Brent Lane

BRENT LANE is a professor of Heritage Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he served as Director of the Center for Competitive Economies (2007-2017) at the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Under his leadership the Center collaborated with local, state and national clients in applied scholarship on innovative economic development strategies. In his work with communities around the globe he found they often faced common challenges in preserving sensitive natural and cultural heritage sites while capitalizing on their distinctive economic value to host communities. In his pioneering heritage economics research Lane applies economic analysis techniques to the design of development plans that sustainably balance the conservation and utilization of unique heritage assets.

Lane has worked extensively with U.S. and international collaborators in the research and design of groundbreaking heritage economics strategies. He serves on the boards of cultural heritage foundations and is a frequent advisor on heritage economics to leading global international development and conservation organizations.  As an Expert Member of the United Nations International Commission on Monuments and Sites he provides guidance in the designation and management of World Heritage Sites. As a Global Research Institute Fellow he draws on the Institute’s role as a nexus of UNC’s multidisciplinary expertise to engage University faculty, researcher and student expertise in applied scholarship at the forefront of the emerging development field of Heritage Economics.

He holds a Master’s degree in International Science and Technology Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, from which he also earned undergraduate degrees in both physical and social sciences.