Lee Bates, ACC

Founding Partner & President, Legacy Leadership

Lee Bates knows what it means to lead through the dark before breaking into the light.

Early in his career, Lee found himself navigating some of the most difficult years a leader can face — watching a company he believed in struggle, stagnate, and lose its way. Rather than walking away, he dug in. What followed was one of the more remarkable business turnarounds you'll find: over the course of his tenure as VP of Sales, the company grew from $20 million in annual revenue to more than $250 million — with healthy margins to match. That journey didn't just build a business. It built a leader.

That experience — the hard years as much as the growth years — is exactly what Lee brings to every CEO he coaches today. He doesn't traffic in theory. He carries wisdom, the kind that can only be forged through real pressure, real stakes, and real accountability to results.

With over 20 years of executive leadership experience, 8 years scaling a startup from negative cash flow to more than $15 million in revenue, a decade of executive coaching, and 6 years as a Convene Chair facilitating peer advisory groups for Christian CEOs and business owners, Lee has spent a career at the intersection of faith, leadership, and marketplace transformation.

As Founding Partner and President of Legacy Leadership, Lee's mission is deeply personal. He was shaped by a generation of significant mentors — men who invested in him at critical moments and changed the trajectory of his leadership. He considers it his calling to do the same for others. That conviction, combined with his God-given gift as an encourager, drives everything he does.

The CEOs who work with Lee describe the experience in consistent terms: inspiring, compelling, and unusually practical. They say he doesn't just know leadership principles — he lives them. That he brings not just knowledge, but wisdom. And the results bear that out. Leaders who engage with Lee tend to produce greater results with less drama, operate with more freedom and confidence, and discover a clearer sense of purpose — not just as executives, but as husbands, fathers, and men of faith.

Lee holds an ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential and a Bachelor's degree from Mercer University. He has served as an elder at East Cobb Presbyterian Church since 1997 — a reflection of the same shepherd's heart he brings to the marketplace every day.

Lee lives in Roswell, Georgia with his bride of 35+ years, Ginny. They are the proud parents of three married adult children — Jordan, Preston, and Austin — and the delighted grandparents of four. When he's not coaching CEOs, you'll find Lee on the golf course, chasing grandchildren, or alongside Ginny serving unwed mothers and their children — a ministry that speaks volumes about who he is when no one is watching.

If God has entrusted you with a business and a team, Lee Bates would consider it a privilege to help you lead both well.