Family, Education and Business Career
Lee was raised in Tonawanda, New York in a politically active family. His sister ran regional affairs in western New York for former Governor George Pataki, and his father was the finance chairman on several campaigns for former U.S. Rep. Jack Quinn.
Lee earned a B.A. in economics and finance from the University of Rochester and a Master of Business Administration from Chapman University in California. At Rochester, he was a member of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity.
During his campaign for Congress, it emerged that Lee was fired from a sales job in Buffalo at Ingram Micro (now in Amherst) when he was 25 years old. He had obtained his supervisor's password and accessed customer accounts to change their credit limits with the company. This meant that the customers could purchase on account more of Ingram's products, thus increasing Lee's commission. Lee and another employee were fired. During the campaign, Lee issued a statement: "At my first job out of college, I made a mistake and broke company policy and was let go. What's important is that I learned from that mistake, and have had a successful career building a business and creating jobs for families here in Western New York."
Lee moved to California where he worked for Microtek Laboratory as director of sales before returning to New York in 1995 to work for Enidine, Inc., a company founded by his father. He worked at Enidine in various roles including Pacific Rim sales manager, director of international sales and marketing, and then general manager. Enidine manufactured products for commercial aviation, and for the industrial and defense markets and had manufacturing capabilities in Orchard Park, New York, as well as Bad Bellingen, Germany and Yokohama, Japan. Under Lee's direction, the business was transformed "from a small machine shop in western New York to a global enterprise," according to The New York Times.
In 2003, Lee became Automation Group President of International Motion Control (IMC) of Erie County, another company founded by his father. He oversaw the group's acquisition of the solenoid valve firm Evolutionary Concepts Inc., and worked at IMC until it was sold to the ITT Corporation for nearly $400 million.
Chris Lee and his wife, Michele, have one child.
Chris Lee's father established the Patrick P. Lee Foundation, where Chris Lee served as director. The foundation promotes cancer and mental illness awareness, education, prevention, and research in Western New York.
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