Thai Lee’s Organic Path to a Multi-Billion-Dollar Empire
By James Moreau | 10 Dec, 2025

Thai Lee grew SHI International from a small software reseller into a $16B tech powerhouse and is now spearheading innovation with a new AI focus.

Thai Lee is President and CEO of SHI International, the largest Minority- and Woman-Owned Business Enterprise in the U.S. with over $16 billion in annual revenues.

Lee and then-husband Leo Koguan decided to pay less than $1 million for a failing software reseller in 1989 because its client list included major companies like IBM and AT&T.

Lee renamed their purchase Software House International to reflect their global ambitions.  Initially Lee held the Chairman title while Koguan was CEO.  They quickly swapped titles after seeing that Lee was better at running day-to-day operation.

Lee’s skilled leadership allowed the company to grow organically, thereby preserving their stake in the absence of large-scale mergers.

SHI International’s initial growth was based on securing and serving large enterprise clients.  Their early success solidified the firm’s strength in market segments that would evolve into Enterprise/Global and Public Sector divisions.

SHI is currently a provider of IT infrastructure, end-user computing, cybersecurity, and IT optimization products and services to schools and governmental agencies.  It’s headquartered in Piscataway, New Jersey, with 7,000 employees serving more than 17,000 organizations in 35 countries.  The firm is renowned for its industry-high 99% customer retention rate.

Recently SHI has invested heavily in artificial intelligence through its new AI & Cyber Labs to maintain its position as a technology innovator.

Today Lee’s net worth stands at $7.5B.

Prior to co-founding SHI Lee held roles at Procter & Gamble and American Express.

Lee’s given name reflects her birth in Bangkok to Korean parents who raised her in Korea until she attended high school in Massachusetts due to the efforts of Lee’s father, an economist, to secure the best education possible for his daughter.

In 1976 Lee enrolled at Amherst College as part of their first class to allow women.  She also became the first Korean American woman to enter Harvard Business School and earned an MBA in 1985.