Thea Lee sits in a chair wearing a green and red patterned jacket over a black shirt. She has greay hair, and sits at a table with a sign that says "United States" on it

Thea Lee

Distinguished Visiting Practitioner at American University and former Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Department of Labor (2021 – 2025)

Thea Lee is a Distinguished Visiting Practitioner at the American University School of International Service Department of Politics, Governance, and Economics. She has been advocating for workers’ rights, domestically and internationally, for over thirty years. She served as Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Department of Labor from 2021 to 2025. In that capacity, she headed the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), which uses research, technical assistance, trade monitoring and enforcement, and labor diplomacy to strengthen workers’ rights globally. She was president of the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive pro-worker Washington think tank, from 2018 to 2021. From 1997 to 2017, Lee served as chief international economist, policy director, and deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO.