Laura Lane Named Chicagoland eTeam Leader
Published: October 2, 2013
Related to: Chicagoland eTeam
Partnership for a Connected Illinois leaders have named Laura Lane, a well-known personality in Chicagoland’s technology community, the organization’s new eTeam leader for that area.
Lane replaces Ernest Sanders, who left PCI to become the general manager for Gigabit Squared in Chicago.
Lane said she is excited to promote high-speed, affordable broadband access and the next generation applications to move the Chicagoland region moving forward.
“As a champion of broadband in my own community development work I had a positive experience with PCI e-teams and board members supporting our strategic efforts,” she said. “So when the opportunity arose to lead the eTeam in this region, I was excited about taking my passion for the power of broadband to PCI and be part of a larger strategic direction for the Chicagoland area.”
As co-director of the Woodlawn Broadband Expansion Partnership, Lane brought together regional stakeholders and helped to create market potential for high speed broadband in the mid-south region if Chicago.
Her past technology ventures include being a principal at Chicago Systems Group, member of the Illinois Integrated Justice Information Planning Committee, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Milhouse Engineering and operations lead for technology installations in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Lane has extensive background in non-profit and public sector management including seven years at the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County and eight years in community economic development. She received her B.A. in International Relations from Lake Forest College and J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
How do you hope to impact broadband adoption and usage in the coverage area/what are your goals?
There are two main areas I hope to impact in this arena – infrastructure leveraging and future casting uses of broadband. We are very fortunate to have lots of assets in the region that can be leveraged to reach more corridors for business development and residential uses. We need to turn up the levers on the cooperation needed to move on those opportunities. A good example of this is PCI promoted mapping all of the public and private assets in the City of Chicago and was willing to do that work; the recent technology plan for the City indicates that they are doing just that and almost done understanding the treasure trove of capacity that the City has to bring to this effort.
The other opportunity is helping every sector begin to really see what widely available high speed broadband means for their business and quality of life. PCI needs to help residents, the public sector and business literally see what is next in smart homes, smart schools, smart buildings so that the demand is there for innovation by the many providers in this region who are ready to serve that need.
What is your strategy/philosophy on accomplishing your goals?
Every business is a people business. It begins with understanding the vision of our board leadership as to where PCI needs to be to stay ahead of the game. Then nurturing the relationships already established by our Northeast eTeam and board members. Then strategically looking at the region for those locations, sectors and partners who have innovative ideas and plans for moving this mission forward, but need either the direct expertise of PCI or our connective power to bring the right people to the table to move on implementation. This ranges from identifying potential technology partners to bringing more project management discipline to a developing project. PCI’s ability to ask the right questions and evaluate what is working as innovation is happening is a key part of our expertise. As we develop more and more case studies of what’s working in Illinois and share that knowledge across the state, more communities will value broadband as a part of their infrastructure and the ROI that it can produce when paired with innovative uses in education, safety, energy, health and economic development.
Whenever I have had a chance to work on statewide initiatives I have had a great time so I am looking forward to working with my PCI colleagues and our partners around the great state of Illinois to move the quality of life forward for our citizens through modern infrastructure and innovation.