Lea has been involved in ADB’s projects, particularly, in the preparation of one of its flagship publications, the Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific, and in compiling data for ADB’s Basic Statistics brochure. She was also part of an ADB project on improving agricultural statistics through remote sensing. Prior to joining ADB, she worked as Computer Programmer at the Department of Agriculture, and as Statistical Coordination Officer at the then National Statistical Coordination Board (now the Philippine Statistics Authority). She was an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Statistics at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños (UPLB) and worked as consultant at the International Rice Research Institute. She has a bachelor and a master’s degree in Statistics from UPLB.