Glen Lee serves as the City Finance Director for the City of Seattle. In this role Glen is responsible for many of the City’s financial functions including administration of City taxes, accounting, general liability insurance programs, debt management, cash investments, and payment processing. In addition, Lee oversees each of the City’s retirement systems and the City’s partnerships with Public Development Authorities including Pike Place Market.
Prior to his appointment as Seattle’s Finance Director, Lee managed the Economics & Fiscal Management Team of the Seattle City Department of Finance. In this capacity, he oversaw City revenue forecasting, City fiscal planning and management, and the assessment of fiscal policies implemented by the State of Washington. He has been with the City’s fiscal office since 1994.
Lee has served on several advisory groups including the Association of Washington Cities’ Legislative Fiscal Subcommittee, the Streamlined Tax Mitigation Advisory Committee of the Washington Department of Revenue, and Seattle Public Schools’ Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. In addition, he served as a consultant to the Republic of Poland’s efforts to implement a property tax system to support local government.
Lee is an instructor for the Government Finance Officers Association and served on the Economics Department Advisory Board for Seattle University.
Prior to working at the City, Lee was a fiscal and policy analyst with the California state legislature, where his assignments included tax policy, revenue forecasting and tax administration.
Lee has an undergraduate degree in resource economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed graduate studies in economics at California State University, Sacramento.
He is past president of the Sister City Association for Seattle and the northern Polish City of Gdynia. Lee is a recent recipient of the prestigious Amicus Poloniae award, given to American citizens for extraordinary accomplishments in the development of Polish-American relations.
Glen and his wife Barbara live in Bellevue and have two children, ages 15 and 16.