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After serving as interim executive director for eight months, Deborah Ullman ’77 has been appointed executive director of the YWCA of the Hartford (Conn.) Region.

The mathematics graduate transitioned to her new position after a successful career in the insurance and financial services industry. Ullman was vice president of strategic initiatives for Phoenix Companies Inc. following senior-level positions at American Skandia and Aetna.

“One of the things I enjoy is that [the YWCA position] involves working with issues that affect women and children. Being a woman who has had advantages in my corporate career, it is a way to give back and make a difference in peoples’ lives and help them become empowered to take charge of their own lives,” she says. “This totally new experience has been very rewarding for me.”

Ullman says her business and insurance background was especially useful in working on the YWCA’s newly renovated supportive housing facility. Described as the first project of its kind in Connecticut, Soromundi Commons provides emergency shelter, transitional and permanent housing, and services for up to 71 low-income individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

“Although the YMCA is a nonprofit,” Ullman explains, “it is still a very complex business. My business experience allowed me to jump into the housing project right away and make sure that it got done. It really shows how the blending of nonprofit and business acumen are required to serve the basic needs of people.”

She says her interest in her current position stems from a combination of her concern for the community and desire to run a business.

“Lafayette prepared me with expertise in mathematics, and business gave me a good launching ground for my [new] career. A love of learning something new every day came out of my education. My time at Lafayette gave me that intellectual curiosity.”

Ullman is a member of the finance committee of Town and Country Club. She has served as a member of the board of directors and chair of the finance committee at the YWCA and as board member and treasurer of Knight Hall School and Child Care Center.

Categorized in: Alumni Profiles