Maggi Thorne

Maggi Thorne has served the Nebraska Athletic Department as the assistant director of capital planning and construction since 2009. A facilities project coordinator the previous two years, Thorne is the top assistant to the associate athletic director for capital planning and construction and fulfills those responsibilities in his absence.

A former Nebraska track and field student-athlete and team captain, Thorne has first-hand experience with college athletic needs and demands. She was the California state champion in the 100-meter hurdles and brings the same intensity and inspiration in her leadership role. When she's engaged in design integration, she interacts with each team and staff member. One of her most recently completed projects is the $18.7 million Hendricks Training Complex where Thorne helped spearhead the athletics project leadership team. She assisted in facilitating floor-plan design and material specification. She also led the graphic design of all interiors, specified and procured all of the furniture for the building and coordinated the branding of each team's space.

Thorne is a key member of the project leadership team planning the $63.5 million East Stadium Expansion and the $20 million Devaney Center Improvement Project. She also will help lead the $5 million Athletic Research Center Project in the East Stadium, performing the same role as she did for the Hendricks Training Complex. In addition, Thorne is the project communication liaison responsible for updates between internal and external groups for capital project information

In 2010, the $8.7 million Student Life Complex opened, and Thorne used her experience as a student-athlete to enhance the project. She led the effort to conduct surveys with student-athletes, and the results from those surveys kept the design team moving in a positive direction. Throughout the project, Thorne communicated directly with Nebraska's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The collaboration allowed both the designers and the benefactors of the 50,000 square-foot renovation to understand the decisions, appreciate the teamwork and feel proud about the value the complex holds for current student-athletes and prospective recruits.

Thorne led the effort for the $1.2 million R.E.D. project (Recruiting Enhancement Display) to showcase each sport's history and the tradition those student-athletes and coaches wanted to communicate to recruits and fans. The project enabled branding for more than one million square feet and was completed in the spring of 2012. Each sport received state-of-the-art updates and displays. Among the most notable feature implemented was the Nebraska Football Experience Room, which received a 2011 Telly Award, one of the nation's highest honors in film and video production.

Thorne's creativity and proactive thinking have helped Nebraska continue to raise the bar and lead the way in integrated facility design. From iPad locker designs to the 2-story net featured in the Hendricks Training Complex lobby, she is a vital team member in all Nebraska's athletics design projects.

Thorne's regular roles include coordinating and designing athletic department displays and recruiting paths, producing project concept renderings from 2D to 3D and specifying finish materials for projects. She is an athletic department capital project coordinator, an authorized unit price manager and oversees the Nebraska Athletics Design Center for operations and staff. Thorne represents the athletic department on the Chancellor's Commission on Sustainability. She plans and implements sustainability programs for athletics and coordinates the department's recycling efforts. She led the effort that will bring NU's football game day recycling rate from 30 percent to an anticipated 80 percent or better.

Thorne (formerly Escudero) is a 2005 graduate of the University of Nebraska and competed for the Husker track and field team in the sprints, hurdles and relays. In 2004, she ran the 400-meter leg for the distance medley relay team that set the Nebraska school record. Before coming to Nebraska, Thorne competed at Cuyamaca Community College in California. She attended El Capitan High School in Lakeland, Calif., where she was named Teen Miss of San Diego. Thorne is married to former Nebraska football letterman Fred Thorne Jr. The couple has a son, Charlie, and two daughters, Fiona and Ellie.