Thai Lee

Thai Lee is the co-owner, CEO and president of the largest female-owned business in America, SHI International.

Early years

Lee was born in Bangkok, Thailand. Her father was a prominent Korean economist. Lee was the second of three daughters and one son. During her teens, Lee moved to America with her older sister, Margaret, to attend high school in Amherst, Massachusetts. She went to Amherst College and earned a double major BA in biology and economics. Describing her career plans, she said, "I knew then that the best chance of success for me was to start my own business, because after I x-ed out all the professions I could not be successful in, that’s what I was left with.”[1]

Career beginnings

She returned to Korea after college and worked in an auto parts company called Daesung Industrial Co. in Seoul. Having raised the money for graduate school, she returned to the US and graduated in 1985 from Harvard Business School.[2] She was the first Korean woman to graduate from the business school. [3]She worked for two years at Procter & Gamble and two years at American Express.

Ayers Corp, Fort Smith, Arkansas and Software House International (SHI), New Jersey

In 1989, Thai Lee and her partners bought Ayers Corp, a rattan furniture company located at Fort Smith, Arkansas. She became CEO of Ayers and worked there for about two years. In 1991, she was dismissed and later joined Software House International (SHI) which was founded by KoGuan Leo, her husband at that time, first part time and later full time and stayed at SHI ever since. SHI had $6 billion in sales in 2014, one of the biggest IT providers in the world and 3000+ employees around the world. They have approximately 17,500 customers including IBM, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson and AT&T.

Charity work

Lee is a member of the board of directors of The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. She was a term trustee of Amherst College from 1993 to 1999 and president of the Society of the Alumni from 2004 to 2005.[3]

Awards and honors

Family

In 1989, Thai Lee married Koguan Leo, a Columbia University graduate, New York Law School-educated lawyer and the Founder and Chairman of SHI. They divorced in 2002. She has two teenage children. She lives in Lebanon, New Jersey.

References

  1. ↑ Ewalt, David M. "The Modest Tycoon Behind America's Biggest Woman-Owned Business". Forbes. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Young, Susan. "Thai Lee, MBA". Harvard Business School. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Thai Lee '80". Amherst College. Retrieved 1 June 2015.

External references

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