Commencement 2022: Local Business Executives Karen Lynch and Greg Toczydlowski to Address UHart Graduates

Commencement Details

Two well-known business leaders with extensive ties to the greater Hartford community will deliver Commencement addresses at the University of Hartford’s May Commencement exercises.

Karen S. Lynch, president of CVS Health, and Greg Toczydlowski (M'95), executive vice president of Travelers and president of its Business Insurance division, will address UHart graduates during two separate ceremonies at downtown Hartford’s XL Center on Sunday, May 15. Master’s and doctoral recipients will be celebrated at a 9 a.m. ceremony while the undergraduate ceremony for associate and bachelor’s recipients will follow at 2 p.m. Both will be livestreamed.

More than 1,200 graduates representing 34 states and 32 countries are scheduled to receive their degrees during the two ceremonies.

Lynch, who will deliver the afternoon Commencement address, previously held executive positions at area insurance giants Cigna, Magellan Health Services, and Aetna, where she was the company’s first female president, responsible for driving the strategy to deliver consumer-focused, high-value health care to the millions of people Aetna serves. In her current role leading CVS Health, Lynch shares in her employees’ passion to transform health care into a benefit people can access with as much convenience and personalization as possible.

A graduate of Boston College and the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, she began her career as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young.

Lynch enjoys many honors and memberships, including being named to the “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” list by Forbes magazine in 2020, and a spot in its “50 Over 50” program honoring women who founded or run for-profit companies with $20 million or more in revenue and are known to lead important initiatives in pursuit of a better world.

Serving as an honorary chairwoman of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, Lynch is also an advisory board member of NEADS, an organization that promotes the training of service dogs, and is a trustee of the Bushnell Performing Arts Center, which, like the XL Center, is another notable venue in Connecticut’s capital city.

Toczydlowski, who will address master’s and doctoral degree recipients, has enjoyed a distinguished career at Travelers, where he has held a number of diverse roles in such areas as finance, marketing, and business development. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business management from Springfield College, he received an MBA from the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business and is currently a member of UHart's President’s Advisory Council.

Deeply committed to serving the communities in which he lives and works, Toczydlowski’s memberships include the Board of Directors for Hartford HealthCare; Board of Overseers for St. John’s University Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance, and Actuarial Science; and Board of Trustees for Springfield College. He also served on the Board of United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, including as chair from 2015 to 2017.

Toczydlowski is an honorary chair of the Urban League of Greater Hartford’s Equal Opportunity Day Celebration, sponsored by Travelers. He also remains instrumental in the company’s annual employee giving and community connection campaigns. In 2018, his dedication to community service earned him an honorary doctoral degree from Springfield College.