Michele Mayes, general counsel, New York Public Library

Michele Mayes is general counsel of the New York Public Library and the chair of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Mayes has had a distinguished in-house career with roles at Colgate-Palmolive, Unisys and Pitney Bowes, as well as serving as general counsel at AllState Insurance for a number of years. A long-time champion at the vanguard of the fight for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, she spoke to GC about why we need to think differently about work.