Shane Osborn

Shane Osborn (born June 21, 1974 in Loomis, South Dakota) is an American politician and was the State Treasurer in Nebraska until he was succeeded by Don Stenberg on January 6, 2011.

Osborn graduated from Norfolk High School in 1992 and then attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a Naval ROTC scholarship. After graduating in 1996 with a degree in statistics and actuarial science, Osborn entered flight school for the United States Navy and was eventually assigned to the "World Watchers" Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One.

In 2005, Osborn left the Navy as a lieutenant after nine years of active duty.

Hainan Island incident
On April 1, 2001, Osborn was piloting an EP-3E airplane with a 23 member crew about 70 mi away from the Chinese island of Hainan in international airspace when it collided with a Chinese J-8IIM fighter jet. The EP-3E's propeller cut the J-8 in half. The fighter's nose section cartwheeled upward, smashing into the EP-3E's nose and tearing off the radome. The impact sent Osborn's plane into an inverted dive, dropping 8,000 feet in 30 seconds and falling another 6,000 feet before Osborn had the EP-3E's nose up and wings level. In a September 2003 article in the Naval Aviation News, Osborn told Jim Turnbull that once he regained control of the plane he "called for the crew to prepare to bail out." They donned parachutes and initiated an emergency plan, which included destroying intelligence equipment and sensitive documents on board.

After an unauthorized emergency landing, without airspeed data or flaps, at the Lingshui Air Base on Hainan Island, Osborn and his crew were taken to a Chinese military barracks where they were detained and interrogated for 10 days. The aircraft was dismantled by the Chinese and returned to the US in boxes after months of scrutiny by Chinese officials. On April 11, 2001 the crew were released from Chinese custody and returned to the United States. After the Hainan Island incident, Osborn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

State treasurer
In 2006, Osborn won the Republican nomination for the office of Nebraska State Treasurer by defeating Republican incumbent Ron Ross, who had been appointed to the position on January 6, 2004 by Governor of Nebraska Mike Johanns. In the Nebraska Republican Primary, Osborn took 63 percent of the more than 233,000 votes cast, and Ross 36 percent. In the General Election, Osborn defeated John H. Gaithings of the Nebraska Party, 76 percent to 23 percent.

In 2007, the Aspen Institute selected Osborn to be a part of their Aspen-Rodell Fellows Program in Public Leadership and was also elected Vice President of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. He is also a shareholder with the SilverStone Group, a financial services firm in Omaha, Nebraska.

During his tenure in office, Osborn was committed to bringing transparency to the state treasurer's office and was recognized by his commitment to returning unclaimed property to Nebraskans. While Nebraska's state government grew by an average of 4.75% per year, Osborn reduced the state treasurer's budget by 12.8 percent during his tenure. Recently, in response to state budget concerns, Osborn cut two positions from his office and has frozen the salaries of his top seven managers.

In September 2009, Osborn announced he would not seek reelection for Nebraska State Treasurer.

2014 campaign for U.S. Senator
On June 2, 2013, Osborn announced that he would seek election to the U.S. Senate from Nebraska, after incumbent Senator Mike Johanns announced that he would retire after one term.