Lana G. Porter (Chicago, Illinois/Atlanta, Georgia) is COO and Managing Partner of Spektrem Marketing, a new marketing company focused on developing Brand Presence for business entities, with a focus on the new hydrogen industry which will replace fossil fuels and agricultural products in the hemp industry. She brings her extensive experience in corporate management, marketing and product development to help companies achieve their brand initiatives.
Her extensive corporate background includes a 25+ year career at Ameritech (now AT&T) where she became the CEO of Ameritech Library Services, the world’s largest software development company for the library industry. Under her direction, the company grew to over $100M in annual revenues with a customer base of over 80,000 libraries in 26 countries. Prior to the SBC/Ameritech merger in 1999, she led the business development/sales effort of selling her company to private investors and it was mandatory that she come along with the company to complete the sale. She continued on as CEO then of epixtech/Dynix until 2002 and remained on the Board of Directors until its merger with another library software company in 2005.
She held senior vice president positions in sales, marketing, and operations in the various business units of Ameritech during her tenure. In addition, her international experience included the expansion of Ameritech’s wireless business into Poland as the first Director of Marketing of the joint venture with France Telecom and the Polish PTT in creating the first wireless business in Poland in 1992. She also served as the residing Ameritech Director of the France-Dynix office in 1993 leading the efforts to integrate this new company into the Ameritech suite of businesses.
As Managing Director of the Dempster Group in 2004, she led the effort to acquire a small regional wireless company from AT&T Wireless and establish NEAT Wireless in Northeast Arkansas. She was its President until its sale approximately 2 years later.
She has been CEO and Founder of L&M Enterprises for the past 20 years primarily consulting with startup and midsize companies in the communications and software industries.
Porter started her career in the educational field, having been a teacher for 6 years, an educational researcher for 3 years, and a senior administrator of a social service agency for 3 years prior to her joining AT&T’s Bell Telephone Company in 1976 prior to divestiture. She was part of the Ohio team that established Ameritech in 1983-84 when the Bell Companies were split apart. Her early roles in Ameritech included Director of Advertising/PR, Purchasing and Inventory Control, and General Manager of several independent divisions of the deregulated organization.
Porter has served on several national boards through the years. She currently sits on the Foundation Board of Murray State University where she is Chair of the Finance Committee and is a member of the Executive Committee; is Board Emeritus of Leadership-Women, where she served as Chair from 2015-2019; and the CIT/TSM Advisory Board of Murray State University. She has held other Board positions as well through the years including the Board of Trustees for the University of Detroit Mercy, the National Board of The Friends of the Libraries, the Chicago Library Foundation Board, the Boards of United Cerebral Palsy in both Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. She has also served on numerous advisory boards for universities and businesses as well.
She holds both a BA and MAT from Murray State University as well as an Executive MBA from The Ohio State University. She and her husband have homes in Atlanta and Chicago and have one married daughter.