Alberta Lewis Lee Executive Vice President and Chief People and Culture Officer Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group

Born: Saginaw, Mich.

Education: Saginaw Valley State University, College of Business and Management, B.B.A., marketing; Central Michigan University, M.S.A., general administration; Saginaw Valley State University, honorary doctorate in business administration

Family: Spouse, Cecil B Lee; children, Cameron Lee and C.J. (Jocelyn) Lee; grandchild, Cypress Rose Lee

Why she’s a Game Changer

Lee has made people and culture a competitive advantage at Rock Entertainment Group, driving inclusive leadership and talent development while helping shape Cleveland’s WNBA launch and building a workplace model that resonates across sports.

Alberta Lewis Lee is Rock Entertainment Group’s chief people and culture officer for a reason: She makes sure human beings rock the company.

If you work for any of Dan Gilbert’s teams — the NBA’s Cavaliers, the WNBA’s Sirens, the AHL’s Monsters or the G League’s Charge — you know all about Lee’s initiatives. They are all designed to bring out the best in REG’s 2,327 team members.

Her Total Rewards platform is about life balance. She went to CEO Nic Barlage to say, “How about we do something that actually allows our team members to press the pause button for longer than a week?” What transpired were “milestone” perks: Once an employee reaches the 10-year mark, they can step away for four weeks to recharge. The program also encompasses enhanced parental leave and financial assistance for infertility, surrogacy, adoption and egg preservation.

Lee is one of several Black women at REG who ideated a resource group empowering female employees, aptly called empowHER. It focuses on mentorship and women’s health with a goal of advancing women up the corporate ladder. Under her watch, 38.6% of REG’s full-time team members are women and 32.2% of women hold leadership positions within REG.

Lee’s daily mission is so much about culture that she helped formulate the company’s “culture anthem,” which is: This is bigger than games, shows and stats. It’s about belonging, pride and progress. She also encapsulates it all for every employee with a customized “Your Book,” the company’s version of a yearbook that she said is a year-in-review of their benefits, trips, perks and highlights of working at REG.

“All of those things, I think, get me up every morning excited to come in here,” Lee said. “I would say I find that it brings me joy. And when you can have satisfaction but also have joy with it — it’s not a bad gig.”