The Booz Allen Hamilton vice president was just named chairman of the board of the directors of the Washington Performing Arts Society. Van Lee, trained in business and engineering, leads the global health and nonprofit sections of Booz Allen and has served on the WPAS board since 2007.
What motivates your involvement with the arts?
I’ve had a keen interest in the arts since a child. I studied dance as a child. I was interested in painting and theater. As I moved into adulthood, I decided I was a better patron of the arts than an artist, so I started supporting various nonprofits in that context.
What kind of dance did you study?
Classical ballet, which brings a certain amount of poise requirements and discipline and grace that has helped me in my business context immensely. It’s very transferable.
What are your goals for WPAS in the upcoming years?
I think we can round out the portfolio that we offer to the community, reaching out to more people.
You’ve won many community service awards. Which one has meant the most to you and why?
That’s a hard one. I don’t know if it is winning the Black Engineer of the Year Award or the [Spirit of] Cabrini Award. I’d like to say one was better than the other, but all of those have been humbling experiences for me and have been encouraging to me to keep doing the things I’m doing.
You were appointed by President Obama to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Was that a surprise?
That was a surprise. I have been involved in all sorts of arts organizations over the years and have always wanted to expand the platform so that more people are touched by the work that I do. I never aspired to the president’s committee, but certainly that is the broadest platform.
— Liz Essley
