Lee Price

N. Lee S. Price is a United States Army officer and serves as the Program Executive Officer for the U.S. Army's Program Executive Office, Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T), headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. In this position, Price guides a workforce of more than 1,800 personnel who execute an annual budget of $4 billion. Price became the first female Program Executive Officer for the Army in November 2009 when she took her current assignment as the PEO for C3T. Within one year of Maj. Gen. Price’s tenure, PEO C3T was awarded the David Packard award, the Department of Defense acquisition community’s highest award. The dedicated PEO C3T team works by the Warfighter’s side in training and theater locations throughout the world. They acquire, sustain and support the networked mission command solutions that bring technological dominance to present and future Warfighters. In July 2008, Price became the first woman in the Army Acquisition Corps to be nominated to the rank of Brigadier General. She also was the first woman selected to general officer while serving in a special operations unit. Price was nominated by President Barack Obama to the grade of Major General on July 27, 2011. The Senate confirmed this nomination on Nov. 10, 2011. Price is a certified member of the Army Acquisition Corps. Price was promoted to Major General on March 2, 2012.

Early life and education
Price attended the Shades Valley High School in Birmingham, Alabama, and earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She also earned her Master's degree in information systems, from the University of Arizona, and another Master’s degree, from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.

Career
Price began her military career in 1975 as a private first class in the Alabama National Guard. She was commissioned through Officer Candidate School (Alabama Military Academy), and she was then part of the Women's Army Corps. Upon its disestablishment in October 1978, she was transferred to the U.S. Army Signal Corps. She entered active duty in October 1981. Price has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C.

As the U.S. Army’s first female Program Executive Officer (PEO), Price guides the Program Executive Office, Command Control Communications-Tactical (C3T) workforce of more than 1,800 personnel who execute an annual budget of $4 billion. The dedicated PEO C3T team works by the Warfighter’s side in training and theater locations throughout the world. They acquire, sustain and support the networked mission command solutions that bring technological dominance to present and future Warfighters. Within one year of Price’s tenure, which began in November 2009, PEO C3T was awarded the David Packard award, the Department of Defense acquisition community’s highest award.

In 2004, Price received the Army Acquisition Excellence Project Manager (PM) of the Year Award as PM Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (DCATS). As PM DCATS, she managed programs valued at more than $2 billion. One was a $300 million project to build a commercial communications network in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. With this came the fielding of the first Very Small Aperture Satellite Terminals to combat service support troops and an effort that more than quadrupled deliveries of Land Mobile Radio systems to numerous Department of Defense forces and government agencies. During her subsequent three-year tenure as the Deputy Acquisition Executive for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Price was responsible for providing more than $3 billion per year of specialized equipment for service-wide National and Theater Special Operators. The USSOCOM acquisitions focused on delivering mission-critical products such as body armor, aircraft, sensors, radios, watercraft and ammunition within six months from validation to delivery.

Price’s more than 25 years of acquisition experience includes a wide range of other assignments such as product manager, Theater Automated Command and Control Information Management System in Seoul, Korea from 1998-2000. Up against the Y2K deadline, her team flawlessly replaced the Y2K non-compliant Command and Control System in South Korea. Its replacement is used by all U.S. forces, as well as the South Korean Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

Medals and ribbons
Her awards include the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army), Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (five awards), the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Army Staff Badge and the Combat Action Badge. In 2009, Price was inducted into the Alabama Business and Professional Women’s Foundation Academy of Honor.