Event Article


Women In the Corporate Boardroom

Women in the Corporate Boardroom
Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe; Afsaneh Bechloss, a former top executive of the World Bank and a member of the Ford Foundation Board; Aaron Dhir, author of “Challenging Boardroom Homogeneity’’ and a professor at Osgood Hall Law School in Toronto, and Irene Chang Britt, former president of Pepperidge Farm and a board member of the Dunkin’ Brands Group. (Nick Caito Photo)

The School of Business co-hosted a program titled, “Women in the Corporate Boardroom: A Business Imperative for American Companies,” Sept. 16 at the Bushnell in Hartford.

Some 500 people attended the event, during which an expert panel discussed the challenges, and benefits of getting more women on corporate boards. At the 1,500 biggest public companies in the nation, only 15 percent of the board members are women.Continue Reading



Cosmo Editor: “Develop It to Scale”

Stamford Advocate – To hear Joanna Coles tell it, any discussion about women’s entrepreneurship is inextricably linked to broader issues of women in the workplace and all the facets that go into a story of success or struggle: work-life balance, fair compensation, effective communication and assertiveness..


No Butts About It

Lisa Bisaccia '85 MBA, EVP and Chief HR Officer, CVS Health
Lisa Bisaccia ’85 MBA, speaks to over 300 graduate students. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Lisa Bisaccia ’85 MBA, CVS Executive, Discusses Decision to Yank Tobacco from Store Shelves

Selling cigarettes had long been a point of contention for executives at CVS pharmacy, who felt that the sale of tobacco contradicted the company’s mission to promote good health.

But with CVS consumers spending roughly $2 billion a year on cigarettes, other forms of tobacco, and add-on merchandise, the decision to abandon sales was not one that any retailer could make lightly.Continue Reading


What’s the BIG Idea?

What's the BIG Idea?

Six Finalists from UConn’s ‘Innovation Quest’ Impress Angel Investors

Kyle Mahoney ’18 just finished his freshman year at UConn, but already he has created a therapeutic massage device that he believes will be a retail blockbuster.

Mahoney and his business partner, Chris Brown ’15, were among six teams recognized as the best entrepreneurial ventures in UConn’s highly competitive Innovation Quest. Continue Reading


2nd Annual CEO Evolution

Citrin Cooperman Presents 2nd Annual CEO Evolution, in Partnership with UConn’s School of Business and the Fairfield County Business Journal

Connecticutplus.com – Citrin Cooperman, one of Fairfield County’s leading accounting and business consulting firms, presented the second annual CEO Evolution on June 15, in parthership with the University of Connecticut School of Business and the Fairfield County Business Journal. Moderated by Mark L. Fagan, CPA, managing partner of Citrin Cooperman’s Connecticut office, the event featured three leading and iconic business executives.


Nobel Prize Winner Shares Business Wisdom at Commencement

Nobel Prize Winner Shares Business Wisdom at Commencement

Working in business is a noble profession, and its success should be measured not exclusively by profit but in helping others meet their goals.

That was the wisdom shared by undergraduate Commencement speaker Robert J. Shiller, a Yale University professor and the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

Shiller discussed the perceived contradiction between profit and corporate benevolence. But that need not be the case, he said, urging the new graduates to conduct themselves with personal and professional integrity and to never lose sight of the communities they serve.Continue Reading


CEO Evolution Offers a View from the Top

Fairfield County Business Journal – For the second consecutive year, accounting firm Citrin Cooperman gathered a panel of CEOs to UConn Stamford’s General Re Auditorium — filling it again with an audience of 200 — for a give-and-take with Mark Fagan, managing partner at the firm.

The questions were designed to plumb the CEOs’ successes and harvest their anecdotes. The CEOs responded with unguarded responses that ran from whimsy — “I always wanted to be a ballerina” — to horror: “When you hit the water at 74 mph it’s like hitting cement.”


Advice from the Top

CEO Evolution - header
Pictured, L to R: Anne Mulcahy, Tom Kallish, and Denis Nayden

Three Outstanding CEOs Share Business Insight, Success at ‘CEO Evolution’ Program in Stamford

Be a coach, be a leader, be a taskmaster—but don’t ever be a jerk.

Establish a strong network, but if you need additional help, reach out and ask for it. Even strangers can be strong allies.

Don’t plan your career path so rigidly that you miss out on new and amazing opportunities that can enhance your future in ways you never imagined.

That was some of the advice that three exceptional CEOs shared at the second annual “CEO Evolution’’ June 15 at the University of Connecticut’s Stamford campus. The program, attended by almost 200, was presented by Citrin Cooperman, the University of Connecticut School of Business and the Fairfield County Business Journal.Continue Reading


Fishing, Healthcare, Power of Change

Improving the World is the ‘Husky Way,’ Luciano Tells Fellow Grads

Margaret M. Luciano ’15 Ph.D., spoke at the graduate commencement ceremony about the importance of leading positive change, telling the audience that improving the world is the ‘Husky Way.’

To the old Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,’’ Luciano said she’d like to expand the proverb to add a third verse: “Lead the creation of a community-based, sustainable fishery, and you start to change the world.’’Continue Reading