Corporate Counsel: Moves: Page Turner

Having literally written the book on women general counsel in the Fortune 500, Courageous Counsel coauthor and outgoing Allstate Corporation GC MICHELE COLEMAN MAYES is bound for the New York Public Library.

The NYPL announced in mid-June that Mayes was taking the general counsel spot at the storied library, the second-largest public library in the United States, after the Library of Congress.

For Mayes, the move offers a departure from her corporate career. "There comes a stage in your life where you think that you want to give back more," she says. "This was a way to do it on an iconic stage, because the institution is so well respected and has such a longevity and presence."

Mayes had served as Allstate's general counsel since 2007, and will be succeeded at the U.S.'s largest publicly held personal lines insurer by deputy general counsel SUSIE LEES, who has been with the company for 24 years.