Lee Lowery

Vice President, Association Management & Consulting

1. Other than CEO Tom Gibson, you are the longest-tenured McLean office talent. How did you start working here?
I’ve been at MCI USA since 2000, so 18 years. When I started, the company was called Association Management Bureau (AMB); the first client I worked with was the American Society of Women Accountants, and my title was administrator. Before that I had been in the workforce for four years –mostly at the Pentagon, supporting the Air Force’s planning for space and satellite programs. I realized I needed a change, so I assessed my skillset and interests, and realized they were a great fit for the association management profession. At the time, I had family who worked in associations, so I knew a little bit about them. My aunt passed me a few recent hardcopy issues of Association Trends where I found an ad for an administrator position at the Association Management Bureau, and I applied.

2. What do you want colleagues to know about you?
I’m a person who has successfully made my association management career here at this company. I started at the entry level and I’ve worked my way up from associate to vice president, and currently serve as a chief staff executive for a couple of clients. I try to support and mentor younger professionals by demonstrating how they can be successful and build a career here.

3. What do you like best about your job?
The exposure to such a variety of interesting professions and communities, and the people within them. In my work roles alone, I’ve learned about accounting and finance, school health, psychiatric rehabilitation, association publishing, a painful bladder condition called interstitial cystitis, and window cleaning – and, by extension through my colleagues, I’ve been exposed to so much more.

4. I hear you’ve got Jim and Pam from TV’s The Office beat – tell us about how MCI USA (formerly AMB) played a role in you meeting your husband.
My husband, Mike, was here for two years before me. At the time, he was the entire events department – and I think the only other guy here after Tom. My client’s annual conference was two months into the job, so we naturally spent a lot of professional time together and quickly became good friends. A couple of years later, while attending an AMB holiday party, we realized that we were more than friends and began dating. And a couple of years after that, we got married in 2004. Appropriately, we had an AMB table at the wedding including Tom and Suzanne Gibson as well as Amy Lotz and others from the company who helped us celebrate the Big Day. I think it’s safe to say that my life would have taken quite a different course if I had not made that fateful decision to accept the AMB job offer back in 2000.

5. What’s a talent that most colleagues don’t know about?
I am second to none in my parallel parking skills.