Leela J. Gray

After retiring from the military in 2018, Lee served as Strategic Advisor to United States Army Cyber Command. She played a key role in innovating and modernizing cyber policy shaped by her market and stakeholder insights that included her tenure at the Department of State creating interagency and international partner initiatives in Cyber/Information Warfare.

As a Brigadier General, she guided new strategies to transform operational effectiveness using a data driven approach for training and logistic efficiencies and improving future combat readiness and mass mobilizations. Lee led adaptive, scenario-driven training for more than 20,000 personnel in logistic, engineer, medical, and telecom units disbursed nationwide and shaped the policies and governance of multi-year training cycles.

As a National Security senior executive, she represented the U.S. internationally, shaped policy and advised on logistics and training. Having served in two combat operations and one peacekeeping mission, Lee gained international experience and leveraged negotiation skills in other significant positions including with the Department of State and on Capitol Hill as the Chief of Legislative Affairs. Having built a corporate career in various roles at private and public companies, Lee developed expertise in technology, sales, and customer relationship management while at CACI and a start-up technology company.

During her time at Booz Allen Hamilton and Fleishman-Hillard she led large programs and deepened her expertise in strategic communications, public relations, and crisis communications while serving clients in technology, industrials, public health, and government. In community service, Lee mentor’s start-up founders for Tampa Bay WAVE’s Tech Accelerator programs and also served on the Executive Board of Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, a $100M international nonprofit with 100,000+ members, as well as actively advocates for veteran organizations serving transitioning service members and spouses.

Lee holds the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Directorship Certification™. She earned a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, an MA in Journalism from Ball State University, and a BA in Communications from Elon University. She is a public speaker on Leadership and Leader Development, a multigenerational mentor and is a member of the International Women’s Forum.