Major League Baseball announced the promotions of Billy Bean, Renée Tirado and Melanie LeGrande on Tuesday to new posts overseeing the league's diversity, inclusion and social responsibility efforts.
"As the sport of Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, we have a responsibility to uphold and honor their legacies, especially in ensuring that our sport and business practices are as inclusive, diverse and socially-conscious as possible," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a league statement. "The promotions of Billy, Renée and Melanie reflect our commitment to have strong, innovative leadership in place that aligns our industry objectives with a desire to be effective corporate citizens."
Bean, formerly MLB's ambassador for inclusion, will now serve as vice president and special assistant to Commissioner Manfred. In this brand-new position, Bean, who publicly identified himself as gay in 1999, will advise Manfred and the league on human rights issues while shining a specific light on LGBT rights and anti-bullying efforts. The former big league outfielder has previously spearheaded efforts of baseball's support of Spirit Day, a worldwide effort to combat bullying and, most recently, made more than 100 visits to all 30 Major League clubs as ambassador for inclusion. Bean will report directly to MLB chief communications officer Patrick Courtney.
Tirado, who had served as MLB's senior director of recruitment for the past year, has been promoted to vice president of talent acquisition and diversity & inclusion. Tirado will continue to direct the league's recruitment and staffing objectives in her new role, while also overseeing the Diversity Pipeline Program and lead the league's overall diversity and inclusion strategy. Furthermore, Tirado will advise MLB senior leadership on all matters relating to talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion initiatives and the staff that will oversee those areas. Tirado will report directly to MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem.
Finally, LeGrande, formerly MLB's director of community affairs, will now serve as the league's vice president of social responsibility. In addition to some of her previous duties, LeGrande will now develop and enhance MLB's community initiatives and collaborate with the league's internal departments and key external stakeholders to blend its social and environmental considerations in all core decision-making and planning. LeGrande will also advise MLB's community investments, nonprofit and non-governmental organization partnerships, large-scale disaster relief efforts and employee volunteer engagement. Like Bean, LeGrande will also report directly to Courtney.