Women We Admire is pleased to announce The Top 50 Women Leaders of Hartford for 2024. Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, is celebrated for its rich history, picturesque landscapes, and its reputation as the Insurance Capital of the World. Beyond insurance, Hartford is also home to prominent sectors in education, healthcare, finance, and information technology.
This year, we honor insurance executive Lisa Maguire, Global Head of Claims Analytics at AIG, a leading global insurance organization. With more than 25 years of experience, Maguire has served in every function to use data insights to drive a competitive advantage for AIG.
Next, we congratulate Adria Giordano, Executive Director of the American Heart Association. As a healthcare leader, Giordano oversees staff and revenue field operations, Connecticut Board development and cultivation, volunteer recruitment, and fundraising initiatives to reduce health disparities across the state.
Lastly, we acknowledge the career of Melissa Burke, VP and Head of Client Experience at AmTrust Financial Services. Under her leadership, AmTrust has developed internal medical capabilities, including telephonic nurse case management, utilization review, complex case management, and pharmacy management with a foundation of predictive and actionable analytics.
Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Hartford for 2024.
1. Caroline Wilke
VP, Head of People & Culture Signify Health, CVS Health
Today, Caroline Wilke is the VP and Head of People and Culture for Signify Health at CVS Health, the leading health solutions company that includes more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and nurse practitioners.
Wilke has been with Aetna and CVS Health for nearly 20 years, where she has led human resources transformation, employee relations, university relations, and the human resources business partner teams aligned with finance, and consumer business. She also held leadership roles in talent management and was chief of staff to the chief human resources officer. Before Aetna and CVS Health, Wilke led human resources teams at Brooks Brothers, Sam Adams Beer Company, Send.com, and Crabtree & Evelyn.
Wilke graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Religious Studies with a concentration in Women's Studies. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Hartford Go Red for Women, the PRIDE colleague resource group, and the Connecticut Women’s Council. She is also an active mentor and proud mother of four children.
2. Jennifer Gerasimov
Global Risk Advisory Digital Controls Leader, Deloitte
Jennifer Gerasimov is the Global Risk Advisory Digital Controls Leader and a Managing Director in Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory practice, specializing in Accounting and Internal Control Services. She is the leader of the firm’s Nexus Digital Nerve Center™ solution, one of the Controls Advisory offerings within the Digital Controls practice.
Gerasimov has over 20 years of experience in assessing internal controls in areas, such as financial business operations, information security, system development, and computer operations for clients primarily within the financial services industry. She has designed, implemented, and tested the operating effectiveness of tens of thousands of business controls and general IT controls. During this time, she recognized a growing need for change in how companies are managing their risk and control environments.
Gerasimov has her CISA and CRISC certifications and is a member of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Brandeis University and a Master’s degree in Public Health from Boston University.
3. Michelle Bowman
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Michelle Bowman is a Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC serves aerospace, defense, automotive, energy, government, hospitality, insurance, banking, consumer markets, healthcare, and transportation industries worldwide.
Bowman is a tenured partner with over 30 years of experience providing assurance and business advisory services. She has extensive SEC experience serving large and mid-cap public companies, managing complex accounting matters, public offerings, debt financings, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, carve-out audits, joint ventures, and other complex transactions. She offers clients practical advice and has significant expertise in helping them improve their financial reporting functions and internal control environments.
Throughout her career, Bowman has served as an engagement partner for several high-growth and complex SEC registrant clients across various industries, including manufacturing, technology, biotechnology, and services companies. Before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bowman was a partner at Arthur Andersen. She graduated from Boston College.
4. Lori Crutchley
Managing Director, Technology NA Products, Life Sciences, Accenture
Lori Crutchley is the Managing Director of Technology NA Products and Life Sciences at Accenture, a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments, and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth, and enhance citizen services.
Crutchley has 30 years of experience. She has demonstrated success in leading technology delivery teams of over 150 people across multiple countries, with more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. She is a proven leader with expertise in global technology transformations, delivery management, program and project management, demand and resource management, and technology application outsourcing development and support. Additionally, she excels in delivery management through metrics and analytics, and IT transformational program management, including system integration, automation, decommissioning, and change management.
Before joining Accenture, Crutchley was in operations management at the Amarin Corporation. Before that, she served as a manager in multiple capacities at Pfizer. Crutchley graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Master’s degree in Business Management and Marketing and from the University of Central Florida with an undergraduate degree in communication.
8. Anna Paladino
First VP, CBRE
Anna Paladino is a First Vice President at CBRE Capital Markets in the Debt and Structured Finance Group. CBRE's mission is to realize the potential of its clients, professionals, and partners by building the real estate solutions of the future. From instilling confidence in today’s decisions to re-imagining tomorrow’s spaces, they thrive in complex and ever-changing environments.
Paladino is based out of the Hartford, Connecticut, office and represents national and regional clients based in Hartford, New York City, Dallas, and Charlotte. Her primary role is originating, underwriting, marketing, and closing commercial loans. Since joining the Hartford DSF team in 2011, Paladino has been involved in over $8 billion of commercial mortgages on behalf of institutional quality borrowers and lenders in various primary and secondary markets within over 27 US states.
Paladino has her Master's degree in Real Estate Finance from Georgetown University and a Bachelor's degree in Real Estate and Urban Economics from the University of Connecticut. She remains actively involved with the UConn Real Estate Society and was recognized by the UCONN Real Estate Center as the early career alumna of the year in 2015. She is also a board member of the Real Estate Finance Association (REFA).
10. Danica Rankic
Senior Director & Head of Synthesis Internal Medicine Medicinal Chemistry, Pfizer
Danica Rankic is the Senior Director and Head of Synthesis Internal Medicine Medicinal Chemistry at Pfizer, one of the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical and biomedical companies, known for developing, manufacturing, and marketing medications and vaccines for humans and animals.
Rankic started at Pfizer in 2013 as a senior scientist, and within a few years, she was promoted to principal scientist. Her career then took her to Merck, where she served as an associate principal scientist for over two years and as a principal scientist in discovery process chemistry for six months. She returned to Pfizer in her current position in 2020.
Ranking has an undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Calgary, as well as her PhD in Chemistry. While earning her advanced degree, she worked at the university as a teaching assistant. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University.
11. Marie-Claire Peakman
Partner, Pfizer Ventures
Marie-Claire Peakman is a Partner at Pfizer Ventures and Executive Director of Worldwide Business Development. Pfizer Ventures invests in areas of current or future strategic interest to Pfizer to remain at the forefront of life science advances. Peakman currently has responsibility for Pfizer’s investments in Capstan Therapeutics, Crossbow Therapeutics, DEM Biopharma, Grey Wolf Therapeutics, Mediar Therapeutics, Mozart Therapeutics, and TRex Bio.
Peakman brings 25 years of scientific leadership at Pfizer, delivering small molecule therapeutics to the clinic and to market across multiple therapeutic areas. Most recently, she led the Primary Pharmacology Group, which she founded in 2009 and which played key roles in the identification of Paxlovid, Cibinqo, Litfulo, and multiple other small molecules currently in the clinic. She has additional experience leading compound management, high throughput ADME, data support and management, genetically modified models, bioimaging, and biobanking. Before Pfizer, Peakman gained experience at The Wellcome Foundation and Guy’s Hospital, London, UK, and she held post-doctoral positions at Yale University.
Peakman received a Bachelor of Pharmacy with Honours and a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of Nottingham U.K. She is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and she is a member of the advisory board for the Connecticut Bioscience Innovation Fund and has multiple roles on nonprofit boards in the community.
View the complete list of awardees.
12. Tammi Morton
VP & Chief Security Officer, UnitedHealth Group
Tammi Morton is the Vice President and Chief Security Officer of UnitedHealth Group, a healthcare and well-being company committed to helping build a modern, high-performing health system. Morton is a visionary senior executive in the field of global security. She is known for her authentic leadership style and expertise in designing and spearheading large-cap multinational global security organizations. She consistently drives innovation and delivers outstanding results that align with global business objectives.
Previously, Morton served as VP and chief security officer for Raytheon Technologies (RTX), where she supported the complex United Technologies Corporation and Raytheon merger. Her functional leadership resulted in consistency of approach, process, procedures, and implementation of risk and resource alignment. This reduced costs and risks for RTX personnel, facilities, and assets. Before RTX/UTC, Morton was the head of global security at Hewlett Packard (HP), where she spearheaded significant transformation and innovation, introducing AI and other innovative and integrated tools. She created a security fusion center that advanced HP’s support of physical security operations; crisis and incident response and recovery; mass communications; and threat and risk-related management globally.
Earlier in her career, Morton held notable roles at Amoco Corporation, Merck & Co. Inc., and the Bill and Melinda Gates Estate. Her passion for security and commitment to excellence were evident early on, as she began her journey as a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), honing her skills and shaping her approach to security. Morton earned an undergraduate degree in sociology and criminal justice administration from California State University, Chico.
15. Cindy Deekitwong
Global Head of Marketing & Strategy, Incubator Business, Henkel Adhesive Technologies
Cindy Deekitwong is the Global Head of Marketing and Strategy in Incubator Business at Henkel Adhesive Technologies. She first joined the company in 2013 as a senior manager of corporate supplier innovation.
In her current role, Deekitwong is responsible for market customer activation, product management, pricing, market development and intelligence, channel excellence, social media, and digital strategies for the incubator's business, valued at approximately $100 million. She empowers her team to effectively position products and services while building industry awareness of the incubator brand. She also enables marketing plans and lead generation to maximize profits and gain market share, and she oversees the annual marketing budget of approximately $1 million.
Deekitwong is an intrapreneur, dynamic, and results-driven senior commercial and marketing professional with a proven track record of leading and shaping businesses to achieve excellence. She has a history of leveraging her technology acumen with marketing data to transform commercial teams into profitable sales engines and create a market-driven innovation pipeline for multi-billion-dollar product portfolios. Previously, Deekitwong was a project leader and technical service engineer at Ablestik Laboratories. Deekitwong earned a master black belt, a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from Smarter Solution, and a degree in chemical engineering, chemical from Burapha University.
19. Julie Hetherington
VP, Business Insurance, Financial Planning & Analysis, Travelers
Julie Hetherington has 19 years of experience as a finance leader in the P&C industry. She has outstanding communication skills, a broad organizational perspective, an eye for efficiency, and an ability to lead and motivate high-performing teams to successfully support business needs.
Today, Hetherington is the Vice President of Business Insurance Financial Planning and Analysis at Travelers. She started at the company in 2005 as a participant in the Financial Leadership Development Program. In 2009, she was made the director of middle market strategic initiatives, and by 2012, she was made senior director of middle market finance. Hetherington joined the C-suite in 2017 as the second VP of finance, and in 2021, she was promoted to VP and CFO, earning her current title in 2024.
Hetherington graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Business with an MBA and from Bentley University with an undergraduate degree in economics and finance. She is an active member of SHE Adds (Women and Allies in Finance), the BI Finance Diversity and Inclusion Team, and the FLDP Operating Committee. She is also a graduate of the KPMG Executive Leadership Institute for Women and a voice for stroke survivors.
22. Jocelyn Demaio
Head of End User Services, The Hartford
Jocelyn DeMaio has masterfully balanced a love for the corporate world with the pursuit of personal passions, leading to a fulfilled life. As the Head of End User Services at The Hartford, Jocelyn exemplifies servant leadership, overseeing the service desk, remote and onsite tech support, workspace and client services, collaboration tools, and the end-user experience team. Her innovative contributions in these areas have led to the issuance of two patents.
A dedicated volunteer, Jocelyn has been recognized for her contributions, receiving the Hartford Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award in 2015 and the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Passionate, energetic, and ambitious, Jocelyn believes in helping others achieve their goals and takes great pride in doing so. With extensive experience in the fitness field since 2000 and numerous certifications in various modalities, she realized a decade-long dream by opening Empowered Indoor Cycling & Strength Studio. This venture, which has been open since 2016 allows her to share a passion for fitness, supported by a strong team of instructors, personnel, and a business partner, all contributing to an unparalleled workout experience. Empowered has received numerous awards including Best of Connecticut, Best of Yelp, and more.
Jocelyn holds a Master of Science from Eastern Connecticut State University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut. Believing that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day, Jocelyn chooses to fill them with activities that bring joy and fulfillment.
26. Athena Mains
Co-Founder & Co-President, Connecticut Nurses Honor Guard
Athena Mains is the Co-Founder and Co-President of the Connecticut Nurses Honor Guard (CTNHG), established in 2021. CTNHG pays tribute to the nurses at the time of their death by performing the Nightingale Tribute at their funeral or memorial service. The ceremony is similar to a military tribute and officially releases the nurse from their nursing duties.
Mains oversees the day-to-day operations of CTNHG, including the recruitment of nurses, collaboration with funeral homes, churches, and families, and organizing tributes. She also manages monthly guard meetings, creates training documents, and provides training for new nurse members. Additionally, she maintains the organization's social media accounts.
Previously, Mains was an instructional designer at UConn Health. Before that, she was a staff nurse in the emergency room at Eastern Connecticut Health Network (ECHN). Earlier in her career, she worked with the Hospital For Special Care as a staff nurse and clinical resource consultant. Mains earned an undergraduate degree in nursing from Saint Joseph College.
27. Tricia Hasselman
Senior VP, Managed Care Contracting & Payer Relations, Hartford HealthCare
Tricia Hasselman is the Senior Vice President of Managed Care Contracting and Payer Relations at Hartford HealthCare. With 37,000 colleagues, Hartford HealthCare’s unified culture enhances access, affordability, equity, and excellence.
Hasselman is an executive with years of achievement in highly visible roles within world-class healthcare organizations. She has extensive experience in medical cost management, planning, and forecasting, financial analysis, commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid network development, payer and provider negotiation and contracting, and reimbursement design, including value-based reimbursement. She is skilled in healthcare data manipulation and reporting. With excellent communication skills, she effectively interacts with varied audiences. She also has proven leadership abilities, team-building expertise, and strong employee selection skills.
Hasselman started her career in 1997 as a financial consultant at Aetna. From there, she eventually rose to the level of staff vice president at Anthem, Inc., her most recent position before joining Hartford HealthCare as a VP of contractor and payer relations in 2014. She accepted her current position in 2021. Hasselman graduated from Fairfield University with an undergraduate degree in mathematics and computer science.
28. Neha Parekh
Senior Director, Marketing, Specialty Services, Evernorth Health Services | The Cigna Group
Neha Parekh is Senior Director of Marketing for Specialty Services at Evernorth, a division of the Cigna Group. She leads the business marketing strategy and team responsible for advancing the high-growth specialty business within the Evernorth portfolio, including the Accredo Specialty Pharmacy and Verity Solutions business units. These businesses serve patients with chronic and complex medical conditions.
Parekh is a highly accomplished marketing leader with over 25 years of healthcare expertise. She is known for delivering campaigns and programs with proven results. She thrives in fast-paced environments, excels at navigating complex organizations, and is adept at building and sustaining strong relationships. Parekh joined the Cigna Group in December 2019 and was promoted twice during her tenure to her current role.
Previously, Parekh was a marketing leader at ConnectiCare, a leading health plan in the state of Connecticut, where she led brand, digital and marketing operations. Earlier in her career, she held a variety of marketing roles at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and Google, leading aspects of Google advertising related marketing efforts directed towards healthcare companies. She is highly involved in the Hartford community, having served as Development Director at Hartford Food System, a non-profit focused on sustainable efforts to combat food insecurity in the Hartford area and on their board of directors. Parekh earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MPH in Health Policy and Management from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania.
View the complete list of awardees.
29. Lisa Maguire
Global Head of Claims Analytics, AIG
Lisa Maguire is the Global Head of Claims Analytics at AIG. She first joined the company in 2022. American International Group, Inc. is a leading global insurance organization that provides insurance solutions that help businesses and individuals in approximately 190 countries and jurisdictions protect their assets and manage risks through AIG operations and network partners.
Maguire is an executive leader of analysts and data engineers who analyze and utilize data to provide senior executives with deep insights into their business, helping to achieve organizational goals and gain a competitive advantage. With over 25 years of experience, she has extensive knowledge of data and analytics, having worked in every function that should and could use data insights to drive a competitive advantage.
Previously, Maguire was an AVP and claims liability performance analytics at The Hartford. Earlier in her career, she worked with Travelers as a director of national property pricing. Maguire earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame.
30. Shayla Taylor
VP, Strategic Accounts, ABM Industries
Shayla Taylor is the Vice President of Strategic Accounts at ABM Industries. She first joined the company in 2023 as the national director of strategic accounts. ABM is a leading provider of facility solutions with offices throughout the United States and various international locations.
Taylor is an entrepreneurial and transformative sales leader with 15 years of experience and a proven history of developing and executing successful client-facing strategies to drive revenue growth and retention. She is adept at quickly identifying and understanding complex objectives, gaps, and capabilities, effectively leading cross-functional teams to success. She leverages business strengths, tools, and relationships to achieve client and business outcomes.
Taylor served as the director of customer success at People.ai from 2021 to 2022, following her role as director of enterprise solutions at Sodexo from 2019 to 2021. Before that, she was the market leader for small to midsize and emerging markets at Deloitte for two years. Earlier in her career, she held the position of senior manager of sales integration at Sodexo and was the manager of venue sales and operations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Taylor has an MBA in Business Management and Operations from Walden University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from DeVry University.
31. Iwona Olszewska
Chief Operating Officer & Head of Professional Services, Americas, Napier
Iwona Olszewska has been the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Professional Services for the Americas at Napier since 2021. Napier provides AI-driven AML solutions that transform financial crime compliance from legal obligation to competitive edge.
With a background in various leadership roles at companies like SS&C Technologies and MassMutual, Olszewska brings a wealth of experience in project management, client advisory, and institutional business. She started her career in 1998 as a general manager at Mario Construction Company. From there, she went on to MassMutual before eventually rising to a global head at NEOS, her most recent position before joining Napier.
Olszewska holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from the University of Connecticut, along with additional certifications in project management and a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education.
32. Christine Lawlor-King
Chief Executive Officer, Innovation Education Consulting LLC
Christine Lawlor-King is the Chief Executive Officer at Innovation Education Consulting LLC. IEC’s work is underpinned by experience and evidence of invention education supporting all children, especially those underrepresented in STEM, girls, boys, struggling students, gifted and talented, and English language learners.
Lawlor-King exemplifies an educator who is both pioneering innovation and entrepreneurship learning in the classroom, and a visionary in her own right. She created her urban district’s award-winning K-12 STEM program and has been the catalyst for implementing the invention education curriculum in many schools, on a national and international level. As a Yale University Master STEM Teacher, she introduced teachers to project-based learning centered around vector-borne diseases. She was the education lead on the team that created the National Invention Convention program, which serves thousands of teachers and students internationally. She was the executive director of the largest invention convention program in the world.
Her current consulting roles with Lemelson-MIT, STEMisED, and The Lemelson Foundation have her inspiring more in-school and out-of-school educators to teach invention. Lawlor-King has mentored program leaders, young inventors, educators, and administrators, and inspired corporate professionals to get involved with invention education. Her efforts earned her STEMconnector’s Community Trailblazer Award.
36. Kimberly Kann
VP, Public Relations, EmblemHealth Family of Companies
Kimberly Kann is the VP of Public Relations of the EmblemHealth Family of Companies which includes ConnectiCare and WellSpark Health in Connecticut and EmblemHealth and Advantage Care Physicians in New York.
She specializes in fostering impactful visibility for brands, teams, and individuals while navigating crisis communications seamlessly when challenges arise. Her focus lies in spotlighting the achievements of companies and people guiding them toward success.
As a trusted advisor to executives, Kann oversees a spectrum of public-facing activities—from speaking engagements and thought leadership initiatives to media relations, corporate giving, and community engagement programs. Her passion is rooted in their shared mission: creating healthier futures for the communities they serve. With a robust background in health insurance, marketing, and communications, she works at the intersection of business and its profound impact on people's lives. This insight enables strategic decisions on how their brands and teams engage to achieve their collective goals.
A perpetual learner, she thrives on exchanging knowledge and leveraging collective strengths for superior outcomes. Guiding and supporting others, and witnessing their achievements, both personally and professionally, brings her immense fulfillment.
Kann has held various leadership roles in public relations, executive and corporate communications, philanthropy, brand management, event management, and customer and community relations. Kann earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), PRSA Greater Connecticut, and the Connecticut Women's Council among the groups.
41. Paddi LeShane
Chief Executive Officer, Sullivan & LeShane
Paddi LeShane, co-founder of Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations, Inc., recognized the need for integrated government and public relations advocacy. So in 1988, she pioneered a new model of public affairs management in Connecticut, one that continues to thrive today on a culture of strategic thinking and problem-solving.
Paddi and Patrick Sullivan first created Sullivan & LeShane, Inc., in 1983, which remains one of the state’s leading government relations firms. Now Paddi is nationally celebrated as a thought leader in strategic communications and finding creative, outside-the-box ways to develop solutions that are specifically tailored to each client’s needs. A tireless networker with solid relationships that traverse numerous Connecticut industries, Paddi is always at the ready to meet any client communications need. An active member of the Greater Connecticut Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA-CT), Paddi won that chapter’s prestigious 2017 “Practitioner of the Year” award, and continues to serve on the executive committee for the Public Affairs Council’s Board of Directors in Washington, D.C.
42. Anne D'Alleva
Provost & Executive VP, Academic Affairs, the University of Connecticut
Anne D'Alleva is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of the University of Connecticut (UConn), a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut. D’Alleva is a champion of innovative and creative collaborative efforts across disciplines, schools, and colleges. D'Alleva first joined the university in the fall of 1999 as a joint appointment to Art History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She has served in many institutional leadership roles, and before being named the Fine Arts dean, she served as an associate dean for the School of Fine Arts and as the head of the Art and Art History Department.
D'Alleva co-founded the Krenicki Arts & Engineering Institute, with a $5 million gift. She collaborated with the Human Rights Institute on a hiring initiative in 2021 to create a research cluster in arts and human rights. In partnership with the department heads, she has increased the diversity of faculty and students in the school. She established the School of Fine Arts Advisory Board and, as part of larger alumni engagement efforts, also established the Recent Alumni Council. With philanthropic support, she expanded career readiness as a professional development program for both undergraduate and graduate students. She also created the SFA STEAM research grant and the SFA Anti-Racism Research Grant, and she has expanded research funding in the school five-fold in her time as dean.
D'Alleva received her BA in Art History from Harvard University and her MA and PhD in Art History from Columbia University with a graduate certificate in feminist theory. Before she arrived at UConn, she completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Australian National University and through the Getty Foundation. She has received additional research funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the College Art Association. Her books Fundamentals of Art History and Methods and Theories of Art History have been published in multiple languages worldwide.
View the complete list of awardees.
44. Mackenzie Heal
Principal, PwC
Mackenzie Heal is the Principal of PwC. She first joined the company in 2003 as an associate. The PricewaterhouseCoopers offers business advisory services, such as auditing, accounting, taxation, strategy management, and human resource consulting services.
Heal is a goal-oriented healthcare professional with over 10 years of experience in developing and delivering business consulting engagements with various clients. She specializes in assisting payer organizations with strategic planning and execution, operational assessments, quality initiatives, large-scale PBM transitions, and performance improvement initiatives. She has in-depth experience in large-scale programs and project management. Additionally, she supports both payers and health systems in identifying strategic growth opportunities and fostering payer-provider convergence.
Previously, Heal was a research associate at Cereon Genomics. She earned an MBA in Health Administration from the University of Colorado Denver and an undergraduate degree in biology from Quinnipiac University.
46. Adria Giordano
Executive Director, American Heart Association
Adria Giordano is the Connecticut Executive Director of the American Heart Association, the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke, funding innovative research, fighting for stronger public health policies, and providing critical tools and information to save and improve lives. In this role, Giordano leads staff and revenue field operations, Connecticut Board development and cultivation, volunteer recruitment, and fundraising initiatives to reduce health disparities across Connecticut.
Giordano is an experienced thought leader, with a passion for developing long-term collaborative partnerships with individuals, businesses, and community organizations to support fund development, mission alignment, and brand awareness. She is known for working with individuals and organizations to amplify their mission, and connections and build strategic plans so they can make an influential impact in their community. Giordano mentors with passion, guiding her clients and staff to effectively strengthen and elevate their skills and leadership vision to new heights.
Giordano started her career in 1993 as a staff assistant to a US Senator. From there, she went on to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), before eventually rising to director of development and communications at Chrysalis Center, Inc., her most recent position before joining the American Heart Association. Giordano graduated from Bay Path University with a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy. She has an undergraduate degree in political science, communications, and journalism.
47. Kimberly Quigley
Senior VP, USI Insurance Services
Kimberly Quigley is the Senior VP of USI Insurance Services (USI), one of the largest insurance brokerage and consulting firms in the world, delivering property and casualty, employee benefits, personal risk, program, and retirement solutions to large risk management clients, middle market companies, smaller firms, and individuals. Quigley has served in this role since February 2008.
Specializing in creating cost-effective employee benefit plans for middle-market employers, Quigley is proficient in using the OMNI solutions platform to manage employee benefits budgets. She provides compliance and HR support tools for plan administration and workforce communication. From October 2008 to October 2010, she served as the chairperson of the board of directors at Visiting Nurse and Health Services of Connecticut, Inc. Before that, she was the owner of Benefit Plans Design and Administration Inc., an insurance agency specializing in designing, implementing, and administering creative solutions for managing employee benefits budgets. Quigley sold the agency to Webster Insurance in April 2001.
Quigley obtained her Bachelor of Science in Finance and Marketing from Syracuse in 1987. Additionally, she is a Certified Insurance Consultant in the State of CT and a Certified Employee Benefit Specialist through The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
50. Melissa Burke
VP, Head of Client Experience, AmTrust Financial Services
Melissa Burke is a Vice President and the Head of Client Experience at AmTrust Financial Services. She is responsible for ensuring an elevated client experience for AmTrust's large insureds and agents, providing a primary point of contact and accountability for all service-related needs and value-added support throughout the life of the policy.
In her prior role as head of claims for AmTrust Financial Services Inc., Burke was responsible for overseeing claims technology solutions, project management, claims strategic partnerships, claims account management, and special investigations. Previously, as head of managed care and clinical, she guided AmTrust from a transactional fee-for-service model to a holistic, right-sourced medical management model. Under her leadership, AmTrust developed internal medical capabilities, including telephonic nurse case management, utilization review, complex case management, and pharmacy management, all grounded in predictive and actionable analytics.
With 19 years of experience as a leader in healthcare, Burke has consistently demonstrated a drive to provide the highest quality patient care with optimal outcomes, in an environment that optimizes medical management, promotes self-learning, and fosters interdisciplinary collaboration. Before joining AmTrust, she served as a VP at Travelers. Earlier in her career, she was the pharmacy director for a multi-location health system in Massachusetts. Burke earned her PharmD from the University of Connecticut in 2003.
View the complete list of awardees.