Debra Lee
President and Chief Operating Officer, BET Holdings, Inc.
Debra L. Lee serves as President and Chief
Operating Officer of BET Holdings, Inc., a multi-media entertainment
corporation and the parent company for Black Entertainment
Television. Prior to her appointment in March 1996, Lee served
as the network's executive vice president of strategic business
development. During her tenure at BET, Ms. Lee has served
as Executive Vice President of BET's legal affairs department
and general counsel. She has also served as the company's
corporate secretary and president and publisher of BET's publishing
division, which publishes Emerge BET Weekend and Heart &
Soul magazines.
Lee joined BET as Vice President and General
Counsel in 1986 after over five years as an attorney with
Washington, D.C. based Steptoe & Johnson, a corporate
law firm. From August 1980 through September 1981, Lee served
as a law clerk to the late Honorable Barrington Parker of
the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Ms.
Debra Lee also serves on the board of directors of BET Holdings,
Inc. and Eastman Kodak Company.
Affiliated with a number of professional
and civic organizations, Ms. Lee is a board member of the
Kennedy Center's Community Board, Women in Cable, the Telecommunications
Development Fund, and the National Symphony Orchestra Board.
Ms. Lee is a recognized leader in the telecommunications
industry and is a recipient of the 2000 Tower of Power Trumpet
Award from Turner Broadcasting System; the Silver Star Award
from American Women in Radio and Television; and the Par Excellence
Award from Dollars and $ense Magazine. She was also named
one of the cable television industry's "Hundred Heavy
Hitters" by Cable Fax Magazine.
Debra Lee earned her Juris Doctorate at
Harvard Law School and a Master's in public policy from the
John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1980. She graduated
from Brown University in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in
political science with an emphasis in Asian politics.
Debra Lee and her husband, Randall Coleman,
reside in Washington, D.C. with their two children.
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