Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Business Operations
Terri Lee is an accomplished senior executive with extensive experience in leadership, energy policy, strategic planning, legislative affairs, international relations, and partnerships. She currently serves as U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Office of Electricity (OE). In this executive role, Ms. Lee oversees OE’s budget and financial management, enterprise architecture and cybersecurity and information management, communications, environment, safety, and health, contract management, and workforce management and administration.
Ms. Lee has a sustained record for successfully fulfilling major goals by delivering groundbreaking, valuable, and impactful results for both OE and DOE. She oversaw OE’s management and execution of the unprecedented $4.5 billion appropriations—matched by private funding to reach a total of about $9.5 billion—passed in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that accelerated the modernization of our nation’s electric transmission and distribution systems.
Prior to joining OE, Ms. Lee served as the Director for External Coordination in the DOE’s Chief Financial Office where she was responsible for working directly with and representing the DOE on all appropriations-related matters, totaling more than $40 billion, before the U.S. Congressional House and Senate Appropriations Committees. She was instrumental in bridging gaps and resolving fundamental differences between the Department and the Appropriations Committees.
Ms. Lee’s earlier career at DOE was wide-ranging. She was the Director for DOE’s U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Spent Fuel Canning Program where she negotiated and implemented the difficult tasks of collecting, cleaning, and safely securing North Korea’s spent fuel elements. As the Program Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, she served as the Executive Secretariat for the Secretary of Energy’s U.S.-South Africa Binational Commission under the Vice President’s U.S.-Binational Commission initiative. In this role, she coordinated more than 120 U.S.-South Africa sustainable energy initiatives and worked closely with the DOE program offices, US private industry, and the South African government establishing long-term partnerships that aided the restructuring of South Africa’s energy/regulatory policies.
Ms. Lee began her career with the DOE in the Office of Congressional Affairs working on the BTU/energy tax legislation, Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, the National Policy Act of 1992, and DOE’s implementation of the contract reform initiative.
Ms. Lee holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in International Studies from George Mason University. In 2024, her exceptional leadership in OE earned her the prestigious Presidential Rank Award, which is one of the highest honors in federal civil service where final selections are made by the President of the United States. She also received the Secretary of Energy’s Appreciation Award for her leadership and dedication in promoting and helping DOE achieve its mission of energy transformation, environmental cleanup, nuclear security, and scientific discovery.