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Debra L. Lee

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Debra Lee

Full Name: Debra L. Lee

Born: August 04, 1964, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, United States

Occupation: Businessperson Lawyer

Job: Co-Founder & Partner

Works for: The Monarchs Collective

Primary Industry: Consulting Services

Nationality: American

Residence: Washington, Washington, DC

Debra L. Lee is Co-Founder & Partner at The Monarchs Collective, a company meant to help change the complexion of American board rooms and leadership ranks. The company is designed to help organizations efficiently and effectively identify and onboard extraordinary Black talent to their executive ranks and their boards of directors. They support organizations with customized solutions in areas such as board and executive strategy. They also amplify the impact of Black executive talent and voices in executive ranks and on corporate boards.

Ms Lee is former Chairman and CEO Emeritus of BET Holdings, Inc. (2005 - May 28, 2018), a media and entertainment company targeted to African Americans. She is the highest ranking African-American woman at BET's parent company Viacom, Inc.

During her tenure, Ms. Lee grew BET's annual revenue to over $100 million (2017).

Ms. Lee became President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of BET Holdings, Inc., in March 1996. She previously served as the network's executive vice president of strategic business development. During her tenure at BET, Lee has played some of the most pivotal roles in the company's history, including executive vice president and general counsel of BET's legal affairs department; corporate secretary; and president and publisher of BET's publishing division.

As a network, BET was the first of its kind in television history. Since its founding in 1980, BET has successfully pioneered an entire genre of music, entertainment, news and public affairs programming for African Americans -- a feat that some current and upstart networks are trying to duplicate. The majority of that success has come under the leadership and direction of Debra Lee.

At a time when most cable and broadcast networks are seeing virtually zero growth, Lee has delivered four consecutive seasons of record-setting ratings. She has also led the network's evolution into original movies, documentaries, concert specials, news, late-night talk shows and public policy coverage. Without question, BET represents the total network package for its audience and now reaches more than 78 million homes.

Ms. Lee has been named one of The Hollywood Reporter's 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment, and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and the Washington Business Hall of Fame. She was also the first African-American female executive to be honored with the Distinguished Leadership Vanguard Award by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.

Ms. Lee holds a B.A. from Brown University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.P.P. from Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Work Experience

  • Co-Founder & Partner, The Monarchs Collective

    Debra L. Lee founded Monarchs Collective to help change the complexion of America's board rooms and leadership ranks. With 20 years of service on seven different boards in various industries and spending 13 years as the Chairman & CEO of BET Networks, Debra is a much sought after senior advisor and inspiring speaker. Recognized by the Wall Street Journal for "show[ing] women how to run the world - with inspiration from Beyonce, and Founder of Leading Women Defined, Debra wants to help other women find their thrones.

  • Leading Women Defined, Founder

    Since 2010, Ms. Lee has organized the Leading Women Defined Summit, an annual invitation-only gathering of the most prominent African-American women. Her summits have included such luminaries as First Lady Michelle Obama and Senator Kamala Harris.

  • CEO & Chairman, BET (BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc.)

    Debra L. Lee is former Chairman and CEO Emeritus of BET Holdings, Inc. (2005 - May 28, 2018), a media and entertainment company targeted to Black Americans. During her tenure as Chairman and CEO, she was the highest ranking Black woman at BET's parent company Viacom, Inc. Ms. Lee spent a total of 36 year at BET.

  • Associate, Steptoe & Johnson LLP

    Steptoe & Johnson LLP, founded in 1913, is an international law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, London, Brussels, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

  • Law Clerk, Barrington Daniels Parker

    Ms. Lee served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 1981.

Board Memberships And Advisory Roles

  • Independent Non-Executive Director, Burberry Group plc,

  • Board Member, Procter & Gamble,

  • Board Member, Marriott,

  • Board Member, AT&T, 1

  • Board Member, Twitter Inc., 1

  • Board Member, Revlon, Inc., 1

  • Board Member, WGL Holdings, Inc., 1

Philanthropy

  • Past Chair, The Advertising Council

    The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governmental organizations and agencies of the United States government.

  • Former President, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater

  • Former Trustee Emeritus, Brown University

Education

  • M.P.P., Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University,

  • J.D., Law, Harvard Law School, 1980

  • B.A., Political Science with an Emphasis in Asian Politics, Brown University, 1976

Related Links

  • LinkedIn

  • Twitter: @IamDebraLee

  • Instagram: @iamdebralee

  • Amazon.com Books | I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir I Am Debra Lee is a page-turner, filled with deeply personal revelations, juicy celebrity intel, and electrifying behind-the-scenes stories that reveal how she went from a girl raised in the segregated South to leading the first Black company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and how she juggled social responsibility while managing a company targeted toward the Black community. From being a shy “good girl” growing up in Greensboro to gracing major stages and having personal friends like President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, Lee writes about the invisibility she felt in rooms where she was the only woman or only Black person to the extreme visibility that she gained at BETs Networks' helm. This book will also explore the critical moments and decisions she made that have shaped her career in life, showcasing a multifaceted, modern woman’s prowess at the C-level and in the boardroom while also including detailed narrative about her personal struggles and triumphs.

  • Amazon.ca Books | I Am Debra Lee: A Memoir

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