Owner, Early Education Business Consultants, LLC

Lauren Small helps early childhood directors and owners improve the quality of their programs by improving business practices. Her nationally recognized Early Education Business Program has helped over 200 early childhood programs increase profitability and enrollment on average by 20%. The program, whichcombines an industry-specific business management course with individual coaching, educates directors about the essentials of ECE business management.

Lauren has been an entrepreneur educator for over 25 years and is a business analyst for the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center. In 2014, the Hampton Roads SBDC won the Small Business Administration’s “Small Business Development Center Excellence and Innovation Center” Award because of Ms. Small’s groundbreaking work. She presented her program at the 2013 Virginia SBDC State Conference, the “Transforming Local Government” National Conference in 2013, and the 2015 and 2016 SBDC national conferences. Lauren has a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.