At the Big Board,
Grasso's Secretary
Made Big Bucks, Too

The world's secretarial pool just got a new heroine: SooJee Lee.

Ms. Lee, 38 years old, was Dick Grasso's executive assistant when he was chairman and chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange. In that job, she labored in obscurity for years, dealing with everyone from disgruntled Big Board employees to heads of state. Then her boss got ousted in an uproar over his outsized compensation package -- around $200 million over the course of his eight-year reign. She moved on to other jobs, including a short stint working for rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and another at a hedge fund.

This week, the behind-the-scenes assistant was thrust into the spotlight by a report into Mr. Grasso's pay. The report, commissioned by the stock exchange and long kept under wraps, disclosed almost as an aside that while the chief was earning his millions, Ms. Lee made about $240,000 a year.

Compensation consultants retained by the report's author, former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, concluded that her salary was "excessive and unreasonable." She should have been making no more than $85,000 a year, the amount that she got as a bonus alone in 2001, according to the report. Several Wall Street executives agree that $85,000 is typical pay for a high-powered executive assistant, although a handful make more than $100,000.

Though the disclosure prompted much snickering on Wall Street yesterday, Ms. Lee's fellow secretaries jumped to her defense.

"Rather than tear down her salary, I'd like to see secretaries' salaries come up. I celebrate that a woman is in that position -- though it's still a drop in the bucket next to her boss's salary," said Sheree Harris, a 49- year-old secretary at Wilsonville High School in Wilsonville, Ore.

Last summer, after more than three years of wage freezes, Oregon public-school secretaries successfully fought for a 1.5% wage increase, bringing the average pay of a middle-school secretary to $22,042 from $21,773. If Ms. Lee was worth $240,000 a year, Ms. Harris thinks she ought to be getting something more than a tenth of that sum. "We may not have exactly the same job, but a computer is a computer and a phone is a phone and scheduling an appointment is scheduling an appointment," Ms. Harris said.

Ms. Lee couldn't be reached for comment for this article. Current and former stock-exchange staffers describe her as a tough-as-nails assistant. She sometimes acted as Mr. Grasso's confidant and was close to him personally, occasionally accompanying his family on vacation, people who know her say.

As with many executive assistants, Ms. Lee's job was more than just a 9-to-5 shift. She juggled Mr. Grasso's schedule and decided who could see him. She often attended charity dinners with him, and was available at all hours to pitch in if needed, people who know her say.

Friends recall one occasion when the two traveled with other NYSE employees to Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., and rode the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster. Former colleagues say she tried her hand at stand-up comedy several times.

Ms. Lee had a more advanced education than many executive assistants. According to friends, associates and legal organizations, she paid at least part of her own way through the State University of New York at Binghamton and went on to New York Law School. After graduating, she was admitted to the bar in the early 1990s, according to the New York State Bar Association, and friends say she practiced law for a time.

She first took a job with the exchange as a temp -- somewhat like Mr. Grasso, who began in 1968 as a clerk -- and soon landed a job working for former NYSE president William Johnston. Eventually, she ended up in Mr. Grasso's inner circle, where she befriended both her boss and some of his Wall Street friends.

She was protective of Mr. Grasso and, for that reason, rubbed some at the Big Board the wrong way. Some staffers called her Colonel Lee. "She was the ultimate gatekeeper," says Robert Clemente, the Big Board's former head of arbitration who is now at law firm Liddle & Robinson. "She was there to put out fires, and people who Dick didn't want to see never got in."

After Mr. Grasso left the NYSE in September 2003, Ms. Lee stayed for a few months but her role was greatly reduced and she soon moved on. One of her most recent jobs was as an assistant in the executive office at Bad Boy Records, a joint venture involving Mr. Combs and Universal Records, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group. However, she left after just a few weeks, people familiar with the matter said.

"It just didn't work out," said a friend of hers, in part because she felt overwhelmed by the rap scene.

Ms. Lee also worked briefly at a hedge fund after leaving the stock exchange, says Ruthanne Feinberg, a managing director at Glocap Search LLC, who placed Ms. Lee in the job. Ms. Feinberg says a handful of executive assistants at hedge funds make as much as $200,000 but Ms. Lee's salary wasn't as high as that. "She is a great lady," Ms. Feinberg said.

Linda Meric, director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, says Ms. Lee's stock-exchange salary "may seem excessive" but shouldn't overshadow the modest pay of others who "do all the grunt work to keep businesses running."

"The reason that secretaries are generally not high-paid is that the profession is dominated by women," says Ms. Meric. She says that secretaries' wages began to decline relative to other jobs after World War II, when women began to take over secretarial jobs. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual income of executive secretaries and administrative assistants at corporations in 2002 was $36,770.

The controversy over Mr. Grasso exploded in August 2003, when the exchange announced that his new employment contract allowed him to withdraw $139.5 million in retirement and other benefits. He was later forced out and the exchange hired Mr. Webb to look into the controversy. Though Mr. Webb wasn't asked to look into how much Mr. Grasso's administrative staff earned, his report indicated he felt compelled to study the salaries of three employees -- Ms. Lee and two $130,000-a-year drivers. Mr. Webb's compensation consultants said all three were paid too much "even if they had a high level of seniority and were excellent performers."

Write to Susanne Craig at susanne.craig@wsj.com and Ianthe Jeanne Dugan at ianthe.dugan@wsj.com