Michelle Lee is the founder and CEO of Obsidian Strategies, a firm that advises companies on identifying AI opportunities with the highest ROI.
Previously, she was the VP of the Amazon Machine Learning Lab, a public company board director, a presidentially-appointed head of a $3+ billion government agency, and an MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab-trained computer scientist. She has deep expertise in scaling fast-growing companies with disruptive technologies and is a top intellectual property expert. She has advised some of the country’s most innovative companies and has a proven track record of driving strategic priorities in rapidly changing environments, navigating complex regulatory and legal landscapes, and managing high-profile risks and crises.
Michelle was the Deputy General Counsel at Google from 2003 – 2012, where she oversaw and implemented a comprehensive domestic and international patent strategy, growing the portfolio from a handful to over 10,500 patents. She also helped lead the acquisition and integration of numerous companies, including YouTube, Keyhole, and GrandCentral. After Google, Michelle was the CEO of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under the Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property during the Obama administration, where she acted as principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters. She was nominated by the U.S. President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. She is currently an Advisory Council Member at the MIT Media Lab and sits on the boards of Alarm.com and NAUTO. Michelle holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT and a JD from Stanford.