As the assistant director at the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, Diane Sabatka-Rine serves as the second-in-command for the agency and oversees deputy directors for the divisions of prisons, rehabilitative services and administrative services. Her vision and inclusive approach to system management has increased collaboration throughout the agency and helped to identify and implement needed improvements to operations.

Sabatka-Rine began her NDCS career nearly four decades ago as a corrections officer and has since filled a number of roles, including unit administrator, assistant warden, warden and deputy director. Sabatka-Rine previously served as the agency’s interim director, where she led an agency of 2,300 staff members and more than 5,500 incarcerated individuals throughout nine state facilities.

Drawing on her significant corrections and leadership experience, she looks for ways to make our work safer, more efficient and more effective, as well as strategies to better prepare incarcerated individuals for reentry. She enjoys the day-to-day challenges of her work and says she couldn’t ask for better teammates.

Sabatka-Rine earned a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice with a minor in sociology from Wayne State College, where she received the Outstanding Alumni award in 2017.