Ann Lee
Co-Founder and CEO, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)
Ann Young Lee is CEO of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), an international NGO focused on emergency response, preparedness and community building that she co-founded with Sean Penn. CORE has responded to crises including the Los Angeles wildfires, Hurricane Helene, Ukraine war, COVID-19 pandemic, and Haiti, where Lee has lived for seven years. With over two decades of humanitarian sector experience, she previously led urban humanitarian response for the U.N. secretary general’s 2015 World Humanitarian Summit. Lee has also been an independent consultant working with USAID’s Office of Crisis Surge Support Staff and a senior program officer with the Women’s Refugee Commission. She received the 2009 Truman Award from the Society for International Development and was a featured speaker at SXSW and Brilliant Minds