Michelle Lee

Michelle Lee is the Founder, CEO and Principal Advisor of Obsidian Strategies.  Ms. Lee has spent most of her career building and advising some of our country’s most innovative, data-driven companies, and brings multi-disciplinary perspectives from her experiences at the top levels of technology, law, business, government, and the boardroom.  She advises her clients on transforming their organizations using artificial intelligence (AI) and data to gain competitive advantage.  Most recently, Ms. Lee was a senior executive and the Vice President of the Machine Learning Solutions Lab and Computer Vision businesses at Amazon Web Services.  She led a global team of consultants who helped clients from a wide range of industries use AI (particularly machine learning) to create new lines of business, enhance customer experiences and increase operational efficiencies.  

Ms. Lee has a deep understanding of the most fruitful applications of AI within organizations and the change management required for successful implementation.  Ms. Lee also played a key role in addressing policy, regulatory and ethical risks associated with AI services and applications and was the founding business executive lead for AWS' responsible AI efforts.    

Before Amazon, Ms. Lee was appointed by the President of the United States to serve as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  In this role, she led one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world and was the principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on intellectual property policy.  Ms. Lee brought the use of AI and data analytics to this 200+ year-old governmental agency to increase the quality, speed and consistency of patents issued.  She understands as a business leader the opportunities and challenges of implementing successful AI initiatives and how to navigate the complex regulatory landscapes for AI applications if needed.  Before public service, Ms. Lee served as an executive for 8 years at Google.  She also held the appointment of the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford University from 2017-2018.  In this role, she taught about disruptive technologies (including AI) and their impact on existing laws and regulations.  Ms. Lee began her career as a computer scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence and Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories.

Ms. Lee is a frequent keynote speaker on AI, innovation, intellectual property, digital transformation, and board governance of the same, including with the Wall Street Journal, The World Knowledge Forum, Fortune, Bloomberg, NPR, the MIT Sloan Management Review, South-by-Southwest, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the National Association of Corporate Directors.  She has spoken and written on “Unlock[ing] the Predictive Power of Machine Learning,” “Machine Learning and Your Business: The Journey from Concept to Reality,” “7 Lessons To Ensure Successful Machine Learning Projects,” and “Deploying Real-World Machine Learning.”  Ms. Lee has testified before Congress about 10 times in her various areas of expertise and has received numerous awards for her leadership and professional accomplishments.          

Ms. Lee holds a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a J.D. from Stanford.  Ms. Lee currently serves as a board director on The MIT Corporation, MassMutual and Unity Technologies.  She is a Silicon Valley native and enjoys contemplating how technologies can improve our society.

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