New York City Bar Association Announces 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award Winners
The New York City Bar Association will present its 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Champion Awards at its Diversity and Inclusion Celebration Dinner on June 27th to Ricardo A. Anzaldua, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, MetLife, Inc.; Zachary W. Carter, Corporation Counsel, New York City Law Department; Carmelyn P. Malalis, Chair & Commissioner, New York City Commission on Human Rights; and Richard E. Meade, Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, International Law Compliance and Business Ethics, Prudential Financial, Inc.
The award recognizes the critical role individual attorneys have played in initiating and sustaining change within their organizations and the overall New York legal community. The award recipients embody the New York City Bar’s Statement of Diversity Principles, which defines diversity as an inclusive concept, encompassing race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, nationality, age, disability and marital and parental status. The City Bar has recognized diversity and inclusion champions since the award was created in 2006.
“We are proud to recognize these individuals, whose courageous leadership, innovation, and tireless commitment to advancing diversity in the legal profession will have a positive impact on our signatory law firms and corporations,” said City Bar President John S. Kiernan. “This year’s Champion Award recipients and their accomplishments embody the powerful impact that leadership engagement can have on driving change in the legal profession.”
Following is information on The 2017 Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award winners:
Ricardo A. Anzaldua – Executive Vice President & General Counsel. MetLife, Inc.
Ricardo A. Anzaldua is executive vice president and general counsel of MetLife, Inc., where he leads the company’s global legal operations, and oversees MetLife’s corporate secretary’s office and corporate ethics and compliance group. Anzaldua joined MetLife from The Hartford Financial Services Group, where he was senior vice president and associate general counsel. Prior to joining The Hartford, Anzaldua was a partner with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York. He began his legal career with the firm upon graduation from Harvard Law School in 1990.
Ricardo serves on the boards of directors for the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), LatinoJustice/PRLDEF, Breaking Ground (a New York City supportive housing developer and manager), the Greater Hartford Legal Aid Foundation (of which he is president), and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, an international nonprofit focused on economic and community development and empowerment in the developing world, where he also serves as pro-bono General Counsel.
Zachary W. Carter – Corporation Counsel, New York City Law Department
Zachary W. Carter is the 78th Corporation Counsel of the City of New York. As the chief legal officer of the City, Mr. Carter oversees the Law Department with over 700 attorneys, who represent the City’s interest in thousands of legal matters facing the City.
Prior to becoming the Corporation Counsel, Mr. Carter was a partner in the firm Dorsey & Whitney. He oversaw the Trial Group at the firm’s New York office and was co-chair of the firm’s White Collar Crime and Civil Fraud practice. Mr. Carter served as a magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and as a judge of the New York City Criminal Court, and as chairman of the New York City Mayor’s Committee on the Judiciary from 2002 through 2013.
Zachary has received the Public Interest Law & Society Award from the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the Emory Buckner Medal from the Federal Bar Council. He is a member of the City Bar’s Executive Committee. He graduated from Cornell University in 1972 and New York University School of Law in 1975.
Carmelyn P. Malalis – Chair & Commissioner, New York City Commission on Human Rights
Carmelyn P. Malalis was appointed Chair and Commissioner of the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) by Mayor Bill de Blasio in November 2014 following more than a decade in private practice as an advocate for employees’ rights in the workplace. Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Malalis was a partner at Outten & Golden LLP where she co-founded and co-chaired its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workplace Rights Practice Group and its Disability and Family Responsibilities Discrimination Practice Group; and successfully represented employees in negotiations, agency proceedings, and litigation involving claims of sexual harassment, retaliation, and discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, disability, and religion.
She serves on the City Bar’s Executive Committee and previously chaired its Committee on LGBT Rights. She previously served on the Advisory Committee for Human Right Watch’s LGBT Rights Project, the ABA’s Section on Labor and Employment Law’s Committee on Diversity in the Legal Profession, and the board of Queers for Economic Justice.
She earned her J.D. from the Northeastern University School of Law and received a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Yale University. She and her wife live in Brooklyn with their two children.
Richard E. Meade – Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, International Law Compliance and Business Ethics, Prudential Financial, Inc.
Richard E. Meade is vice president and chief legal officer for Prudential’s International Division, where he supervises a team that provides legal support for insurance operations based in Asia, Europe and Latin America. He is also responsible for oversight of Prudential’s Operations and Systems legal team, whose lawyers advise on issues related to corporate real estate, intellectual property, and technology and general vendor contracts. Rick serves as a member of the senior management team of Prudential’s Law, Compliance, Business Ethics & External Affairs Department (LCBE). Prior to joining Prudential, Rick was a litigation associate with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Rick has been the Chair of LCBE’s award winning Diversity Steering Committee since 2006, and is the Executive Sponsor of the Department’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and the Outside Counsel Diversity Committee. He is active in legal diversity and inclusion programs with organizations that include the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD), the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF) and the New York City Bar’s Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession.
Rick has an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Davis and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
The full bios of the winners and more information about the award and the Celebration Dinner can be found here.
About the Association
The New York City Bar Association (www.nycbar.org), since its founding in 1870, has been dedicated to maintaining the high ethical standards of the profession, promoting reform of the law and providing service to the profession and the public. The Association continues to work for political, legal and social reform while implementing innovative means to help the disadvantaged. Protecting the public’s welfare remains one of the Association’s highest priorities
