Carol Robles-Román

Carol Robles-Román is the president and CEO of Legal Momentum, The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national organization that advances the rights of women and girls by cultivating public-private partnerships that promote gender equality. Carol is also a 2015 Ford Public Voices Fellow, part of a national initiative to increase the public impact of our nation's top underrepresented thought leaders.

Carol was deputy mayor for legal affairs and counsel to Mayor Michael Bloomberg for 12 years, the first female counsel to a New York City Mayor. She spearheaded public-private partnerships on behalf of vulnerable communities, including women and children, in the areas of domestic violence, enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, human trafficking and young people, diversity and judicial selection. She led the city's efforts to combat domestic violence and human trafficking by creating Family Justice Centers in all five boroughs and led the multimedia public awareness campaign Let’s Call an End to Human Trafficking. She increased ethnic, gender and geographic diversity among mayoral appointments to the city's Family, Criminal and interim Civil Court judgeships.

Carol — a former New York State Courts administrator and New York State assistant attorney general for civil rights — is a nationally known public speaker and appears regularly in the media. Her myriad recognitions and memberships include the National Women’s Political Caucus’ 2015 Women of Courage Award, the SmartCEO 2014 Brava Award, and designation as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” by Hispanic Business Magazine. She is member of the board of trustees and executive committee of the City University of New York, and of the board of the National Association of Women Lawyers.

2018 update: Carol was tapped to join the ERA Coalition and the Fund for Women's Equality as co-president and CEO.