Major General (Retired) Price was an energetic child so her mother ensured she had many athletic adventures and Lee excelled in many. She was usually a player- coach, a position she continued into her professional life. Born in an era where women were rarely found in leadership roles, General Price chose a different path. She continuously echoes the value of learning team sports at an early age. Along with her athleticism, General Price was an early adopter to the running craze which continued to serve her well in her military endeavors. She prepared herself well for a career as a street cop in Birmingham and even though her test scores were stellar, she failed to make the force due to her poor eye vision. Therefore, General Price became determined to become a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. With her college degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in hand, she entered the Army as a Private First Class clerk-typist.
General Price served over 38 years in uniform and retired at the grade of Major General. Women comprised about 2% of the workforce when General Price’s military career began. Therefore, she frequently broke gender barriers and shattered expectations. General Price was an early adopter of technology and took computer science classes starting in 1974. When asked if she knew any languages other than English, she would jokingly respond “I know all the ancient languages – those being COBOL, BASIC, FORTRAN, and PL.” The Army asked then Captain Price to attend the University of Arizona to complete a master of science in Management Information Systems to assist with the growing automation systems of the Army. After completing that in 1989, General Price worked mainly as a system engineer for the Army’s global, computerized operational systems.
General Price was often charged with providing 24×7 support to deployed forces, a job she relished because she knew her teams would perform exceedingly well. Under the pressure of the Y2K timeline, she upgraded the largest command and control (operational) system within the Department of Defense. With over 1500 users, a version of this comprehensive (Internet of Things) system remains in use in Korea by all the US and Republic of Korea forces (Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines). During her colonel command time in 2002 – 2005, General Price took on the task of upgrading the satellite terminals and satellite software control systems used for passing national intelligence information. As the projects in the post 9/11 gained momentum, she expanded her $185 million budget to over $2 billion a year and provided comprehensive commercial communications infrastructure for the State Department and US Forces operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Qatar. She was thrilled to be selected to serve with the US Special Operations Command for the following three years. In that position, she was the senior military acquisition official and oversaw their most critical projects for our Navy SEALS, Army Rangers, and other special operators. It was during her service with the special operators that she was selected for promotion to General Officer, the first woman to be selected for general officer while serving in U.S. Special Operations Command.
In her final assignment, she became the Army’s first female Program Executive Officer (PEO) where she directed a $6B annual portfolio with a workforce of 2,000. Her responsibilities included delivering the Army’s #1 modernization program to upgrade the complete tactical communications capability and networked computer applications – those communications and cyber systems used in hostile environments by deployed forces. This massive upgrade included responsibility for 9 of the Army’s 27 major programs. General Price’s workforce touched, upgraded, and trained every unit before it departed for its combat rotation. Her command was recognized by the awarding of the David Packard Award, the Department of Defense’s highest award for acquisition.
General Price joined the board of Southern Research Institute in 2014 where she is the Chair of the Compensation Committee; the Lakeshore Foundation in 2015 where she serves as the Chair of the Governance Committee, and the University of South Florida’s Institute of Applied Engineering in 2018 where she serves as the chair of the Governance Committee. She is a National Association of Corporate Director’s Governance Fellow and trained in conflict management via the Thomas Kilmann Conflict method.
General Price has two master’s degrees: one in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona, and another in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She expects to finish an additional Master’s in Communications (Organizational Leadership) in 2020 from the University of Alabama. Among her many awards for achievement and leadership, General Price received the Army’s highest award, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, as well as the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Combat Action Badge. Civilian honors include: Momentum Woman of Impact (2018), Veteran of Influence (2017), and Distinguished Alumna, University of Alabama at Birmingham (2014).