Lee Vela
Two decades connecting Houston business to the city it serves.
Lee Vela serves as Chairman of the Fire Fighters Foundation of Houston, leading a volunteer board of Houston executives who govern the Foundation’s work as the Charity of the Houston Fire Department. In his day role as Vice President of Public Affairs at Clear Channel Outdoor, Lee has built his career at the intersection of Houston’s business community and its civic institutions.
Lee joined the Foundation board in 2014 and has chaired the Foundation since 2019. Under his leadership, the Foundation has expanded its corporate partnership work, culminating in the 2025 launch of Friends of Houston Firefighters, the Foundation’s new corporate partnership program designed to formalize the relationships between Houston companies and the HFD stations that protect their campuses.
Outside the Foundation, Lee’s professional work at Clear Channel Outdoor focuses on connecting Houston’s media landscape to the city’s business and civic priorities. He is known in Houston’s nonprofit community as an efficient convener, someone who can get Houston’s corporate community, city leadership, and community organizations in the same room when it matters.
Lee holds a degree in communications from Rice University and is a lifelong Houstonian. He lives in the Heights with his family.
“The Foundation works because the board shows up. Every quarter. Every call. We don’t outsource the work, and we don’t outsource the accountability.”
