Michele Connell is the Global Managing Partner, US LLP, and a partner in the global corporate practice of Squire Patton Boggs, a top twenty global law firm. Michele has responsibility for the global business and operations in 34 offices across the US, Middle East, Europe and Asia. Michele’s commercial aptitude, business sense and global perspective make her a valued asset to boards of directors and to her firm’s leadership team.
Michele’s business acumen, language skills and cross-cultural awareness are global in scope. She began her career as a diplomat for the US Department of State, where she advanced the mission of the US Government while serving in the US Embassies in Poland and Honduras. She received the Meritorious Honor Award for her disaster response service following Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. She is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Polish.
Michele is a recognized expert and strategic advisor on mergers and acquisitions. Through her active international mergers and acquisition practice, Michele brings expertise on market trends, financing terms and high-risk regulatory and commercial areas to bear. Michele’s deep experience crosses multiple geographies, including navigating employment and tax matters in Brazil, joint venture and intellectual property issues in China and union negotiations in connection with dispositions in Europe. Michele’s practice includes middle to large market names in the diversified industrial and transportation industries, including OEM, tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers in the automotive industry, and chemical and fintech companies. Michele also guides boards through corporate governance challenges, successfully negotiating with leading shareholder activists and engaging with institutional investors and proxy advisors to advance business imperatives.
As Global Managing Partner, Michele leads over 2500 team members to advance strategic initiatives and deploys multi-million dollar budgets to drive revenue creation and advance market share. Michele’s leadership has resulted in an expanded market share in key growth areas, year over year revenue and productivity increases and impressive advances in diversity and talent recruitment.
Michele serves on the boards of multiple non-profits, including University Hospital Health Systems, Inc., a $4 billion health system with over 34,000 employees, where she serves as vice-chair of the compensation committee and sits on the governance committee.
Michele received the 2018 National Women in Law Award for her innovative leadership and has been recognized as a 2022 trailblazer by The American Lawyer and a leading lawyer in Latin America the last two years by the International Financial Law Review’s Energy and Infrastructure: Latin America Guide.