Invited Speakers

Born in Hong Kong, Alex Lee moved to New York City in 1980 to attend Parsons School of Design where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with honors in Product Design.  He then joined the firm of Michael Graves, Architect and spent eight years designing a broad array of products for companies ranging from Alessi to Steelcase.  After returning to school and earning his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University in 1994, Alex joined OXO International, a New York City based Housewares manufacturer.  In 1996 he was promoted to Managing Director and, shortly thereafter, to his current position as President of OXO.

Alex is a full member of the Industrial Designers Society of America and served on the Board of Advisors for the National Industries for the Blind from 2001 to 2005 and on the Board of Governors for the Parsons School of Design from 1997 to 2001.  He has won numerous design and business awards including the I.D. Award given by the Magazine of International Design, and was named one of the Forty Rising Start Under Forty in 2000 by Crain’s New York Business Magazine.  Under his management, OXO’s sales have increased over 12 folds, while the company received many awards and distinctions.  Among them are eleven IDEA Awards given by the Industrial Designers Society of America, including the Design of the Decade award for the 1990’s, and being named one of the Fifty Greatest Design Hits of the 20th Century by The New York Times Magazine.  The use of Universal Design as a business strategy has made OXO and Alex the subject of numerous articles in newspapers, magazines and trade journals from The Washington Post to Asahi Shimbun in Japan.