May Lee

May Lee is Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Institutional Impact at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where she is guiding the development and implementation of the Institute’s next 10-year strategic plan. Prior to joining RPI, she was a partner at The Seelig Group (TSG), a family office, where she focuses on incubating new companies in new media, entertainment, marketing, and technology—combining her background in finance and law (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Federal Reserve Bank of New York) and as an entrepreneur and educator. May previously spent ten years as a leader in higher education where she led two groundbreaking initiatives: the founding of NYU Shanghai and ShanghaiTech. May began her career in China and has three decades of experience in the private and public sector, amassing a deep understanding of the cross-cultural aspects of innovation ecosystems in China, Europe, and the U.S. She currently serves as a Lifetime Trustee at the NYU School of Law, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the National Partnership for Women and Families, and Treasurer for the Guild of Future Architects, as well as senior advisor to a number of start-ups in Shanghai. May is recognized as a global leader in innovation and international education, and speaks frequently on these topics.