Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced Monday the league has hired Michele Meyer-Shipp as its new Chief People and Culture Officer.
Meyer-Shipp will oversee all league office "human resources activities, including talent processes and programs, workplace culture, and diversity and inclusion," MLB said.
"Michele's outstanding record of accomplishment will be a valuable addition to our senior leadership team, the hiring and development of our employees, and industry initiatives. We are excited for her to get started," Manfred said in a statement.
Before joining MLB, Meyer-Shipp was the chief diversity officer for accounting firm KPMG. Meyer-Shipp also spent time at Prudential Financial and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld.
Meyer-Shipp will have some work to do to correct MLB's lack of diversity.
According to the league 2019 Racial and Gender report card, MLB received an A-minus in racial hiring and B-minus in overall hiring. Still, it lacked in areas including gender hiring and racial hiring for roles as top club officials.
Following the killing of George Floyd on May 25, leagues have emphasized supporting social injustice initiatives and are examining social inequality in their sports. The National Basketball Association named Oris Stuart its chief people and inclusion officer on July 23.
Meyer-Shipp said there has been a "high level of engagement around diversity inclusion in organizations" at levels she's never experienced following Floyd's death.
"There is a heightened sensitivity to the appreciation around the issues around diversity and inclusion," Meyer-Shipp told Yahoo Finance in June, noting how the current social unrest and pandemic has impacted Black communities.
"We have all sorts of issues lurking out there that have made it really clear that it is time for diversity and inclusion to be front and center."
