Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.LINCOLN — SectorNow CEO and Nebraska native Evelyn Bartlett found her first love — data — after she moved to California.
But it was her second love who brought her back to her home state.
On a trip home in 2007, Bartlett, who grew up in Waverly, ran into an old boyfriend at the Lincoln Airport, where he was working in customer service.
Roger Bartlett and Evelyn rekindled their relationship, and after an eight-month courtship, they were married.
At the time, Roger, who is in his 60s, was pursuing a degree in business communication at Nebraska Wesleyan University, Bartlett said, so it made sense for the couple to settle in Lincoln.
After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1978, Evelyn Bartlett bolted for Southern California, settling in Los Angeles.
She worked as an account executive at an advertising agency for 10 years before starting her own company, M/S Database Marketing, in 1991, which helped companies such as Disney and GM identify their most profitable customers. She sold the business in 1999.
After she moved back to Lincoln, Bartlett did part-time consulting work for a while before starting her new company, SectorNow.
The new venture allowed Bartlett to combine her passion for databases with new technology, by creating mobile applications, or "apps," that use databases.
Bartlett said the company hopes to have four apps available for purchase by the end of 2012, focusing on two categories — the environment and behavioral health.
WasteFinder Green was the company's first app. It allows a business to track the trash that it produces and how much is recycled.
The data is then sent to SectorNow, which provides an analysis of how the company can improve recycling practices and cut costs.
Bartlett said about 10 subscriptions for WasteFinder Green have been sold on the Android Market since the app launched in October. The cost is about $360 for a year's subscription.
Bartlett said the app can be used by any business that has a building and wants to track waste output. Some small Nebraska cities also are looking into purchasing it, and Bartlett hopes to get school districts interested.
SectorNow hopes to have its second app, MySocius, on the Android Market by April. That app will be aimed at helping children with autism, ages 2 through 6, learn to communicate better.
"We're trying to put what an expert is doing into a mobile device," said SectorNow co-founder Craig Lutz-Priefert.
The company developed the app in conjunction with Keith Allen, a pediatric psychologist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
He said the app will give parents another day-to-day resource to help their children with communication issues outside of regular therapy sessions.
MySocius allows parents to take pictures of objects of interest to their children, then record their child's response. For example, the parent can record whether a child communicates nonverbally, verbally or not at all. The app then tracks the child's progress in communication and allows parents to share the results with caregivers and family.
"One of the main ways we can help kids learn to communicate is to take things the kids really care about and then show them they can use words or pictures or signs to get those things," Allen said.
Bartlett is also looking into launching a suite of apps relating to sustainability, including one that deals with water conservation.
In the meantime, Bartlett, 56, is enjoying married life in Nebraska, although she does miss some things about California, including the weather and the abundance of multicultural restaurants.
"If I had the weather of California and the people of Nebraska, it would be a perfect planet," Bartlett said.
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