Tom Field is the director of the Engler Entrepreneurship program, as well as the holder of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) Engler Chair in Entrepreneurship. After Paul Engler made the decision to invest in creating the Engler program, he began looking for someone to help run the program, and Field believes the position truly came to him.

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“As he [Paul Engler] made that gift, the University began to look for someone they thought, maybe was crazy enough, to come in with no framework that would be equal to his vision,” Field said. “I was not really looking for this opportunity, the opportunity maybe found me as much as I found it.”

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The Engler team knew early on that they wanted to foster a culture around helping people build entrepreneurial skills, rather than just helping startup businesses.

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“We came to the realization that our mission is to invest in people. We exist to embolden our people to courageously pursue their purpose through the art and practice on entrepreneurship,” Field said.