University of Kentucky MBA alumna Kimra Cole, President and Chief Operating Officer at Columbia Gas of Kentucky was named one of the Lane Report's "Top Women in Business". This feature aims to recognize professional women in key roles whose work ethic and body of work are making important contributions to commerce and in their respective communities.

Kimra is the current President and COO of Columbia Gas of Kentucky. Her previous roles included Vice President of Distribution Operations, NiSource (Columbia Gas of Kentucky’s parent company); Vice President and General Manager, Columbia Gas of Kentucky; Operations Center Manager, Columbia Gas of Kentucky; Director of Engineering, Kentucky Public Service Commission; Commissioner of General Services, Lexington Fayette Urban County Government along with various roles in operations support, facilities, sales, marketing and real estate; director of marketing and sales at Columbia Gas of Kentucky. Kimra received her MBA and Bachelor of Science in Chemical engineering both from the University of Kentucky.

One of her favorite sayings is, "Don’t expect to see a change if you don’t make one."

Columbia Gas of Kentucky delivers clean, affordable and efficient natural gas to approximately 135,000 customers across the state. Headquartered in Lexington, it is one of NiSource’s seven regulated utility companies. NiSource (NYSE: NI) is one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 3.5 million natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands.