Kim Lane is the Chief Operating Officer of the Conductor, a public-private partnership between the University of Central Arkansas and Startup Junkie Consulting that drives innovation, entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in Central Arkansas. She is the founder and Lead Organizer of 1 Million Cups Conway, the local chapter of the Kauffman Foundation’s nationwide movement to connect entrepreneurs on a weekly basis; through the chapter, she annually reaches over 1,000 community members and enables scores of entrepreneurs to share their stories. She is also the founder and Director of Startup Grind Central Arkansas, a program run in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs designed to educate and inspire entrepreneurs through monthly fireside chats. She established the first chapter of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Central Arkansas, a weeklong celebration of making, innovation and entrepreneurship run in conjunction with the Global Entrepreneurship Network. The inaugural GEW included over 21 events held in collaboration with over 20 partners (including Apple, Verizon, the City of Little Rock and the Small Business Administration, among others), and reached over 350 entrepreneurs. In March 2017, she served as a Global Delegate to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, and spoke about establishing an entrepreneurial ecosystem and how communities around the world can reduce barriers to entry for entrepreneurs.
Kim is a founding board member of the Young Professionals of Conway, a satellite club of the
Conway Rotary. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Arkansas,
and on the Arkansas Fellowship board.
She previously served as the Director of Operations at the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, a
Winrock International U.S. Program increasing innovative activity through programs and
educational opportunities related to STEM education, making, art, and entrepreneurship.
Before assuming the role of director of operations at the Hub, Kim was the Director of Entrepreneurial Programming, where she worked on HubX-LifeSciences, a healthcare accelerator presented in partnership with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Baptist Health. Previously, she was the inaugural digital director and online editor of Arkansas Money & Politics and AY Magazine, where she established an unprecedented online presence for both publications, managed over 40 contributors and saw a 251% increase in website traffic, a 125%
increase in session duration and exponential social media growth. Kim was also an editor for Brit + Co., a San Francisco-based new media company, where she covered the VMAs, Emmys and fashion trends. Her article on second-day hairstyles was the most read on the site,
with over 250,000 page views. Her additional professional experience includes serving as the account coordinator on the Arkansas Parks & Tourism account at CJRW, and working at the Arkansas Times, Tales from the South, the Clinton Foundation, and Heifer International.
She is an alumna of Hendrix College, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the campus newspaper, and studied Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre in London. She lives in Conway with Oakley Lane, the Great Pyrenees she rescued on a camping trip.
