Lee Huang is one of the first nine members appointed by Mayor Kenney to the Philadelphia Board of Education (BOE) in April 2018. Beginning in July 2018, the Board will oversee the School District of Philadelphia.

Lee Huang has now lived in Philadelphia for more than 26 years. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics at the Wharton School of Business and a Master in Public Administration from the Fels Institute of Government. He has worked at The Enterprise Center and currently serves as the Senior Vice President and Principal at Econsult Solutions, a Philadelphia-based economic consulting firm.

What area of the city do you call home? What do you like to do in your free time?

I’m a resident of University City, and have been since graduating from Penn in 1995. My family is really the only thing I spend time on outside of my professional engagements. My wife and I have a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old and a 3-year-old. Shuttling them around and hanging out with them is my focus when I’m not working.

Who were the people in your life – friends, family, mentors – who helped you to form your values and why?

My parents immigrated to the U.S. from Taiwan for graduate school and met here. As my mom puts it, she bought a one-way ticket here, which is a profound statement about the better life she saw for herself in America. Education was always stressed as something worth investing in and advocating for. My parents also gave me space to make mistakes, and that’s influenced my parenting as well.

My first boss here in Philadelphia also deserves a great deal of credit for my professional development. Della Clark, the president of The Enterprise Center, showed me not just how to run a successful organization, but also how organizations can really have an impact in a community. I have a deep debt to her as a great leader and role model.

Tell us about a teacher who made a positive impact in your life during your K-12 education.

When I was a freshman, my English teacher, Mrs. Weisend, was also our class advisor and would take students to local football games to sell sodas to raise money for our school.  On one occasion, I was the only student there who had done this before, so I spent time showing my classmates how the sales system worked.

Afterwards, Mrs. Weisand came up to me and told me this had been a fantastic demonstration of leadership. I am shy – and was especially so at that age – so I would never have thought in a million years to consider leadership one of my qualities. But she saw it, and named it, and that was a really profound experience for me from a personal identity standpoint.

What are your personal goals for your service on the Board?

I hope to participate in creating a culture on the Board where we’re okay disagreeing with one another, learning from one another, pushing back, and doing so in a way that isn’t personally threatening but is energizing.

We’re already off to a good start as a board because all nine of us are different from one another, and I think it’s important that a deliberative body is diverse in perspectives and is comfortable with that diversity.

What do you love about living in Philadelphia?

I prefer my living situation in Philadelphia over suburban California, which is where I’m from. I like that I bump into my neighbors at the grocery store and in the park, and that I can walk to school with my kids.

I’m also bullish on the future of Philadelphia. Urban settings that are diverse and anchored by strong institutions are more suited to be competitive in the larger economy than places less willing to do the work of creating safe spaces for diverse perspectives.

Briefly, what vision do you have for our school system in 5 years?

We have a lot of work to do and the problems we’re tackling are going to take a long time to solve. But I think there’s something to be said about momentum, confidence, and trust.  We all know that progress takes everybody getting involved. But when you lose faith in an institution, you stop caring. You stop investing. You check out and you move out. On the other hand, when you feel things are going in the right direction you do the opposite. You engage, invest, double down, put down roots.

We have seen the positive direction that the School District is going in under Dr. Hite over the last six years. I think in the next few years we can achieve more positive momentum and start a virtuous cycle that encourages more people to stay and get involved. I am very excited to play my part as a business owner, as a parent, and as a school board member.