Celebrating Our Honorees | Montgomery College, Maryland

Honorary Degree Recipients 1996–2019

2019 Honorary Degree Recipient

Mrs. Catherine S. Leggett
Senior Vice President for Human Resources, International City/County Management, Association-Retirement Corporation

Mrs. Catherine S. Leggett

Mrs. Catherine S. Leggett is the senior vice president for human resources at International City/County Management Association-Retirement Corporation (ICMA-RC). She is responsible for developing and implementing the human capital and real estate strategy and aligning it with ICMA-RC’s overall business objectives. She is also responsible for the delivery of human resources services to ICMA-RC’s employees.

Before joining ICMA-RC, Mrs. Leggett was senior vice president of human resources at Vertis, Inc. in Baltimore. She has also held positions at PG&E Generating Company, Freddie Mac, Hechinger Company, and American Airlines, where she practiced employment law.

As Montgomery County’s first lady, she hosted the Executive’s Ball for the Arts and Humanities. She is a lifetime board member of Montgomery Hospice, chair of the Maryland State Commission for Public Art, a member-at-large of the Montgomery County Family Justice Center Foundation, a trustee of Imagination Stage, and sits on the Board of Directors of Strathmore Hall Foundation. She is a longtime supporter of the Olney Theatre Center. She also supports the Center for Adoption Support and Education, where she co-chairs the annual gala. She hosted the 20th anniversary celebration for Community Bridges in 2017. She is a member of the Society for Human Resources Management and the Senior Human Resources Executive Forum.

She earned Democrat of the Year in 2007 from the Montgomery County Democratic Committee. Bethesda Magazine honored her as one of the Women We Admire in 2010. She received the Friend of the Park Award from the Glen Echo Park Partnership in 2014. She and her husband received the BlackRock Center for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Her professional recognition includes the Human Resources Professional Excellence Award from the Washington Business Journal and the Human Resources Achievement Award from the Black Human Resources Network.

Mrs. Leggett received a bachelor of arts in sociology and psychology and a juris doctor from Howard University.

The Leggetts live in Burtonsville. Their daughter, Yaminah, a biomedical researcher, and her family live in Silver Spring. Mrs. Leggett is a member of Temple Beth El in Washington, DC.