Meet Ms. Kelly Lee, the Director for Plans and Programs at Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) in Washington, D.C.
Lee immigrated to United States from South Korea with her parents and five siblings when she was 13 years old; and, while she was focused on learning how to read and write in English, she seamlessly exceled in math. Her interest in the subject led her to explore various careers, including teaching, but she realized quickly it wasn’t quite the career she wanted to pursue. After speaking with her college counselor, she learned more about engineering careers, which set her on course to become a Navy civilian and one of SSP’s trailblazing leaders.


“I always had a passion for architecture, so I decided to major in that during my first year in college,” Lee said. “I made the switch to engineering shortly after because there were more job opportunities in that field, and I needed to ensure I had a job after graduation to pay off college loans.”

She attended Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where she balanced her rigorous engineering course work with a part-time job during the week and on weekends to pay for her expenses. She graduated Georgia Tech with her Bachelor of Science in industrial and systems engineering in 1984 and immediately began her federal career with Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington.

“I knew I wanted to be in the D.C. area because it was a place that had all four seasons and was within a three-hour drive to the mountains and the ocean,” Lee said. “When NAVSEA offered me the job, I decided to take it based on its location. I started as an intern with their Engineering Intern Program and had the opportunity to be part of a special assignment with the in-house design team of a naval surface ship.”
 
At NAVSEA, Lee gained exposure to hull, mechanical, and electrical (HME) systems, and even supported a temporary detail with the Surface Ship Survivability Program at the Pentagon. Although NAVSEA’s internship program is typically a two-year endeavor, Lee completed it in one year. After spending about five years at NAVSEA, she decided it was time to make a change.
 
She learned about SSP through USAJOBS – noting there was little public information about the work of the U.S. Navy nuclear program – and although she did not know much about the command at the time, she applied for the opportunity and was impressed by her interviewers.

“The two gentlemen that interviewed me turned out to be my bosses – I could tell they were so passionate about their work, about the mission, and about everything they were doing,” she said. “It was infectious; they made me want to join their team. That’s how you convince people to be part of your team. It’s about how you show your enthusiasm for what you are doing.”

Lee joined SSP’s Missile Branch in 1990 as a strategic weapons facility operations engineer and was assigned work at the Polaris Missile Facility, Atlantic (POMFLANT) in Charleston, South Carolina.  Established in 1955, SSP is the Navy command responsible for maintaining and modernizing the Navy’s sea-launched Strategic Weapon System (SWS) aboard ballistic missile submarines (SSBN). SSP has played a critical role in the development and sustainment of the nation’s sea-based leg of the nuclear triad throughout the history of the nuclear deterrence. . POMFLANT, according to Lee, was SSP’s first missile processing facility where the Polaris missile – the Navy’s first SWS – was built.

“My responsibility at that time was to manage the missile processing and operations of the facility, which included retiring Poseidon (C3) and Trident I (C4) weapon systems,” she said. “With the Cold War coming to an end and with Trident II coming online in Kings Bay, Georgia, POMFLANT was disestablished.  It was my job to shut down POMFLANT and establish the SWFLANT detachment at Charleston for rocket motor storage and eventual disposal.”

Lee also supported the closing of the United Kingdom’s Polaris (A3) Program.

In 2000, she was selected to lead the Launcher Operations Engineering Section for SSP, taking on a new challenge and broadening her knowledge and experiences. 
 
“I wanted to learn other subsystems and other branches within SSP,” Lee said. “I have always wanted to expand my knowledge across the enterprise and gaining this launcher experience provided me a deeper understanding of the importance of all subsystems to ensure success of the nuclear deterrence mission.”

As she acquired more knowledge about the SWS, Lee began to develop a well-rounded understanding of the branches within SSP. In 2005, she assumed a new role as the first section head for the new missile branch integration section and, three years later, she moved again, but this time to serve as a special assistant to SSP’s technical director. This experience afforded her a unique opportunity to directly support the director for SSP in establishing the Nuclear Weapon Senior Leaders Oversight Council, which is now known as the Navy Nuclear Deterrence Mission Council.

While she did not plan to pursue the Senior Executive Service (SES) track, her work experiences up to this point were making her a favorable candidate.

In 2009, Lee accepted a program manager position charged with leading and implementing the Navy’s Enterprise Resource Planning System (N-ERP) at SSP headquarters and six of its field sites. N-ERP is the Navy’s integrated business management system that modernizes and standardizes Navy business operations. Prior to this change management at SSP, the command had its own legacy business system that was designed specifically for SSP’s business process. Leading N-ERP deployment at SSP not only afforded Lee a new challenge in running a command-wide business process, but also provided her the chance to demonstrate her leadership skills.

“This opportunity put me outside my comfort zone – it was an opportunity to demonstrate my ability to lead a significant program and deliver results within an externally driven timeline,” she said. “It was a great opportunity to gain external engagement experiences and to meet SSP employees across the entire enterprise. This was a major change management effort that I was able to lead and – in fact – this experience is what prompted me to become an SES.”

Lee became a member of the prestigious SES community in May 2013, soon after a successful deployment of N-ERP at SSP. As a SES, Lee assumed SSP’s Assistant of Missile Production, Assembly, and Operations position and spent five years in this role advocating for Strategic Weapons Facilities (SWF) and other SSP Field Activities. She also oversaw Trident II Missile Production and Operations. When the Director for Plans and Programs SES position became available, Lee jumped at the opportunity.

“I really wanted to be in the Plans and Programs Division – SP10 – because the position gives the opportunity to make a difference for the workforce,” she said. “When I was in the missile branch, I started the branch intern program and attended college career fairs to recruit engineering students for the branch, establishing a talent pipeline. I wanted to expand on that in this position.”
 
Upon appointment as the Director for Plans and Programs, Lee got to work implementing new initiatives to recruit talented candidates, improving the command’s world-class workforce. Under her strategic vision and guidance, SSP published its first Human Capital Operating Plan that included many of the workforce initiatives to strengthen the organization.  Some of the major initiatives Lee led were the command-wide Student Intern and Developmental Employee Programs, Subject Matter Expert (SME) Track and the Newcomer On-Boarding Workshop (NOW).

For the command’s Developmental Employee Program, Lee was initially focused on establishing a SSP managed talent pipeline program for the command’s engineering workforce. The program has evolved since then to feature developmental employees across a range of divisions, including acquisition and business fields, to support the command’s strategic deterrence mission.

“We’ve grown the program since it started and we’ve ensured it is effective,” Lee said. “We started with a small number of positions and have maintained a good retention record. Today, we are up to 50 developmental employee positions. This program has a pool of billets that we use to transition student interns and bring in other individuals who have recently graduated from college, and it allows us – SSP – to tailor the program to adjust as command needs evolve.”

Lee also focused on creating a program to support integrating new employees to the command’s values as an important part of building and sustaining the command culture.

“I began to notice new hires were becoming overwhelmed with the information we were showing them on a PowerPoint on their first few days,” Lee said. “So, I looked into establishing a one-year program that could build comradery, where new hires have a cohort that started on the same day. My vision was to spread out the learning of our command to avoid the ‘drinking from the fire-hose’ feeling. SSP NOW is intended to give new employees basic knowledge about our organization during the first week and to provide periodic segments during their first year. This includes field trips to one of the SWFs to better understand how the weapon systems are assembled, tested, and provided to the warfighters.”

SSP NOW, which piloted in 2023, provides new hires essential information about the command’s organization, history, culture, technical tenants, and partnerships. New employees also receive extensive knowledge about the command’s supporting Field Activities and Program Management Offices located across the United States, during periodic segments scheduled throughout a new hire’s first year of employment at the command.

“It takes time to inculcate to the SSP culture and to connect to the mission, so this program affords us the opportunity to guide and integrate our entry level team members into our workforce,” she said. “It helps them to understand the importance of the work we are executing in support of national security.”
 
Lee also recalled being impressed by the amount of technical knowledge missile branch engineers had when she first arrived in the 90s and how SSP held organic knowledge in some of the unique competencies required for nuclear weapon systems. To strengthen the culture of growing deep technical knowledge for the organization, Lee collaborated with SSP’s chief engineer to initiate an SME track program formalizing technical competency growth across an engineering career continuum. This effort laid out a clear path within the program to strategically grow the deep technical expertise needed to sustain and modernize Trident II weapon systems.
 
Another significant accomplishment Lee achieved for the command was introducing Scientific and Professional (ST) executive level positions, which are specialized roles involving high level research, design, and development in a variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM)-related fields. ST positions provide the SSP workforce with an alternative pathway to non-supervisory technical executive leadership. According to Lee, this is a pinnacle position for SME track employees to strive for if they are interested in an executive level position. As of 2025, SSP boasts three ST executives at the command
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Today, Lee has dedicated more than 39 years to federal service and has been one of the command’s most influential leaders. Her efforts have directly contributed to the organization’s world-class workforce and enhanced SSP’s capabilities. Apart from being mission-focused, Lee continues to be a strong advocate for creating a supportive and welcoming workplace environment for all.

When she is away from the office, she enjoys partaking in outdoor activities, such as hiking, biking, and skiing, with her family. In fact, one of her favorite milestones was trekking to the base camp of Mount Everest. Some of her other hobbies include singing and watching opera.