Michele Lynn Connell is managing partner of Squire Patton Boggs’ Cleveland office, the city in which the firm was founded and is headquartered. Also a member of the firm’s Latin America Executive Committee, Connell focuses on international mergers and acquisitions, compliance and securities matters. She has completed transactions in more than 20 countries, manages teams across the globe and counsels public and private companies, and their boards, regarding corporate governance practices and securities compliance matters.

The firm’s global chairman and CEO Mark Ruehlmann has this to say about Connell, “In the years that I have known Michele, she has proven to be an exceptional lawyer and a highly regarded, natural leader, whose experience, integrity and commitment to the community set her apart.”

Before attending law school, Connell was a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State, serving as a diplomat in Warsaw, Poland, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She received the Meritorious Honor Award for her service.

Connell has chaired women’s leadership conferences and is a champion of the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation Fellowship program that matches students with public interest work each summer. She also serves on the board of directors of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, is a member of United Way of Greater Cleveland’s Women’s Leadership Council, and is a committee member for Direct Women, an organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women on corporate boards.

“Diversity and inclusion means everyone gets to bring his or her best self to work every day,” states Connell. “When we achieve that level of inclusion, we will have assembled a group best equipped to achieve our goals,” she explains. “In business, unity of purpose coupled with diversity of opinion is the model of success. Diversity will counter weakness, amplify strength and move the company forward.”

Connell offers women this wisdom: “Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, seek counsel and discuss. But at the end of the day, be confident in your decisions. And manage your career so that you are comfortable with your balance, your goals and your choices.”