Howard Lee is President of Discovery Networks and TLC where he oversees all creative and business operations including programming, production, and development for Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and Travel Channel. Under Lee’s stewardship, TLC has broken multiple performance records, and his leadership is the driving force behind the network’s ongoing evolution as the leading destination for female audiences. In Lee’s first year overseeing the Discovery Channel, Shark Week, the week-long celebration of apex predators, became the highest rated programming event for the network in three years and made history with all seven nights outperforming the previous year.

Lee’s natural creative instinct has built TLC’s pop culture brand and relevance. Among numerous hit series to his credit, he developed and greenlit the ratings juggernaut 90 Day Fiancé franchise, which propelled TLC to rank #1 for women in cable on Sunday nights over the past 5 years and has boomed with over 5.2 billion hours of consumed content; the breakout top-rated series Dr. Pimple Popper; the bold reality tv series that turned the country’s head Here Comes Honey Boo Boo; the explosive social media phenomenon 1000-lb Sisters, and has launched a myriad of brand-defining programs including Sister Wives, Say Yes to the Dress, Cake Boss, Toddlers and Tiaras, Long Island Medium, I am Jazz, and My Big Fat Fabulous Life.

Lee has been repeatedly named to Variety’s Reality TV Power Players Report, recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s 50 Most Powerful LGBTQ Players, Out’s LGBTQ+ Titans of Media and Entertainment List, Cablefax’s Top 100 Power Players list, and honored as Adweek’s Executive of the Year in 2020. He proudly leads the network’s pro-social initiatives focused on diversity, acceptance, and inclusion.

Lee received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for Film and Television.