Lee Sanders Bio

Lee Sanders is President of Lee Sanders Strategy Group LLC providing strategic legislative ​and regulatory counsel to select clients in the food and agriculture arenas. She is a ​founder and the current President of the Society of Bakery Women, which serves as a ​platform to expand diversity in the baking industry through professional networking ​events and its scholarship program.

Formerly, she served as the American Bakers Association Senior Vice President, ​Government Relations and Public Affairs, as well as Corporate Secretary. In that role, Lee ​led the ABA government relations team representing the baking industry before ​Congress, federal agencies, state legislatures, and international policy-making bodies. She ​also led the Grain Chain, a Farm to Fork Coalition of eleven grain industry organizations ​that partner for unified strategy to promote and support nutritional benefit messaging for ​grain-based foods in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

She established and is a Past Chair for the Food and Beverage Issue Alliance that serves ​as a platform for communications for over 50 FDA-regulated food industry trade ​associations that work together to develop unified positions on nutrition and food safety ​issues meeting quarterly with FDA and other key federal government agencies.

Additionally, she sits on the Executive Committee for the Business Industry Political Action ​Committee (BIPAC). Sanders is a past chair of both the Wheat Quality Council and Cereal ​and Grains Association (formerly American Association of Cereal Chemists International ​(AACCI)) Milling and Baking Division. She served as a long-time Advisory Board member ​and as Chair of the Technical Committee for the American Society of Baking.

Before coming to the industry 30 years ago, Sanders served in several government roles ​including legislative aide to Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and as a political appointee in ​the Administration of George H.W. Bush.

In 2023, she was inducted into Marquis Who’s Who and was the 2021 recipient of the ​American Society of Baking’s Robert A. Fischer Distinguished Service Award. She also ​received the 2017 Full Kernel Award from the Wheat Quality Council for outstanding ​contributions to the improvement of wheat and flour quality in the United States. In 2009, ​Sanders was recognized as the AACCI Myron D. “Mike” Baustian Memorial Award recipient ​for outstanding service and received the Leadership Award from Baking & Snack ​Magazine.

Lee holds a B.A. Degree in Journalism from the University of Mississippi and currently sits ​on its Political Science Advisory Board. Additionally, she holds executive education ​certificates from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in Leading Teams ​for Growth and Change as well as Strategic Analysis and Decision-Making. Sanders is a ​Certified Association Executive (CAE), American Society of Association Executives.