{{Short description|Korean American billionaire businesswoman}} {{Infobox person | name = Thai Lee | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}} | birth_place = Bangkok, Thailand | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | education = | alma_mater = Amherst College (BA)<br> Harvard Business School (MBA) | occupation = | title = | term = 1989–present | predecessor = | successor = | known_for = CEO and co-founder, SHI International | boards = | spouse = Leo Koguan (m. 1989–2002) | parents = Daniel Kie-Hong Lee | children = 2 | relatives = Margaret Lee (older sister) | website = }}
'''Thai Lee''' (born 1958) is a Thai-born Korean-American billionaire businesswoman, the co-owner, CEO and president of SHI International, reported by ''Forbes'' to be the largest woman-owned business in the US in 2012.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite web|last1=Ewalt|first1=David M.|title=The Modest Tycoon Behind America's Biggest Woman-Owned Business|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2015/05/27/thai-lee-shi-international/|work=Forbes|accessdate=1 June 2015}}</ref> In May 2025, she was worth US$5.8 billion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/thai-lee/|title=Thai Lee|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-03-26}}</ref> She is a member of the board of directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Thai Lee '80 {{!}} 2014 Honorees {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/commencement/awards/2014-honorees/thai-lee-80 |access-date=2025-12-03 |website=www.amherst.edu}}</ref>
==Early years== Thai Lee was born in 1958 in Bangkok, Thailand, but spent most of her childhood in South Korea.<ref name="Harv" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Women who Achieve: Thai Lee |url=https://ppimhs.org/newspost/women-who-achieve-thai-lee/ |access-date=2025-12-03 |website=Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> Her family moved frequently due to her father's job as a Korean economist promoting South Korea's postwar development plan.<ref name=":1" /> Lee moved to the United States in her teens and attended high school in Amherst.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> She attended Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, earning a double major BA in biology and economics in 1980.<ref name="Harv" /> She followed in the footsteps of her father, who was the first Korean student to graduate from Amherst College in 1950.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Daniel Kie-Hong Lee {{!}} Friends of the Library Oral Histories {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/friends-of-the-library-oral-histories/kie-hong-daniel-lee |access-date=2025-12-03 |website=www.amherst.edu}}</ref> Lee went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1985.<ref name="Harv">{{cite web|last1=Young|first1=Susan|title=Thai Lee, MBA|date=January 2013 |url=https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=2782|publisher=Harvard Business School|accessdate=1 June 2015}}</ref> She was the first Korean woman to graduate from the business school.<ref name=Forbes /><ref>{{cite web|title=Thai Lee '80|url=https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/specialevents/commencement/awards/2014-honorees/thai-lee-80|publisher=Amherst College|accessdate=1 June 2015}}</ref> Lee served as the first female president of the Amherst College Alumni Society from 2004 to 2005.<ref name="Harv" /><ref name=":0" />
==Awards and recognition== * Life trustee, Amherst College * Former president, Amherst College Alumni Society<ref name=":0" /> * Harvard University, Dean's Advisory Board * Distinguished Alumni Award, Harvard Business School * Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 * Trustee emeritus, Amherst College<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Corporation & Trustees {{!}} President & College Leadership {{!}} Amherst College |url=https://www.amherst.edu/about/president-college-leadership/trustees |access-date=2025-12-03 |website=www.amherst.edu}}</ref> * Harvard Business School, 2013 Alumni Achievement Award<ref name="Harv" />
==Family== In 1989, Lee married Leo Koguan, a Columbia University graduate, New York Law School-educated lawyer and the co-founder and chairman of SHI.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Ewalt |first=David M. |title=The Modest Tycoon Behind America's Biggest Woman-Owned Business |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidewalt/2015/05/27/thai-lee-shi-international/ |access-date=2025-12-03 |work=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> They divorced in 2002.<ref name=":3" />
She has two children.<ref name=":3" /> She lives in Austin, Texas.<ref name=":2" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Thai}} Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:American women chief executives Category:American billionaires Category:Amherst College alumni Category:Harvard Business School alumni Category:American people of Korean descent Category:Korean business executives Category:21st-century American women Category:South Korean businesswomen Category:20th-century South Korean businesspeople Category:21st-century South Korean businesspeople Category:American female billionaires