{"id":18876,"date":"2016-03-14T12:29:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/?p=18876"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:33:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T17:33:09","slug":"and-the-transformational-leadership-award-goes-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/featured\/and-the-transformational-leadership-award-goes-to\/","title":{"rendered":"And the Transformational Leadership Award Goes To&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"lead\">When Dr. Herbert Wertheim and his wife, Nicole, first met, they had $200 between the two of them. Through perseverance, innovation and commitment, they were able to build and achieve their dreams. And now, with a dedication to making the world a better place, they are committed to powering the next generation of New Engineers who will transform the future.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Herbie and Nicole Wertheim - Transformational Leadership Award\" width=\"1640\" height=\"923\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WrD7yLzvZhI?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Herbie is the founder and CEO of Brain Power Inc., the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of ophthalmic instruments and chemicals. He attended UF in the early 1960s before becoming a scientist, clinician, entrepreneur, philanthropist and community leader whose discoveries and contributions in eye care and other scientific fields have touched millions.<\/p>\n<p>Herbie and Nicole\u2019s $50 million gift this past fall is the second-largest ever to the university, and launched a $300 million initiative to expand and reimagine engineering education and discovery in the 21<sup>st<\/sup>\u00a0century. In all, the Wertheims have contributed more than $100 million to Florida public higher education. Their investment in UF puts the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering on the forefront of engineering education, research and technology development.<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations to Herbie and Nicole for receiving the Transformational Leadership Award at the UF Academy of Golden Gators Awards \u2013 and thank you for investing in our future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Herbert Wertheim and his wife, Nicole, were honored at the UF Academy of Golden Gators celebration for their commitment to engineering excellence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35,43,57,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-honors-awards","category-stories","category-transformation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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