Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 7, 2025 25 POWE R 50 J effrey Flaks assumed the role of president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare in September 2019. He leads the state's second-largest healthcare system, behind only Yale New Haven Health, and has spent the past five years-plus working to expand and improve it. Flaks has overseen the system's gradual transformation into a larger, decentralized organization with hospitals, physician practices, surgical centers and urgent care facilities throughout the state. His health system recorded nearly $6 billion in operating revenue in fiscal 2023, or 35.7% of the operating revenue collected by all Connecticut health systems combined. HHC today consists of seven acute- care hospitals with a combined 1,858 staffed beds, approximately 41,000 employees and nearly 500 access points across Connecticut. That now includes 35 urgent care centers, which increased by two in November, when HHC opened facilities in central and eastern Connecticut through a joint venture with GoHealth Urgent Care. Flaks' tenure also has included launching in February 2024 the Center for AI Innovation in Health- care to develop ways to use artificial intelligence technologies to improve patient care and hospital operations. HHC and Yale New Haven Health R adenka Maric is one of the most powerful university presidents in Connecticut. She's led UConn, the state's flag- ship university with six campuses and a $1.6 billion annual budget, since 2022. One of her first actions as presi- dent was to launch the university's strategic planning effort, Envisioning 2034, which outlines UConn's stra- tegic goals and focus areas over the next decade. A key part of that plan includes expanding the school's research and innovation efforts. UConn has already grown in that area. In fact, UConn investigators won $367 million in research awards in fiscal year 2024, an increase of $45 million over 2023. However, those efforts could be challenged over the next four years under a Trump administration, whose aggressive cost-cutting initiatives have put university research funding in limbo. Maric is also pushing for more state funding. Gov. Ned Lamont in February proposed a new two-year budget plan that allocated $474.4 million in funding for UConn over two years. In a Feb. 5 letter to the UConn community, Maric said that was less "money than the university requested." also broke ground last October on the $75 million, 25,000-square-foot, jointly operated Connecticut Proton Therapy Center in Wallingford. The Even so, she remains bullish about the school's future, noting UConn recently set a new record for student applications — 62,000 — which demonstrates the university's attraction. Maric has also been a bit of a good luck charm. Since taking office, the new cancer treatment center is expected to open in March 2026. The latest innovation under Flak's leadership was the April 1 launch of UConn men's basketball team has won back-to-back championships, while the women's team has made deep runs into the NCAA tournament. Prior to being named president, Maric served as UConn's vice presi- dent for research. She joined UConn in 2010 as a School of Engineering a new 24/7 virtual health platform built in partnership with New York telehealth company K Health. faculty member. A native of Serbia, Maric also worked for large and small corpo- rations and federal labs in Japan, Canada and the U.S., before coming to the Nutmeg State 13 years ago. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER 3 Radenka Maric 2 Jeffrey Flaks

• Cover