About Leigh
Leigh is a first-class problem solver and uses the scientific method as a world class Solutionary. Leigh is an innovator, business woman, educator, mentor and speaker. As a high-performing multi-tasker with a drive to empower women, she encourages them to lean in through education, self-actualization, extending opportunities and entrepreneurship. Her drive to support others as well as succeed in the world runs deep, and her capabilities are endless. She runs a portfolio of projects that address her interests, passions, and causes.
Leigh holds numerous positions in business and the community. She is a CEO and Co-Founder of Maven Roundtable’s Progressive Liberty, Co-Founder and Director of Mentored Pathways, Co-Founder of UC Berkeley’s global accelerator SkyDeck, and Co-Founder of New Zealand-based family winery Mt. Beautiful Wines. She is on the advisory boards of Claremont McKenna College’s Kravis Leadership Institute, Global Citizen Year and Kiwi Leadership USA. She also sits on the board of directors of Cal Berkeley’s Cal Performances, How Women Lead, and has recently accepted a leadership position for the Piedmont COVID-19 Taskforce. She’s currently spearheading an effort with Dr. David Brenner of Colombia University’s Center for Radiological Research in the use of 222nm ultraviolet light to destroy the COVID-19 virus.
Leigh earned her MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, and her BA from the University of Southern California’s School of International Relations. Her commitment to life-long learning is reflected in her receipt of Columbia University's School of Business's Certificate in Executive Education and her completion of Stanford University’s Design Thinking Bootcamp.
Portfolio of projects
Progressive Liberty
co-founder and CEO
2019 - Present
Progressive Liberty strives to create a solutions mindset to find answers of importance. Leigh is leading a team towards a new political movement in the United States. She participated in an exclusive team meetup with Seattle-based Maven.io, and continues to work with notable people such as founder Steve Heckmen and creator of EarthX’s Trammell Crow.
MT. BEAUTIFUL WINES
co-founder and owner - NEW ZEALAND
2000 - Present
Leigh has been passionate about New Zealand for over 30 years. While raising her children both in the United States and New Zealand, Leigh expanded her New Zealand interests to include a family home in Nelson, the Branches Station near Queenstown, the Eskhead Ranch in the Canterbury Plains, and the Mt. Beautiful Winery. The later two entities now comprise the Teece Family Farms, which markets wine, and grass-fed beef and lamb globally.
WORLD MENTOR
co-founder
2006 - Present
World Mentor connects students with mentors to inspire personal, career and leadership development. Leigh focuses on strategy, community participation, implementation and impact for World Mentor and its ground-breaking Mentored Pathways.
MENTORED PATHWAYS
Co-founder and Director
1995 - Present
Mentored Pathways is the highly-regarded primary program of World Mentor's 501c3, which was co-founded in by Leigh Teece, David Neils and Kurt Friedmann. Through Mentored Pathways, students are linked one-on-one with professionals in industry to engage in experiential learning projects over multiple years. Projects relate to the students' personal interests and/or curricular material at the high school and university levels. Experiential learning with professionals in industry brings material alive in a real world context. Students who are engaged in our experiential learning program have a great opportunity to develop critical-thinking skills and creative problem solving, which are widely recognized to be at the heart of learning the skills of innovation.
director
TEECE FAMILY FOUNDATION
1990 - Present
Teece Family Foundation has been in existence for over 20 years, and has supported the University of Pennsylvania, Bentley School, Philips Academy Andover, Kiwi Expat Association (KEA) and World Mentor among others. Focuses on supporting educational excellence in universities and high schools.
MUSEUM OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES, UNIVERSITY OF CANTERBURY
BENEFACTOR
Jan 1997 - Present
The Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities contains than two and a half thousand years of human history through the amazing Logie Collection of artefacts from Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near Eastern cultures. The Logie Collection is one the University of Canterbury's great treasures, and contains some of the finest classical antiquities in New Zealand.
co-owner
TEECE FAMILY farms
Teece Family Vineyards reflects the dynamic entrepreneur’s ability to marry bold vision with strong execution. Driven by the desire to produce world-class wines, the Teece family consolidated several farms on New Zealand’s South Island in 2000. Leigh and her family and their team of viticulturists were undeterred by the fact that the Cheviot Hills region was not synonymous with wine growing. They knew enough—namely that the landforms, the climate, the soil… everything pointed to Cheviot Hills producing exceptional wines—and they were right. The team transformed a 70-acre farmland into a vineyard, aptly named Mt. Beautiful, and in 2008 the first vintage was sold. Today, Mt. Beautiful’s award-winning wines are sold throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
PRESIDENT
ENTERPRISE RESEARCH
1995 - Present
Strategic Direction and global marketing throughout the US, Europe, and Australasia, and Latin America among others for over 20 years.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
TECHNOLOGY INTERLINK
Matching Japanese companies with American high-tech startups, Leigh developed and directed Europe and European marketing and sales.
VICE PRESIDENT
WELLS FARGO
Leigh served as vice president of Wells Fargo Bank for 6 years. As a Vice President for Wells Fargo and Company, she managed the bank's loan portfolios in Panama and Colombia, South America for the International Banking Group.
