Elizabeth H. Lee can be considered among those who led the charge for women empowerment in the industry’s corporate boardrooms in the early 2000s. She was the youngest, and the first (and so far, the only) female president of Campi, helming the powerful chamber from 2005 to 2011. She also held the reins in UMC-Nissan for 12 years.
Beth spent her academic years—from high school, college, university, to graduate school—in California in the United States. Her first job was with the financial services and wealth management firm Merrill Lynch.
Her next job was in Manila with Arthur Andersen Consulting (SGV & CO), and Jardine Matheson’s Cycle & Carriage was her first automotive-related client, opening her up to even more opportunities in the industry.
At the tail-end of 1998, Lee formally began her career in the auto industry as senior vice president of marketing at UMC, around the same time that the renowned Carlos Ghosn took the helm at Nissan.
At the time, her uncle Richard Lee was UMC president, and her dad Edmond Lee was president of Star Motors, the manufacturing plant that assembled Nissan commercial vehicles.
“Those were interesting times in the history of both Nissan and UMC. All hands on deck were required (to align) with Ghosn’s Nissan Revival Plan, which meant that all country distributors worldwide were required to exceed sales targets. It was a baptism of fire, but with God’s blessings, we were able to meet and exceed those targets, and UMC was awarded and honored for its record-breaking sales performance. For four years in a row UMC was the only Nissan distributor in Asia, from among over 100 members of the Nissan Global network, to be awarded the distinction. The only other countries honored at the time were Canada, Italy, Brazil, and the United States (Hawaii),” Lee recalled.
Still, despite such achievements, Lee would find herself being stereotyped. Lee narrated, “Very early on in my career with Nissan, women holding executive positions were uncommon, especially when you were representing your country and local company to negotiate the terms of business with your counterpart in Nissan Japan. In a global distributors conference in Tokyo, 10 minutes before the conference proper was to start, country representatives hurried to get in the ballroom before doors were to be closed. I was running a bit late but made it to the ballroom door in the nick of time when I was stopped by two white-gloved men in suits saying the conference was just for the heads/country representatives and not wives or secretaries. I showed them my ID and said, ‘I AM the representative for the Philippines’. Wearing a red blazer, I stood out from the sea of men in dark suits. As the conference started, I was singled out in the greetings as ‘Lady and gentlemen…’”
In early 2012, Lee co-founded EMotors Inc, an e-mobility company and maker of ZüM electric vehicles, founded to help poverty alleviation, job creation, and climate change mitigation. “It is an exciting time to be in the automotive industry with the rise of EVs, hybrids, alternative-fueled vehicles, self-driving cars, and other technological advances that even ‘repurposes’ the function of how we use a vehicle,” she observed.
Elizabeth H. Lee is CEO of EMotors, former president, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc (Campi), former president, Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA), former CEO, Universal Motors Corp (UMC-Nissan) and The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) awardee
