Kathryn Lee

Kathryn Lee directs RULER for Families at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, bringing 25 years of educational experience and interpersonal communication training to her coaching. In her coaching role, she works with both individual school leaders and leadership teams to include education about emotions, and ultimately to transform the culture of their schools through emotionally intelligent leadership practices. She was trained as a coach for school leaders through Star Factor and Seedlings, and will be studying at the Harvard Institute of Coaching this fall.

As the director of RULER for Families at Yale, Kathryn sets the vision, develops resources and creates pathways for engaging parents in cultivating their own sense of wellbeing, while strengthening their relationships and the protective factors needed to bolster emotional resilience for children and help them succeed.

Prior to her work at Yale, Kathryn was an educator and senior administrator at an independent school in California. Her most recent job title was the “Director of Innovation, Partnerships, and Service.” As a school leader, Kathryn spearheaded and developed an integrated K-8 service learning program, galvanized efforts to become an award winning green school, founded an alumni action award to celebrate graduates who were working for the greater good, kicked off a school-wide response to Hurricane Katrina, initiated a TEDx conference on Compassion in Education, and introduced RULER – all actions designed to boost optimism, a sense of agency, and an emotional climate of civic engagement and care.

Kathryn graduated from the University of the Pacific with a B.A. in Human Development, and did her graduate work at Mills College in Early Childhood Education. She has a 26-year-old son who is a jazz musician, composer and educator in Los Angeles, California.