The University of Connecticut’s School of Business will induct five alumni business leaders into their “hall of fame” in April. The yearly event commemorates the leadership shown by successful graduates of the School of Business, alongside current student achievements. This year’s ceremony will be held on Friday, April 11 at the Marriott Hotel Ballroom in downtown Hartford.
“Inductees into the School of Business Hall of Fame are amongst an elite group of alumni and are chosen through a rigorous selection process which includes review by the Dean, special committee, and past Hall of Fame inductees,” The School of Business webpage states. “Only 4-5 distinguished alumni are inducted each year out of the over 50,000 School of Business alumni worldwide.”
This year’s inductees are a group of accomplished business executives who each climbed the corporate ladder following their tenure as UConn students. The alumni being inducted are Trisha Bailey, founder and CEO of Bailey’s Medical Equipment and Supplies; Laurie Havanec, retired executive vice president at Aetna-CVS Health; John Hodson, president of insurance benefits broker True Benefit; Greg Lewis, retired CFO of Honeywell International; and Robert Skinner, founder and managing partner of wealth management firm IEQ Capital.
Each inductee graduated with a degree from UConn, and all have been powerful forces within community organizations and initiatives in addition to their careers in business.
Inductee Trisha Bailey, originally from Jamaica, has been involved with UConn since her graduation in 1999. She serves on the board of directors of the UConn Foundation and has made donations to a number of UConn’s programs. In 2022, Bailey made the largest-yet cash contribution to the Athletics Department to be used to build a new student-athlete performance complex – calling back to her time as a member of UConn’s cross country and track-and-field teams.
“Trisha Bailey is an American success story that has its roots in the classroom and in competition at UConn,” said athletic director David Benedict to UConn Today following Bailey’s donation.
The board of trustees lent her name to the project, a major expansion of the Hugh Greer Field House. It’s slated to be called the “Bailey Student-Athlete Success Center.”
Inductees John Hodson and Greg Lewis both sponsor scholarship funds for students through the UConn Foundation and are intertwined with education; Hodson served on the board of trustees at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. and Lewis acts as a mentor to UConn School of Business students.
“You’ve got to risk something and not be afraid to fail. After all, my opening salvo at UConn was almost crash and burn. UConn is the place where I learned about myself and where I was going,” Lewis said in a 2022 profile with UConn Magazine.
Inductee Laurie Havanec graduated from the School of Business in 1982 and the UConn Law School in 1994. She also also sponsors a scholarship – one for female UConn Law students through the UConn Foundation’s “women and philanthropy” arm.
“I have had women who sponsored me throughout my career, who have made me stronger and better and have taken risks on me,” she said to UConn Today after the establishment of her scholarship. “I’m pretty passionate about doing that in my professional, day-to-day work – to make sure I’m sponsoring women.
You’ve got to risk something and not be afraid to fail. After all, my opening salvo at UConn was almost crash and burn. UConn is the place where I learned about myself and where I was going,
Greg Lewis, UConn School of Business Hall of Fame Inductee
Inductee Skinner started his career in wealth management just two years after graduating UConn with a degree in political science in 1993. He later joined the board of directors of the UConn Foundation and was instrumental in fundraising for what is now known as the Werth Family Basketball Champions Center.
“If we are going to be the No.1 school in America, then we should be the No. 1 school in everything we do, and this building helps us do that,” said women’s basketball head coach Geno Auriemma during the building’s groundbreaking ceremony in 2013.
Skinner chaired the Athletics Campaign Steering Committee responsible for the initial campaign to build the complex, which now offers a wealth of practice and conditioning facilities, team spaces and locker rooms in addition to offices and student-athlete dining and study spaces.
Last year’s inductees included basketball champion-turned-coach Jamelle Elliot, the Town of Wilton’s first selectwoman Toni Boucher, insurance and finance executive Mary Jane Fortin, safety development and finance executive Lee McChesney and wealth advisor Randy Siller.
The School of Business’ “hall of fame” was established in 1993 as a means to recognize successful UConn alumni in business fields. Over 150 alumni have been inducted as part of the annual ceremony, according to the School of Business Office of External and Alumni Engagement’s webpage.
The ceremony is black-tie optional and will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 11 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Hartford, attached to the Connecticut Convention Center on Columbus Boulevard. Members of the public can purchase tickets to the event for $175 at alumni.business.uconn.edu.
UConn students, staff and faculty should contact Jillian Comolli at jillian.comolli@uconn.edu for ticket information.