Lee K. Lowery, MPA, CAE

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Areas of Expertise:

• External relationship building
• National conference management
• Financial analysis and budget management
• Board consensus building

Lee Lowery joined the American Society of Women Accountants (ASWA), a Coulter Nonprofit Management client, in August 2000. Prior to being named ASWA's executive director, Lowery served as the association's manager of membership services and its managing director. Throughout her tenure, Lowery has been integrally involved with the growth and development of several ASWA pinnacle programs and activities, including event content and management, leadership succession and governance, corporate and philanthropic fundraising, financial analysis, member relations, and chapter growth strategies.

Lowery has represented ASWA and its constituents externally through several women's leadership exchange events, including those sponsored by the American Society of Association Executives, American Women in Radio & Television, and the National Association of Women Business Owners. She has also built relationships with other accounting and financial organizations, including the American Woman's Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Institute of Management Accountants and the National Association of Enrolled Agents, broadening the overall benefits offered to ASWA's membership.

Lowery previously served as managing director for the Society of National Association Publications (now Association Media & Publishing), the national trade organization serving the needs of association publishers, communications professionals, and the media they create. Before that, Lowery served as a research analyst at Analytic Services Inc., which included a three-year tour at the Pentagon, where she provided budget analysis and training for over 30 space programs within the United States Air Force Space Acquisitions Department.

Lowery received her undergraduate degree from Roanoke College in Roanoke, Virginia and a graduate degree in public administration from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Lowery is a Circle Club Member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and presented at ASAE's 2010 Online Conference for Small Staff Associations on the topic of "5 Key Principles for Working with Volunteers."

Lowery, her husband, Mike, two sons and their dog reside in Arlington, Virginia.

Now, here's the backstory on Lee:

• Hometown: McLean, Virginia
• Parents: Mom has a government contractor job that has always contained secret elements that she could never share with me. My friends always thought she was a secret agent. Dad ran the family commercial cleaning business for many years and has since retired.
• Favorite TV shows as a kid: Facts of Life and Different Strokes
• Spent my days as a youth: Softball and field hockey. I was awarded with "second team all-district" honors for field hockey in my senior year of high school. I continued on to play Division III field hockey, where I proceeded to get my front teeth knocked out. I also won the elementary school spelling bee.
• Hobbies: Exploring new restaurants, traveling, and reading. Right now, most of my free time is devoted to my two young sons, leaving little time for my hobbies!
• First "paycheck" job: The Custard Shoppe. I served ice cream, prepared sandwiches, baked cookies, washed dishes, and mopped the floor – a true multi-tasker even early on!
• First car: 1976 Cutlass Supreme, baby-blue exterior with a white vinyl top. My mom purchased it at the local gas station for $800, and it was beloved by all and known as the "Land Cruiser," which described its enormous size. I could fit up to 10 scrawny teenagers in that car!
• First job after college: It's a secret – really! It has something to do with the government and national security, though.
• Thing you would most likely learn about me in the first five minutes of conversation: I get to the point.  Kind of like that.
• Perfect happiness is: These days its eight consecutive hours of sleep.
• If I had to do it all over again: I wouldn't worry so much. As they say, everything happens for a reason.