Eastman Announces Addition of Kellye Walker as Chief Legal Officer

KINGSPORT, Tenn., March 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) today announced that Kellye L. Walker will join the company on April 13, 2020, and will serve as Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer. Ms. Walker will assume the position from Clark L. Jordan, who has been serving as Eastman’s interim Chief Legal Officer since August 1, 2019. Jordan will remain with the company as a member of senior management.

“The Executive Team and I are pleased that Kellye has agreed to join the Eastman team,” said Mark Costa, board chair and chief executive officer. “Kellye brings tremendous experience after serving for over 18 years as chief legal officer of other companies in various industries. She is a proven senior advisor and people leader with an impressive track record of success, and we look forward to welcoming her to Eastman.”

“I also want to thank Clark for his leadership over the past eight months while serving in the interim on the Executive Team as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. I appreciate how he embraced the position and what he accomplished during this time period. We are pleased that he will continue to be a key leader in our organization going forward.”   

Walker is a seasoned executive with senior leadership experience spanning multiple industries, nearly three decades of legal experience and a strong track record of strategy development, working with Boards of Directors with responsibility for legal matters and corporate governance policies and practices. Walker joins Eastman having most recently served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc., America’s largest military shipbuilding company and government services provider. Prior to joining Huntington Ingalls in 2015, Walker served as Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Secretary at American Water Works Co. where she led a team of professionals having responsibility for the human resources, information technology, government affairs, corporate communications and law departments. Before joining American Water, she served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Diageo North America where she was a member of the senior leadership team for the multi-national Diageo, plc. Walker also previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for BJ’s Wholesale Club and as a corporate partner in private practice.

Walker received her BS in business administration, marketing, from Louisiana Tech University and her JD from Emory University.

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end-markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,500 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2019 revenues of approximately $9.3 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA. For more information, visit .

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