Col. John W. Lee is the J-8 Chief Financial Officer at the Defense Heath Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. The J-8 consists of multiple sub-directorates: Budget Execution, Budget Integration, Budget and Execution, Financial and Accounting, Audit, Facilities, and Cost Management. Lee manages a portfolio of over $34 billion. The healthcare system consists of over 500 military hospitals and clinics worldwide that service over 9.5 million beneficiaries. Lee provides leadership over the business planning, fiscal execution, payroll, revenue cycle management, cost accounting, decision support, analytics, profit/loss, and modeling functions for the J8. There are over 900 employees within the directorate.
Lee is a native of Maryland and graduated from Auburn University (War Eagle) with a bachelor's degree in Microbiology. His degrees include a master's degree in Strategic Studies, Army War College; Master of Business Administration, University of Texas, Texas; a master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Baylor University, Texas; and a mater's degree from National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington, D.C.
Lee was assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, as Deputy Chief Financial Officer. Lee was then assigned to the Office of the Surgeon General, Falls Church, Virginia for the CFO Leadership Fellowship. Lee was assigned to multiple Regional Health Commands; one with the Western command (2014) and the other with the Atlantic Command (2016) with a combined operating budget of over $3.6 Billion. In 2019 he was promoted to be the Director Program and Analysis and Evaluation for Army Office of the Surgeon General. Lee’s last assignment with the Army as the CFO of Army Medical Command where he oversaw a $12B portfolio.
His professional and board-certified credentials are Certified Defense Financial Manager-Acquisition Specialty, Defense Financial Management Certified Program-LV 3, Project Management Professional, and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Among his awards and decorations are Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, with four oak leaf clusters, Army Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Ribbon, Iraqi Campaign Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Overseas Service Ribbon, the Order of Military Medical Merit, Expert Field Medical Badge, and Air Assault Badge. He received his 9A proficiency designation signifying his expertise in his field and the Order of Military Merit Award. In 2024 his was awarded the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award by the Asian American Business Development Center.