What is Success and How to Attain It?

Michelle R. Keating is vice president, secretary and general counsel for Kennametal Inc. In this position, she has global legal responsibility for the company and its legal department and serves as secretary to the board of directors.

Michelle joined Kennametal in 2010. In her previous roles as assistant general counsel and assistant secretary, she was responsible for the company’s SEC and NYSE compliance, corporate governance, legal direction of global mergers and acquisitions, subsidiary management, as well as commercial contracts.

Prior to joining Kennametal, Ms. Keating served as contract manager at WESCO Distribution, where she was responsible for negotiating agreements with the company’s largest customers and suppliers. She recently served as a member of the board of directors of Kennametal India Limited.

Ms. Keating received her bachelor’s degree from Westminster College and her juris doctorate from Duquesne University’s School of Law. 

Cathy is currently Senior Vice President, Group Head; Lead US Counsel & Trademark Counsel at MasterCard International, Inc., where she provides transactional expertise and other support of strategic initiatives in the US markets as well as advice on trademark matters.

Prior to MasterCard, Cathy was Chief IP Counsel and Senior Associate General Counsel for Instinet Inc., an electronic broker dealer in New York which is now a part of Nomura Securities. Cathy was responsible for all intellectual property, transaction, technology and contractual matters for Instinet as well as responsible for providing legal input on intellectual property and technology strategies across the company.

Prior to her in house career, Cathy was an associate in the Advertising and Marketing group at Hall Dickler Kent Friedman and Wood in New York.

Rachel Priester is Managing Assistant General Counsel at The Hartford. Rachel joined The Hartford in 2010 as a line attorney working on insurance coverage litigation. Rachel has served The Hartford in several different legal roles. In her current position, she oversees the team of lawyers managing the company’s insurance coverage litigation for latent bodily injury exposures, including asbestos and toxic tort matters.

Her previous role involved managing the team of lawyers handling the company’s legal matters arising out of construction defect and environmental coverage issues. Rachel is an active member of The Hartford’s Professional Women’s Network. Rachel has spoken on issues including insurance coverage, diversity and inclusion, and professional development. Rachel also served on the Advisory Board of the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM). Prior to joining The Hartford, Rachel was a litigator at Wiggin and Dana, LLP, in New Haven, Connecticut, where her practice focused on complex civil litigation.

Rachel has a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and an A.B. from Harvard College.

Naomi Waltman is Senior Vice President, Associate General Counsel for CBS Corporation. She serves as co-head of the Intellectual Property section of the CBS Law Department, where she helps develop and implement strategies to protect the company’s intellectual property rights. She also represents CBS and its various business units in litigation matters, including patent, copyright and trademark disputes.

Previously, Ms. Waltman was Vice President, Senior Counsel for Viacom, Inc., where she provided strategic advice and counseling to Viacom’s business units on a variety of legal issues. She also practiced law at Kaye Scholer LLP in New York, and was a Judicial Clerk to the Hon. Warren W. Eginton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Ms. Waltman earned a J.D. from Stanford Law School, and a B.A. with distinction from Stanford University.