MLB Welcomes Michele Meyer-Shipp as Chief People and Culture Officer

This month, Major League Baseball took another step forward in its inclusion efforts, as Commissioner Rob Manfred named Michele Meyer-Shipp as Chief People and Culture Officer. 

Meyer-Shipp will oversee all human resources activities, such as talent programs, diversity and inclusion, and workplace culture. She has an extensive background in this field.

Prior to accepting the position at MLB, Meyer-Shipp was the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the prestigious accounting firm KPMG. She has also served in similar roles for the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld and Prudential Financial. 

Meyer-Shipp is a Seton Hall alumnus, graduating from the School of Law in 1995. Dean Kathleen M. Boozang described her as a “stellar and accomplished advocate for equity, justice, and fairness” in a press release from the university. 

“I am very pleased that Michele is joining us to fill this vital role for Major League Baseball,” Manfred commented. “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.”

The league’s hiring of Meyer-Shipp is in lockstep with earlier displays of inclusivity, such as the Black Lives Matter demonstrations on Opening Day and allowing players to wear Black Lives Matter t-shirts and patches. 

Michele Meyer-Shipp will help MLB continue to work towards racial and gender diversity. The league earned an overall grade of B-, including an A- in racial hiring and a C in gender hiring, on the 2019 Racial and Gender Report Card distributed by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports (TIDES). 

The report card examines the demographics of all hired employees in baseball, including players, coaches, central office, executives, and ownership. The racial hiring grade increased slightly from 88 percentage points in 2018 to 89 percentage points in 2019, but decreased in gender hires from 71 to 70 in the same time span. 

Meyer will no doubt be working to improve that grade even more in seasons to come. African-American players, for example, have been notoriously underrepresented in baseball. Only 8.4 percent of MLB players on Opening Day in 2019 were African-American. 

However, there are some positives on the horizon. About 16 percent of the players drafted in 2018 were African-American. With increasing diversity efforts, fans will hopefully see more of this community represented on the big-league field.