late Dorothy Weyer Creigh, alumna and noted historian.
His grandfather was the late Dr. Frank Weyer, longtime dean and historian of Hastings College.