How does Joreen Lee benefit Johnson Space Center? Let us count the ways
2014-05-19
For Asian-American and Pacific Islander Month, Johnson Space Center is honoring a few employees whose character and culture have helped shaped them into the people they are today.
Whatever Joreen Lee is thinking, there's a good chance she has an eye on what's outside the box.
An outlook suited for an innovation-spirited rocket scientist, maybe—but what about an impressively credentialed auditor from the Internal Control Office staff of Johnson Space Center’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?
"I always believe in working with no boundaries," Lee said, whose duties are focused on finding ways for NASA to obtain the most from its many contracts while shaping its accounting and Information Technology (IT) practices to make that happen in the most efficient, customer-friendly way.
"We may be working in the CFO office, but it's really helpful to think outside the box," Lee said. "Our office emphasis is on making an impact and outside of the CFO. What do they really need? By finding out, we can be more impactful. We tend to think we are limited by what we already know, but if we combine that with existing or some to-be-rolled-out technology, along with anticipated needs, we can find a different way of thinking."
Currently, she’s applying her outlook across two JSC initiatives.
The Strategic Acquisition and Forecast Evaluation project was started late last year on a fast track to better communicate existing contract provisions and services among personnel involved in the center’s many different programs.
Lee also helped start the center’s Asians Succeeding in Innovation and Aerospace Employee Resource Group, a three-year-old organization established to promote inclusiveness. The organization does so by serving as a resource for guidance and mentoring.
“We reach out to hundreds and hundreds of people,” Lee said. “We bring in speakers for lessons learned, to discuss leadership and communications skills. The goal is to find an environment that is compatible for everyone.”
Lee's sense of team play and leadership surfaced quickly after she left a contract position to join NASA at JSC in mid-2007 to help steer efforts to obtain certification for the agency's computer information systems.
"It had not been a federal agency requirement, although industry had been doing that for years," Lee recalled. "Then, NASA had an urgent need. So, when this opportunity came up, I shared a lot of my past experiences in how to look at different information systems, the structures, internal controls and how they integrate and the different parts of the testing to lay out a program to help get us certified. We accomplished our goal in about eight months with help from many contractors and civil servants."
JSC was one of the leading two centers that completed the first IT system certification.
Lee’s well-travelled upbringing reaches back to her native China, where she spent much of her youth, and Hong Kong.
Lee was born in Shilong, then a small town in the Guangdong Province of China. She was raised there primarily by her grandparents, while her father and mother ran a trading company in Hong Kong. Her grandfather, a medical doctor, owned a company that manufactured musical instruments. Some of the proceeds supported a local hospital, where Lee was often at his side.
"He was innovative, a compassionate leader," she said. "He taught me that there is more than one way to solve a problem, be humble, and that if you learn in as many ways as you can, you will find joy in learning."
At 13, Lee and her four brothers and sister joined their parents in Hong Kong. Her schooling there revealed talents in math and literature and produced an opportunity to start a school newspaper, an experience that introduced her to the value of sharing experiences among colleagues.
Lee came to the United States for her higher education, which she began while in Orlando, Florida, where her father had a real estate investment. After her father immigrated to Canada, Lee had to work two jobs to pay for her college. She chose Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, accounting and financial information systems, as well as business administration. In Ohio, she was close to parents and family who had settled in Toronto.
While in Cleveland, she married Ho-Jun Lee, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. In 2005, his professional interests brought him to JSC, where he now works in Safety and Mission Assurance supporting both the Orion and Commercial Crew Programs.
“I’m so proud we are both in the national space program,” Lee said.
The Lee’s have a daughter, Christina, 12, and a son, Alexander, 9. The youngsters are the primary focus of the couple’s lives outside of work.
Both children study piano and violin. Lee has found new outlets for her financial skills by serving as treasurer of the Bay Area Youth Symphony and the Westbrook Intermediate School Orchestra Booster Club.
Whatever Joreen Lee is thinking, there's a good chance she has an eye on what's outside the box.
An outlook suited for an innovation-spirited rocket scientist, maybe—but what about an impressively credentialed auditor from the Internal Control Office staff of Johnson Space Center’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?
"I always believe in working with no boundaries," Lee said, whose duties are focused on finding ways for NASA to obtain the most from its many contracts while shaping its accounting and Information Technology (IT) practices to make that happen in the most efficient, customer-friendly way.
"We may be working in the CFO office, but it's really helpful to think outside the box," Lee said. "Our office emphasis is on making an impact and outside of the CFO. What do they really need? By finding out, we can be more impactful. We tend to think we are limited by what we already know, but if we combine that with existing or some to-be-rolled-out technology, along with anticipated needs, we can find a different way of thinking."
Currently, she’s applying her outlook across two JSC initiatives.
The Strategic Acquisition and Forecast Evaluation project was started late last year on a fast track to better communicate existing contract provisions and services among personnel involved in the center’s many different programs.
Lee also helped start the center’s Asians Succeeding in Innovation and Aerospace Employee Resource Group, a three-year-old organization established to promote inclusiveness. The organization does so by serving as a resource for guidance and mentoring.
“We reach out to hundreds and hundreds of people,” Lee said. “We bring in speakers for lessons learned, to discuss leadership and communications skills. The goal is to find an environment that is compatible for everyone.”
Lee's sense of team play and leadership surfaced quickly after she left a contract position to join NASA at JSC in mid-2007 to help steer efforts to obtain certification for the agency's computer information systems.
"It had not been a federal agency requirement, although industry had been doing that for years," Lee recalled. "Then, NASA had an urgent need. So, when this opportunity came up, I shared a lot of my past experiences in how to look at different information systems, the structures, internal controls and how they integrate and the different parts of the testing to lay out a program to help get us certified. We accomplished our goal in about eight months with help from many contractors and civil servants."
JSC was one of the leading two centers that completed the first IT system certification.
Lee’s well-travelled upbringing reaches back to her native China, where she spent much of her youth, and Hong Kong.
Lee was born in Shilong, then a small town in the Guangdong Province of China. She was raised there primarily by her grandparents, while her father and mother ran a trading company in Hong Kong. Her grandfather, a medical doctor, owned a company that manufactured musical instruments. Some of the proceeds supported a local hospital, where Lee was often at his side.
"He was innovative, a compassionate leader," she said. "He taught me that there is more than one way to solve a problem, be humble, and that if you learn in as many ways as you can, you will find joy in learning."
At 13, Lee and her four brothers and sister joined their parents in Hong Kong. Her schooling there revealed talents in math and literature and produced an opportunity to start a school newspaper, an experience that introduced her to the value of sharing experiences among colleagues.
Lee came to the United States for her higher education, which she began while in Orlando, Florida, where her father had a real estate investment. After her father immigrated to Canada, Lee had to work two jobs to pay for her college. She chose Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio, to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business, accounting and financial information systems, as well as business administration. In Ohio, she was close to parents and family who had settled in Toronto.
While in Cleveland, she married Ho-Jun Lee, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. In 2005, his professional interests brought him to JSC, where he now works in Safety and Mission Assurance supporting both the Orion and Commercial Crew Programs.
“I’m so proud we are both in the national space program,” Lee said.
The Lee’s have a daughter, Christina, 12, and a son, Alexander, 9. The youngsters are the primary focus of the couple’s lives outside of work.
Both children study piano and violin. Lee has found new outlets for her financial skills by serving as treasurer of the Bay Area Youth Symphony and the Westbrook Intermediate School Orchestra Booster Club.