Suzy Lee’s influence at ITT Cannon LLC runs much deeper than running an in-house legal department in three countries.
The general counsel of one of the company’s units, ITT Interconnect Solutions, which manufactures electrical connectors in Irvine, also serves as vice president of the ITT Cannon management team, a delicate balancing act that sometimes pits straight-line legal pragmatism with strategic risks in growing the business.
“If you always play it safe or maintain the status quo, we wouldn’t have smartphones, we wouldn’t have flat-screen TVs, we wouldn’t have automobiles run by computers,” said Lee, who has played a key role in ITT’s turnaround plan, which included a split into three publicly listed companies four years ago.
“We had this 100-year history, and with any business with a long history, you have ups and downs,” said Lee, who received the General Counsel Award in the public-company category at the Business Journal’s sixth annual event on Nov. 19 at the Hotel Irvine (see related stories pages 1, 4, 5 and 6). “We lost our place in the market to some degree, but now we’re coming back. We’re investing a great deal in new technology and innovation. We’re looking at growing our business.”
White Plains, N.Y.-based ITT Cannon has about 250 employees and accounts for about $400 million in revenue here for parent company ITT Corp., which had about $2.7 billion in revenue last year.
History
The company—which James Cannon established in 1915 in a subleased room in downtown Los Angeles before moving it to his backyard shed under debt during World War I—supplied electrical connectors in several firsts, including military planes, movie projectors and the shuttle to the moon.
“We have a very rich and long history,” Lee said. “We want to regain our position as the top electronic connector manufacturer of harsh environments and regain our position as the market innovator.”
A 10-year lease she recently helped negotiate with Newport Beach-based Irvine Company on a 300,000-square-foot property at 10 Technology Drive in the Spectrum represents a commitment to the future in terms of company innovation and fostering talent in the region, according to Lee.
Most of ITT’s manufacturing is handled in Europe; Shenzhen, China; and Nogales, Mexico, where she led the purchase of ITT Interconnect Solutions’ plant, now the company’s largest factory.
Lee is big on activism and philanthropy, serving on the board of the Pacific Symphony Youth Ensembles; the Orange County Bar Association; Orange County Korean American Bar Association; Association of Corporate Counsel-Orange County Chapter; Orange County Business Council; U.S.-Korea Law Foundation Board of Advisors; Human Options Sisterhood; and Pacific Symphony 100.
She also volunteers with Girls Scouts of Orange County, Vista Verde School, and Turtle Rock Elementary School in Irvine.
Off-Center
The New York native helped establish Off-Center, a collective launched by a committee of local lawyers and educators in concert with the University of California-Irvine’s art department. The organization aims to support and promote the county’s fine-arts scene and enhance interaction between the business and art sectors.
“The arts are a great passion of mine,” said Lee, who studied fine arts and art history during her undergraduate years at Cornell University and seriously considered becoming an artist.
“Supporting cultural and educational organizations is very important for any community. They offer a lot of enrichment and a lot of opportunities for people.”
