Renee Bernasconi is President & CEO of Seabury, Inc., a not-for-profit continuing care retirement community in Bloomfield, Connecticut. She holds an MBA in Healthcare Management, is a licensed administrator, and has spent her career in senior living and aging services, focusing on mission-driven leadership, community, and innovation. Renee serves on the Connecticut Department of Social Services Advisory Committee, is a member of the LeadingAge Connecticut Board. She was instrumental in changing state legislation to enable Life Plan at Home programs in Connecticut—the first such program in the state and the fifth in the country.
Category: Speaker Announcements (Page 1 of 11)
Speaker programs at Wednesday DMA Meetings
Kevin Rennie writes a political column for the Sunday edition of The Hartford Courant since 2002. He has operated the popular political website DailyRuctions.com since 2010. Kevin’s stories have led to corruption investigations, resignations, and criminal convictions, reminders that there are many ways to serve the public interest without holding elective office.
Kevin was elected to represent the 14th House District in the Connecticut General Assembly for three consecutive terms starting in 1988. In 1994, he became the first Republican to win election to the State Senate from the 3rd Senate District in 70 years. He served one term and is no longer a Republican.
In 2002 scandals involving the administration of Governor John G. Rowland began to unfurl. Kevin’s column provided news of Rowland’s disappointing abuse of his position as the Waterbury Republican began descent to resignation and prison. In 2008, Kevin’s columns on Senator Christopher Dodd’s concealed Irish real estate dealings made international news.
Kevin is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Connecticut School of Law. He lives and practices law in South Windsor.
Jackson Laboratory Professor, President Emeritus, and Honorary Fellow, Edison Liu, M.D., is an international expert in cancer biology, systems genomics, human genetics, molecular epidemiology and translational medicine with a focus on breast cancer. He has authored more than 350 scientific papers and reviews and co-authored two books. He obtained his B.S. in chemistry and psychology, as well as his M.D., at Stanford University. He then received his residency and fellowship training at Washington University, St, Louis, and Stanford, and postdoctoral training in molecular oncology at the University of California at San Francisco with Nobel Laureate, J. Michael Bishop.
From 2012 to 2021, Dr. Liu was the president and CEO of The Jackson Laboratory, an independent research institute focused on c
omplex genetics and functional genomics. During his tenure, JAX grew significantly in revenue, employee headcount, international presence, research scope, philanthropy and physical footprint. Under Liu’s leadership, JAX established The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Conn., and added production facilities in Ellsworth, Maine and Japan and established a joint venture in China to the institution’s headquarters campus in Bar Harbor, Maine, and production facility in Sacramento, Calif.
Previously (2001-2011), he was the founding executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore and the president of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO). He was also the scientific director of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Clinical Sciences in Bethesda, Md. (1997-2001), where he was in charge of the intramural clinical translational science programs. In his earlier career, Dr. Liu was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was the director of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer; the director of the Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology at UNC’s School of Public Health; and the Chief of Medical Genetics.
Throughout his career Dr. Liu has received numerous accolades and awards, including the AACR Rosenthal Award and the Brinker International Award, both for breast cancer research; the Public Service Medal from the President of Singapore for his contributions to resolving the SARS crisis; and the Chen Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Human Genetics. He was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation, as President of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), as a foreign member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Liu has served on the governing boards of the AACR, American Cancer Society, and the Foundation for the NIH. He holds honorary degrees from Queen’s University (Belfast, Northern Ireland), University of Southern Maine, and Colby College (Waterville, Maine).
Research Focus Synopsis
My laboratory is focused on understanding the systems genetics of breast cancer biology and its translational impact. Currently, there are four major programs in the laboratory:
- Dynamics of BRCA1 promoter methylation
- Oncogenic drivers of genomic signatures in cancer
- Clonal dynamics of therapeutic resistance in triple negative breast cancer
- Identifying host genes that determine response to immune checkpoint inhibitors
Dr. Lewis is the retired inaugural Physician-in-Chief of the Hartford Healthcare Bone & Joint Institute in Hartford. Following graduation from the UVM College of Medicine, residency at the University of Maryland Hospitals and an adult reconstruction fellowship at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Dr. Lewis joined the full-time faculty at the University of Connecticut Health Center where he was Residency Program Director for many years. He was selected for a sabbatical at the Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy in 1992 and was promoted to Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery in 1997.
After transitioning to private practice in Hartford, Dr. Lewis was Director of Research & Quality at the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute at St. Francis Hospital from 2007 until 2013 when he assumed his position at Hartford Hospital and oversaw design and building of the Bone & Joint Institute. After a clinical career as a total hip and knee replacement surgeon, he retired in 2018 from active practice. He currently serves on the Board of Hartford Hospital.
Jeffrey A. Flaks is a nationally recognized healthcare leader. He is President and CEO of Hartford HealthCare, an $8-billion system serving more than 28,000 people daily and has transformed Hartford HealthCare into a highly integrated network of 500+ locations with 48,000 colleagues, including 8,000 employed and aligned providers.
Under Mr. Flaks leadership HHC earned the 2025 AHA Quest for Quality Prize; “A” grades for safety from the Leapfrog Group; Nation’s First Care Partner of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; ranked #1 in the U.S. for mitral valve surgery; named the top employer in Connecticut for career development by Career minds: recognized for its commitment to helping employees build meaningful, long-term careers; forged partnerships with Google, Amazon, MIT, Abridge, Aidoc, K Health & others; and recognized on Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies list.
Mr. Flaks is the recipient of the 2025 Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO; named Press Ganey’s Innovator of the Year in 2026. He has built academic pipelines with UConn, Quinnipiac and the Connecticut State Colleges system, supporting scholarships, mentorship and workforce development.
A Connecticut native, Mr. Flaks joined Hartford HealthCare in 2004 and serves on numerous
boards, including vice chair of the Connecticut Hospital Association. He holds honorary doctorates from Trinity College, Eastern Connecticut State and Sacred Heart universities
Trinity Academy—a tuition-free, independent & unique elementary school with a kindergarten in Hartford, primarily serving students from Hartford’s neighborhoods that is literally life-changing for its students.
Mark Panico
Board Chair
Senior executive with more than 20 years of experience successfully leading midsize P&Ls both domestically and internationally. A strategic problem solver who thrives on dissecting businesses to identify opportunities for growth, profitability, and leadership development. Currently serves as Chair of the Board for Trinity Academy, a tuition-free elementary school in Hartford, where he provides governance and strategic oversight in support of educational equity and student success.
Barton Darney
Development Director
Barton Darney is the Development Director at Trinity Academy, a tuition-free elementary school in Hartford serving students from historically underserved communities. With over 15 years of experience in nonprofit development and education, Barton leads fundraising strategy, community partnerships, and board engagement, raising more than $500,000 annually to support high-quality academics, innovation, and wraparound services for students. Barton is passionate about building relationships that expand opportunity, strengthen equity in education, and empower young people to thrive.
Biography – Jason Jakubowski
Jason Jakubowski is President & CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, the official Feeding America food bank serving the entire state of Connecticut. With a dedicated team of 120 employees and more than 5,700 volunteers, Connecticut Foodshare distributes more than 40 million meals each year through a statewide network of 600+ pantries and mobile distribution sites. Throughout Jason’s tenure, Connecticut Foodshare has been named a “Top Workplace” seven times by the Hartford Courant and Hearst newspapers; and in 2020, Jason received the prestigious C-Suite Award from the Hartford Business Journal for his organization’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to joining Connecticut Foodshare, Jason served as Vice President of External Relations at Hospital for Special Care and he worked as the Director of Corporate & Community Development at Charter Oak State College. Jason holds adjunct faculty appointments at both the University of Connecticut School of Public Policy and Central Connecticut State University’s Department of Political Science.
Jason holds both a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Connecticut, and he is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management program. At the age of 21, Jason was elected to the New Britain City Council followed by two terms as City Treasurer. In 2012, he was one of Connecticut’s seven Presidential Electors for Barack Obama.
Jason has chaired the Board of Directors at both Leadership Greater Hartford and Community Health Resources, and he currently chairs Feeding America’s national Policy Engagement and Advocacy Committee (PEAC). Jason also serves on the boards of the United Way of Connecticut, the Connecticut Food Association, and the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Transition Teams for Governors Ned Lamont (2018) and Dannel P. Malloy (2010), and in 2019 he received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Association of Leadership Programs. In 2021, he received the Polaris Award for Visionary Leadership from Leadership Greater Hartford.
Jason currently lives in West Hartford with his wife and five children. He is slightly obsessed with UConn basketball and the New York Yankees (which have brought him a lot of joy), and with the New York Jets and New York Knicks (which have not).
February 10, 2026
“Downsizing, Right Sizing, Moving Options”
Aaron Wlochowski—The Dutiful Daughter
Aaron Wlochowski has worked in the logistics/transportation field, the financial services/retirement field and currently is the owner of The Dutiful Daughter. A position he has held since 2009. His mother, Jane, started the Dutiful Daughter back in the early 1970’s. He has worked in the family business since a young age. While his mother had started the business as a hobby, Aaron has grown the business into a full-scale operation. The company services all of CT and has a partner organization in the Boston & Merrimack Valley area. The company services over 500 + house last year.
Aaron has a degree in Marketing from Bentley University and worked in the corporate environment for 20 years. His experience in logistics/transportation and the retirement service industry have helped him with this business. He specializes in assisting seniors and their families transitioning their lives as they age. The company’s work centers on easing the burden of emptying a home when there is a need to sell a family residence. There a strong emphasis on assisting with the selling and donating of items that an individual and their families no longer need or want.
Rick Cave retired in 2022 after a 43-year career spent entirely with the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District in N.J. He started in the district as a high school mathematics and computer science teacher and spent the last 22 years of his career as the Director of Technology. As the director he was responsible for reviewing new technologies and determining how they can best be used to support the teachers and students in the district. This resulted in the implementation of numerous educational initiatives including creation of the Educational Classroom of Tomorrow in K-5 classrooms and automating the district records systems.
A graduate of Conard High School, where he had his first experience programming computers, Cave earned his Bachelor’s in Mathematics from Springfield College, a Master’s in Computer Science from The College of New Jersey and a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Rider University.
Cave is the co-founder of the NJETC, an organization that provides technology coaches in and around New Jersey with a platform to share ideas for supporting teaching and learning through the use of technology. He has written for various publications and presented at regional and national conferences focusing on the impact of technology on teaching and learning.
Artificial Intelligence (Ai) software is everywhere, and its use is quickly becoming the norm. Obviously, students need to learn how to use this powerful new tool, but how do schools give students access without compromising the learning environment?
Lawrence Ward became University of Hartford’s seventh President on July 1, 2024. He previously served as Vice President for Learner Success and Dean of Campus Life at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Programs at American University’s Kogodd School of Business in Washington, D.C.
Ward earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from UConn, his Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Michigan, and his Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania.
He has held multiple leadership positions in higher education: as member of the NCAA Board of Governors, chair of the NCAA Division III Management Council, and Trustee at Albertus Magnuss College in New Haven, CT.
Nathan has been the Executive Director of the Greater Hartford Community Foundation, Inc. and the Tournament Director of the Travelers Championship, Connecticut’s PGA TOUR event, for 10 years. During this time, the tournament has generated more than $7 million for charity and has been awarded the PGA TOUR’s Best Title Sponsor Integration and Most Fan Friendly Event in 2010 and 2012 and Best Charity Integration in 2013. He is also a Class ‘A’ member of the PGA of America and an active member of the Connecticut Section of the PGA.
After graduating from Auburn University in 1996 with a degree in Mass Communications, Nathan worked for the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Academy of Golf as an instructor through 2001. During this time, he also played professional golf on various tours throughout the Southeast. He then went to work for the Bruno Event Team from 2001-2004 where he was the Executive Director of the First Tee of Greater Birmingham and also worked on all four major professional golf tours in the United States. He worked on the Champions TOUR, LPGA TOUR, Web.com TOUR and PGA TOUR, including serving as Tournament Director for the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.
Mayor Arunan Arulampalam is a father, husband, attorney, former nonprofit executive, and is committed to strengthening our neighborhoods and building a Hartford that works for everyone. Mayor Arulampalam lives in the Frog Hollow neighborhood in a formerly vacant and blighted house with his wife and five small children.
The son of Sri Lankan refugees was born in Zimbabwe. He made a home and eventually a family in Hartford soon after graduate school. Prior to being elected mayor, Mayor Arulampalam served as the CEO of the Hartford Land Bank, where he developed a first-in-the-nation program to train Hartford residents to become local developers and tackle blight in Hartford. The Land Bank takes on the city’s vacant and blighted properties and, with the help of Hartford developers, fixes them up to encourage investment in our neighborhoods across the city.
Mayor Arulampalam also served in the Lamont Administration as Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection where he went after a notorious Connecticut slumlord and fought for consumer rights and small businesses. Before then, he was a lawyer downtown at the firm of Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, P.C. The Mayor also served on the Board of the Hartford Public Library, the House of Bread, and the Hartford Redevelopment Authority. He earned his B.A. in International Studies from Emory University and his J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law.