Diane Cecero, general counsel for Monroe Community College, has received The Daily Record’s Top Counsel Award for her significant contributions in advancing the role of in-house and general counsel and for her exemplary character and integrity.
As general counsel to MCC since 1996, Cecero provides proactive professional advice on critical legal, strategic and policy issues. She is the college’s chief labor negotiator and chief diversity officer. Some of her contributions include providing legal counsel on the development of residence halls and MCC’s new state-of-the-art field house; introducing interest-based collective bargaining to the college; creating a training program on ethical leadership for emerging college leaders; helping implement a college-wide diversity plan; launching the Alice Holloway Young, Ed.D. Diversity Series, which has brought national talent – including best-selling author Amy Tan and Johnnetta B. Cole, Spelman College’s first female president – to the college to initiate and encourage conversations on diversity; coordinating the Alice Holloway Young Internship for new educators of color; and mentoring two MCC women during their yearlong projects as participants in the National Institute for Leadership Development.
Prior to joining MCC, Cecero served as assistant attorney general for New York state for 14 years. A graduate of LeMoyne College and Boston College Law School, she began her career as an associate for Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle.
Cecero is widely recognized as a mentor to aspiring female leaders. She has served on the Boards of Directors of LeMoyne College Alumni Association, Alternatives for Battered Women, Our Lady of Mercy High School, Kids Adjusting Through Support, Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys, Volunteer Legal Services Project and the Monroe County Bar Association.
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