New Horizons NBDC executive director opens doors to entrepreneurs and business owners

By Nick Shinker Contributing Writer

When Catherine Lang took the job as Nebraska’s Commissioner of Labor in 2008, she couldn’t get into her office. The door was locked. So were all the cabinets inside the office.

“The first thing I was given was a set of keys,” she recalls. “The next thing I did was unlock the door and all the cabinets, and I left them that way. Not only was my door always open, I got out of that office and walked around. I got to know the people and what they did in their jobs. My leadership style was quite different. And it worked.”

Today, as the executive director of the Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Lang opens the door to entrepreneurs and small business owners across the state. She and her team of consultants and support staff are instru- mental in advancing the NBDC mission to help grow the state’s economy.

She will step down from that role in January after seven years as NBDC’s leader. But she won’t be officially retiring. She still has work to do as the Senior Advisor to the President of the University (of Nebraska) for Economic Development and as the President of the University Technology Develop- ment Corporation (UTDC).

As his senior advisor, Lang informs NU System President Ted Carter on ways the university can expand economic opportunity and prosperity in Nebraska through talent development, innovative research and technology, and community engagement.

Lang speaks with the voice of experience. Prior to leading the NBDC, she served the State of Nebraska for nearly 33 years. A string of Nebraska governors appointed her to an impressive list of leadership roles including Director of the Department of Economic Development, Commissioner of Labor, the state’s first-ever Property Tax Administrator, and Deputy Tax Commissioner.

The challenges she has faced throughout her career have been many, including those who doubted her abilities. She eventually made

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