Nebraska Innovation Campus has made recent changes and additions to its leadership team. Executive director Dan Duncan announced that Kate Engel has accepted the position of community engagement and operations manager, while Terence Bowden has accepted the position of business accelerator director.
In her role, Engel will be responsible for developing and implementing programs aimed at creating a culture that allows university faculty, staff, students, industry and community members to collaborate and form partnerships in conjunction with NIC, the university and the community. Creating opportunities for people with different skill sets to meet and socialize is critical in developing a culture that embraces and sparks innovation, Duncan said.
“We need NIC to be a place where people feel welcome to come and express their ideas and dreams,” Engel said.
Engel is a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University and earned a Master of Arts in management from Doane College. She is working on a doctorate in human sciences with a specialization in leadership studies at UNL.
Bowden comes to NIC via Ireland and Dublin City University’s Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurs, where he ran the Propeller Venture Accelerator, the seventh-ranked accelerator in Europe. He is responsible for surveying the startup community within UNL and the Lincoln area.
Bowden will use the data collected to develop a business plan that will support the efforts of faculty, staff, students and the local community in starting and growing businesses. Lincoln has a growing and exciting startup community of which NIC hopes to be a part, Duncan said.
“I am thrilled to come to Lincoln at such an exciting time,” Bowden said. “In my early discussions with faculty, students and the local startup community, I think many of the building blocks are in place for Lincoln to become a hub of innovation and company creation. I am looking forward to NIC being another building block that springs the community and UNL forward.”
Bowden has a degree in industrial design, a higher degree in product graphic and interactive design, master’s in business management and a graduate certificate (masters level) in digital marketing.
For more information on Nebraska Innovation Campus, go to http://innovate.unl.edu.
