Deanna Lee

Deanna Lee is a communications and public engagement executive and writer. She serves as senior adviser at Carnegie Corporation of New York, and is a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. Previously Deanna was Chief Communications and Digital Strategies Officer at Carnegie Corporation, overseeing communications strategy—including media relations, programmatic dissemination, publications, and public engagement—and Corporation web initiatives and the development of new distribution channels. Previously, she was the VP for Communications and Marketing at The New York Public Library. In 2011, she launched the groundbreaking Biblion: The Boundless Library Apple Hall of Fame iPad education app. Deanna also served as VP of Communications at Asia Society, following a 20-year career in broadcast journalism. As overseas producer for ABC News Nightline, she worked in the former Yugoslavia, Israel and the Middle East, Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Australia. In Africa, she covered famine and the U.S. deployment in Somalia, the election of Nelson Mandela, and AIDS in Uganda. In Asia she reported on global environmental, health, and demographic concerns; and covered the death of Deng Xiaoping, the Hong Kong handover, and the resurgence of Shanghai as a world financial center. Deanna was a Senior Producer at ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings then Charles Gibson. She is the recipient of eight Emmy Awards and one duPont-Columbia Award. Deanna is first generation Chinese American. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University in Music, and English and American Literature. In May 2013, Deanna was elected to the Harvard University Board of Overseers.