Chris Lee is the founder and director of the University of Hawai‘i Academy for Creative Media System (ACM). Lee has also been a motion picture and television producer, and, as the president of production at TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures, the first Asian American or minority to run production at a Hollywood studio.

Now supporting 16 programs across all ten UH campuses, ACM is a catalyst to diversify the stateʻs economy away from its overwhelming dependence on tourism and a platform for the indigenous stories of Hawai‘i to be told through cinema, video games, computer animation immersive environments and social media. Reflecting the unique cultural diversity of Hawaiʻi, ACM is the first majority Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander media school in the country. 

Most recently, ACM opened its $37-million Student Production Center at UH West O‘ahu and is now developing the stateʻs first motion picture, television and streaming studio complex on 34 acres at UHWO.

Lee is a graduate of ‘Iolani High School and holds a degree in Political Science from Yale University.