Lee was born in Thailand and moved around a lot with her family. By the time she was 10, Lee had lived and attended schools in Korea, Germany and the U.S. For college, she decided to apply to Amherst based on the influence of family members who had also attended Amherst. Her father, Daniel Kie-Hong Lee '50 became the
first Korean to attend Amherst College. His decision too was influenced by someone else-an American general that he worked for as a translator in South Korea. Thai-Hi Lee's sister, MyoungHi Margaret Lee, was the first Korean woman to graduate from the College in 1975 as a transfer student.
As if there were not already enough firsts in the family, Lee was also part of the first co-ed freshman class in 1976. Gender issues, however were not her primary concern while at Amherst. She had more difficulties getting used to American culture. "It seemed like there were a lot of women students," she said.
While at Amherst, Lee lived in South for two years, and North for another year. Upon learning that North and South dormitories have been renovated, Lee recalled how things were during her time. "When I lived [in South] it wasn't as nice."
Lee vividly remembers the experience of living with a roommate. "I had a roommate who would not get up with her alarm clocks." Lee spent her senior year in Moore, a dorm which she remembers fondly. "I loved Moore," she said.
Academics and music
At Amherst, Lee studied hard. "I was so serious," she said. "I spent most of my years studying a lot." In addition, she also recalls spending time eating a lot of Korean food, and making friends with fellow Korean students from Smith and Mt. Holyoke Colleges. Lee also remembers Baskin Robbins, which used to be at the center of town, and where she frequented almost everyday.
Lee was serious about her music. She played the piano and attended many of the concerts on campus. "I did hang out at the music building a lot," she said.
Lee took many math and science courses in order to keep her options open for after Amherst. However, reflecting on her Amherst years, Lee remembers enjoying her biology and economics classes. She avoided humanities because she said her English wasn't very good. She graduated with a double major in biology and economics.
Although Lee pointed out that her biology classes have no relationship to her work, she said that she "loved learning genetics and evolutionary biology." She also liked economics classes. "I very much enjoyed all the economics courses at Amherst, and some of the theories I've learned, especially in microeconomics, provided a strong foundation to study business," she said.
She excelled in economics at Amherst and became a teaching assistant in microeconomics and statistics for professor Walter Nicholson and professor Ralph Beals, a position which she enjoyed. Professor Nicholson remembers how Lee had helped with grading problem sets and conducted review sessions for microeconomics courses. He valued Lee's work.
"She had taken the required micro course from me in a prior semester and was one of the top two or three students in the course," she said. "If anyone from the classes of 1981 or 82 remembers any micro he [or] she may have Thai to thank," he said.
The making of success
After Amherst, Lee returned to Korea and and lived there for three years. She worked in an international trading division for industrial machinery and equipment. Her job required her to maintain vendor relationships, marketing and sales, and international trading work. But she wasn't comfortable living in Korea. "I really didn't want to live in Korea as a woman," she said.
She came back to the U.S. and attended Harvard Business School. She was the first Korean-American woman to graduate from Harvard Business School.
Within four years of graduating from business school, Lee bought SHI and has remained with the business for 15 years. This has allowed her to see the company grow to remarkably quickly. "We've done really well [over the years]," she said.
Lee cherishes the work she had done with her company. "SHI is a global procurement outsourcing company and leading business-to-business solution provider," she said. The company fulfills orders for over 100,000 hardware and software products. Her company has currently achieved the status of a leading corporate reseller, competing with top-producing companies such as Adobe, Macromedia, Microsoft and Symantec.
Lee's personal contribution to the company's success was pivotal. As a new organization established in 1989, SHI produced less than one million dollars in annual revenues. After Lee joined, SHI has grown to make more than a billion dollars in revenues.
Even as an accomplished professional, Lee finds time to connect with Amherst through the Alumni Society. She served as an Amherst trustee for six years. Lee was also recently elected the first woman president of the Alumni Society. As president, Lee attends and participates in Society of Alumni meetings, where she and other alumni provide feedback to the College about how to improve communication and maintain connections with the alumni body.
"The last meeting I attended was in [New York City]," she said. "I had a chance to meet with many alumni from different classes and had a chance to reconnect and familiarize myself with current issues at Amherst College."