There was only a path to excellence. And the catalyst for all of it, of course, was community.

“As a leader, you’re always investing in people, whether it’s students, the faculty or staff, your peers on leadership teams, anyone really,” Olian said during a recent interview from her office. “Those moments always come back to you in unimaginable ways, and that’s very gratifying to me.”

During her lifetime, Olian has lived in Australia, Israel, the United States and elsewhere, each address adding to her calculus for an inclusive vision and a generous capacity for community.

Indeed, she is the global citizen she encourages her students to become. It is through this lens that Olian channels the University of the Future, a collective enterprise and a grand design for Quinnipiac’s leaders of tomorrow.

For Board of Trustees Chair Chuck Saia ’91, MBA ’94, Olian is the driven, empathetic leader.

“I've watched her with her team. While she drives hard — there's no doubt about that — she’s the first one to stand up for someone who needs it and lend a hand,” said Saia, who was Olian’s first addition to the Board of Trustees. “Her team knows she always has their back."

“Also, it’s very easy for her to lean in and inspire people to drive her strategies because they trust her,” Saia said. “They trust her because she's authentic, and they trust her because they know that she’s doing what's best not only for the organization, but also for them.”

Board of Trustees member Bill Weldon ’71, the former CEO of Johnson & Johnson who served as Quinnipiac’s board chair from 2016-20, cited Olian’s enduring constitution of grace and grit.

The two friends have known each other for “many years,” he said, noting they first met when Olian invited Weldon to speak at UCLA Anderson School of Management when she was dean.

“Judy is a visionary leader. She has absolutely exceeded all of my expectations,” Weldon said warmly and without hesitation. “What she’s done at Quinnipiac is nothing short of remarkable.”

Gov. Ned Lamont put it this way: “Her seven years at Quinnipiac have been a renaissance.”

‘A generational president’

During her tenure, Olian has developed strategic partnerships with Hartford HealthCare, M&T Bank, PepsiCo and other organizations.

M&T Bank, for instance, supports several academic and athletic initiatives at Quinnipiac, including the M&T Bank Arena, the M&T Bank Center for Women and Business, the M&T Bank Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and GAME Forum, the world’s largest student-run financial conference.

Likewise, Quinnipiac signed a 10-year deal with PepsiCo in September 2023 to support two initiatives: the PepsiCo Academic Scholarship Fund and the PepsiCo Fund for Environmental Science and Sustainability.

Over the past few years, Quinnipiac’s partnership with Hartford HealthCare has grown beyond the Mount Carmel and North Haven campuses. In April, Quinnipiac and Hartford HealthCare launched the New Careers in Nursing program, a part-time pathway for mid-career professionals to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing while working in Hartford.

It was just the latest collaboration between the two organizations.

“I view Judy as a generational president,” said Jeffrey Flaks, president and CEO of Hartford HealthCare. “I’ve had a front-row seat to watch her leadership and observe her willingness to always put the university’s interests before her own.”

The relationship took off in January 2022 when Olian and Flaks announced a university-wide academic partnership to build the healthcare workforce of tomorrow and grow student pipelines across a wide range of professions to address long-term talent needs for the state of Connecticut.

“For a university like us, and frankly for most universities, you have to be intimately involved in understanding the marketplace,” Olian said. “I don’t think there’s any better way to do that than with broad and deep relationships.

“For example, we had a vision of partnering with Hartford HealthCare. It started smaller,” Olian said. “The seed was that we were going to outsource our healthcare services with them because we didn't think we could be adaptable to all of the growing and changing demands of healthcare and mental health services.”

During the pandemic, Quinnipiac faced unprecedented spikes in demand for healthcare. It just made sense to outsource these services. From there, a personal and professional relationship developed between the university and Hartford HealthCare.

“The partnership just kept growing like an amoeba,” Olian said. “When you have a relationship of trust like we do with our partners, you often find that it leads to more opportunities.”

And indeed it did.

Olian and Flaks discovered a common purpose: At a time when Connecticut is experiencing an alarming shortage of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, they agreed to put their heads together.

“We saw an organization that was willing to challenge the conventional and was committed to making things better every day,” Flaks said. “In many ways, it was a mirror image of the culture and aspirations of Hartford HealthCare."

“What became so exciting was that when we got in the room together and our teams began to work on reimagining what an academic partnership could be — the flow of ideas, the disruptive and creative thinking, the imaginative thinking — it all just made sense,” Flaks said.

Over the last three years, Hartford HealthCare has hired Quinnipiac graduates from across disciplines and across the university.

Some students joined as allied health interns and were hired full time. Others came on board to help with research projects and found full-time opportunities. Still others came from the School of Law, the School of Business, the School of Communications and more.

“We’ve been able to attract and retain some amazingly talented individuals from Quinnipiac who bring new ideas, tremendous energy and new perspectives,” Flaks said.

With a shared vision comes a shared success. It’s a formula Olian has taught in business schools her whole career.

‘It set the university on a path to greatness’

For Carlton Highsmith, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, working with Olian has been a master class in strategic planning and execution, ever since day one in July 2018.

“We needed someone to come in and take stock and say, ‘OK, this is the landscape today. These are assets that we've been blessed to have. How do we properly deploy these assets so that we maximize what this institution can be?’” Highsmith said.

“Dr. Olian is immensely gifted in that space. In her very first year, she took the university community through a strategic planning process that was robust, inclusive and authentic,” he said. “It set the university on a path to greatness.”

But before that path could be set, Olian and her husband, Peter Liberti, had to fly across the country to learn more about Quinnipiac. Highsmith recalled that Olian was “extraordinarily prepared” for the interview process en route to being named president.

Looking to offer Olian and Liberti a warm welcome, Highsmith and his wife, Leta, invited their guests to dinner at their home in Middlebury, Connecticut, that first weekend in July 2018. But because the Highsmiths weren’t exactly sure whether to serve beef or fish, they opted to serve, well, both.

“So that’s what we did,” Carlton Highsmith grinned. “We enjoyed a most delightful time that evening, and we’ve been great friends ever since. Judy and Pete are just wonderful people. It’s clear they appreciate and enjoy each other, and are extremely supportive of each other. They’re very special together that way.”

As president, Olian is both decisive and patient in her leadership. She has that complementary skillset to make on-the-spot decisions when it’s required and measured ones when time is an ally.

“Judy has that rare ability to listen, analyze something quickly and smartly, and sort through the complexity of a problem,” Highsmith said. “I was told once that when you get to be a president or a CEO, the decisions get more difficult because the fact pattern is no longer black and white."

“Instead, there are lots of gray areas, lots of nuances. Judy is highly skilled at making nuanced decisions when the facts aren’t quite so clear,” he said admiringly. “I think we’ve all benefited from that at Quinnipiac.”

‘A leader who cares about the right things’

For Provost Debra Liebowitz, the university’s chief academic officer, the arc of a profound and life-changing journey with Olian began in April 2020.

“There’s no question my own leadership is more effective, bolder and more thoughtful because of the opportunity I’ve had to benefit from Judy’s partnership,” Liebowitz said.

Along the way, Quinnipiac has held a ribbon-cutting on the South Quad for the new School of Business and The SITE, launched new academic programs across the university, partnered with Hartford HealthCare to kick off several initiatives, developed new executive education programs and more.

Liebowitz credited Olian for her deep commitment to the Quinnipiac community. There are no separate silos here for students, faculty and staff. Instead, there is one big revival tent with room for everyone, a testament to Olian’s inclusive allegiance.

“The institution has a leader who cares about the right things,” Liebowitz said. “That doesn't mean hard decisions don't get made. They always do, of course. That’s part of being a leader."

“But having someone with that power and authority — whose sense of what’s important and what matters is so strong and so centered in valuing students, faculty and staff — that’s just something you can’t take for granted,” Liebowitz said. “That’s game-changing for Quinnipiac.”

At the same time, that doesn’t mean Olian wants an echo chamber or a room full of nodding heads. She values spirited, informed debate from her team.

“Judy and I are both very strong-willed people, and we have at times debated things vigorously,” Liebowitz said. “But in those debates, there has always been a genuine desire to understand other points of view and to reach an outcome that is best for Quinnipiac or the Quinnipiac community — and that’s remarkable.”

And yet, many people only get to see Olian in the context of a university president. Don’t count Liebowitz among them.

“Judy is an incredibly thoughtful individual. She recognizes there are people — human beings — in all of our roles, and we all come with our complicated lives,” Liebowitz said. “I’ve dealt with multiple people close to me who are dying or seriously ill. But Judy’s grace, her compassion, it’s always out front."

“Judy is the first person to send a card, and it’s always perfect. It’s emotional. It’s connected. It’s thoughtful. It always meets the moment,” Liebowitz said. “Not everyone gets to see that side of Judy. There’s still a university to run, that doesn’t stop. But her compassion, her kindness, that doesn’t stop, either.”

What excellence looks like

The stars, values and more aligned 6 ½ years ago for Bethany Zemba, vice president for strategy and community relations and chief of staff. Although Zemba wasn’t looking for a job at the time, one lunch meeting in 2018 changed everything.

“I immediately knew Judy was the type of person I wanted to work for because she had such a bold sense of what was right for higher education at this moment in time,” Zemba said. “There are a lot of headwinds in higher education, but Judy has such a strong vision and such a strong conviction in her abilities to lead Quinnipiac. I wanted to be a part of that."

“I remember thinking, ‘This is a person I could really get behind and support. Her values are aligned with my values.’ It was very clear to me,” Zemba said. “She's unrelenting in a very positive way when it comes to being goal focused and goal oriented. And that's the mark of a great leader.”

After getting approval from the Board of Trustees, Olian pushed an aggressive timeline for the South Quad project. The first standalone buildings on the Mount Carmel Campus since the early 1990s required a total commitment to complete the new School of Business, The SITE and The Grove on schedule.

“Judy doesn't see barriers. She sees opportunities. But she does understand that sometimes, things are going to be an uphill battle,” Zemba said. “Even then, she focuses on whatever outcome she wants to achieve with the people around her."

“To be honest, there were times when I thought, ‘There's no way we’re going to be able to do this.’ But 99 percent of the time, we got it done even though it seemed daunting at the time,” Zemba said. “But that’s Judy, right? She’s likely the most determined person I’ve ever met.”

Olian’s leadership has never been sedentary. It’s anticipatory and resolute — often, all at once.

It was no different with Quinnipiac’s strategic planning process that led to Olian’s four pillars:

• Build an institution-wide mindset that prepares graduates for 21st-century careers and citizenship

• Create an inclusive, excellence-driven community

• Nurture and positively impact internal, local and global communities

• Foster lifelong connections and success

Olian understands there is no excellence without a clear vision of what excellence looks like. Over the years, she has built key partnerships with state and local leaders, including Lamont, Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett and North Haven First Selectman Michael Freda.

“When I first got here, I did a listening tour and visited with people to learn what was important to them, and what they thought the opportunities for the future were,” Olian said. “I absorbed that and as our strategic plan emerged, it was an amalgam from the bottom up and the top down.

“I had some concepts of what we needed to be as an institution, but I also absorbed that greatly from conversations and listening sessions with the community,” she added. “I wanted to hear what the opportunities were here and what our dreams were about, what we could be. I certainly didn’t come in with a fixed vision of what we would do.”

Zemba agreed.

“Judy has really lived our institutional values. They were integral in framing and deciding what we were going to do and what we weren’t going to do because sometimes, what you're not going to do is equally as important,” Zemba said.

Part of Olian’s commitment to others included seeing Zemba’s full potential and helping her to develop and grow professionally and personally.

“Judy has been a tremendous mentor for me,” Zemba said. “In my previous role, I saw myself more as a backstage person. My position didn’t involve much public speaking, and I was a bit shy about having a ‘leading part.’ I didn’t do public speaking. I didn’t have the responsibilities that I have now."

“When I came to Quinnipiac, Judy was very insistent about my role: ‘I need you to be out front. I need you to represent Quinnipiac in the community.’ She was very clear about that,” Zemba said. “I appreciated that. She pushed me to the front of the stage and that was so important for my own development. She saw things in me that I didn't necessarily see in myself.”

At the same time, Zemba saw things in Olian and Liberti, who have been married for 33 years after meeting in Maryland.

Since arriving in Hamden in July 2018, the couple has celebrated Quinnipiac with pride. While Olian’s role is more visible, Liberti is just as ardent in his support. He’s attended events across the university and enthusiastically supported QU’s athletic programs. A longtime tennis player, Liberti also coached the men’s and women’s club tennis teams.

“Judy and Pete together are amazing. I was so happy when we were able to dedicate the South Quad courtyard to them at the (May 1) ribbon-cutting,” Zemba said. “I’m inspired by their dedication to each other, their devotion to this institution and their shared determination to create a better world. Together, their contributions have made a lasting and positive impact in the lives of countless people around them.”

A bold COVID response

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities across the country to send students home in 2020, Olian and her team turned to technology, medical experts, state and federal officials, and other trusted sources of information to build a consistent, safe strategy.

But the goal never changed at Quinnipiac. Olian and her team wanted to return to on-campus learning as soon as it was safe. It was important to get back to normal and get back to school.

After pivoting to fully online learning in March 2020, Olian and her team brought students back to campus in August 2020 with several conditions, including no visitors, mandatory masks and frequent testing. Faculty and staff volunteered to administer the COVID tests, and together, the Quinnipiac community bonded even more deeply.

“One of the responsibilities you have as a leader is to show people there’s a way out of a crisis,” Olian said. “With COVID, there were some moments that were very challenging and stressful, but your job as a leader is to lower the temperature. I have a very strong quotient of resilience. It’s in my DNA."

“At the same time, you can’t take your eye off the future,” Olian said. “Things might slow you down a bit moving forward, so you have to work in parallel tracks that keep the business going forward, whatever that business may be. We were very deliberate about that.”

With testing lines curling through Burt Kahn Court that fall and everyone patiently waiting their turn, the process ran smoothly, and more importantly, safely. With attention to detail and each other, the greater good prevailed.

“No one ever gets through these things alone. We made some bold decisions, but it never felt like some existential crisis here,” Olian said. “We didn’t take our foot off the pedal. We had all those testing stations, and everybody just pulled together."

“Whether it was contagious enthusiasm or just a real belief in the future that we could do this, that’s how we got through it,” Olian said. “It took all of us to get there.”

Meanwhile, Lamont brought together many of the state’s top leaders during the pandemic to help develop strategies, protocols and policies. As governor, Lamont leaned into his administration’s “open door at a big table” axiom.

“Judy was right there at the table being very constructive helping us do that,” Lamont said. “We got our universities open faster than just about anybody else in the Northeast. More importantly, we did it safely.”

Lamont cited Olian’s business background as a proficiency that’s not often shared by governors and university presidents.

“Her experience has served the state and Quinnipiac very well,” Lamont said, adding that Olian’s business acumen is well suited for her role as co-chair of AdvanceCT, the state’s public-private partnership that promotes business growth and job creation.

Board of Trustees Emeritus Arthur Rice ’73, who joined the QU board in 2004, served as chair during the pandemic. Years earlier, he served in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.

Rice was impressed with Olian’s commitment to grow Quinnipiac and challenge convention.

“She was the perfect person at exactly the right moment. That doesn’t mean she didn’t make any mistakes. We all make mistakes,” Rice said. “What I mean by that is she helped us change course on an aircraft carrier, which isn’t easily accomplished, especially when everyone is in the bunker."

“It could have been, ‘Let’s just forget about expanding (the campus) or doing new things. I just want to preserve what we have.’ That’s the position the board could’ve easily taken,” Rice said. “But it did not, and now as a result, we’re in a phenomenal position. That’s in large measure due to Dr. Olian.”

‘Repotting is good’

Shortly after School of Business Dean Holly Raider arrived on campus in 2021, she received a curious piece of mail. She didn’t recognize the sender, but she certainly recognized the gesture.

“It was a beautiful, handwritten notecard. I still have it at home,” Raider said smiling. “This person had read about my appointment at Quinnipiac and had worked with Judy many roles ago. The person wrote so kindly about how fortunate I was to be able to work with someone with Judy’s leadership qualities and her human qualities.”

But it was more than just an unsolicited expression of kindness. It was intentional and heartfelt. The writer took the time to emphasize the gift of Olian’s mentorship and tutelage.

“What impact Judy must have had for that person to take the time to write me,” Raider said. “It just speaks to Judy’s legacy of leadership across the landscape of higher education. It speaks to who she is as a person."

“It’s something I appreciate every single day about Judy, and it inspires me all the more to want to excel and make her proud,” Raider said. “She draws that out of a lot of people, however, not just me. She’s a very generous mentor. I witnessed this well before I arrived at Quinnipiac.”

Before Raider was hired as dean, she organized the review process at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

As it turned out, Olian served on the peer review team for Kellogg’s accreditation visit. But that wasn’t the only time they crossed paths, Raider noted.

Olian also served on a steering committee of deans that was preparing the next generation of women for business school deanships. She and Erika James, who now serves as dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a series of cases that became part of the curriculum for the workshop.

When Olian was announced as Quinnipiac’s next president in January 2018, Raider sent her a note of congratulations. The move from California to Connecticut had begun.

Not unexpectedly, Olian’s response was inspiring and memorable.

“Among what she wrote in that email — and I’ll always remember it — she wrote, ‘Repotting is good.’ That was the message,” Raider said. “It wasn’t until I was preparing for my Quinnipiac interviews a few years later that I connected the dots on that statement.”

The dots took her straight to a motto shared by Quinnipiac and the state of Connecticut: Qui Transtulit Sustinet. Translated, it means, “He who transplanted still sustains.”

Raider loved the logic. And the sentiment.

“Re-potting is good, right?” she said. “The idea that growth comes from new vistas fits Judy’s advice to say ‘yes’ to new experiences. That’s what was on Judy’s mind as she was heading to Quinnipiac and just embarking on the indelible and sustainable impact she has made across our community.”

A legacy of leadership

As Olian reflects on her contributions as Quinnipiac’s ninth president, she has been gifted with a clarity and a gratitude for her time here — the semesters marked by the palette of Sleeping Giant, the brass cadence of Commencement each May, and proud moments of mentorship and counsel.

This past academic year, Olian worked closely with J.P. DiDonato ’25, the Student Government Association president. An aspiring attorney from Long Island, New York, DiDonato graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Science in applied business with a minor in economics as part of Quinnipiac’s 3+3 BA/BS/JD Program.

“Working with President Olian, I learned how to be a lot more strategic. She also helped me with being more intentional about the actions I was taking as a leader,” said DiDonato, who will be a first-year student in the School of Law this fall. “She was also very interested in my professional journey and my career goals. We talked a lot about that.”

As SGA president, DiDonato met with Olian on a number of occasions for one-on-one meetings. The access to her thoughtfulness, experience and expertise was never lost on him.

“She’s been very generous with her time and her mentorship,” DiDonato said. “She’s also been intentional about connecting me with her network as well as the university leadership. She’ll say, ‘J.P., you need to go talk to this person. Let me introduce you.’ Honestly, she helped me meet so many people that I could learn from. I’m very grateful for all she’s done for me.”

Olian has spent her career uplifting others — students, faculty, staff, colleagues — so they can do the same in their lives. The mentorship chain grows and grows, with more than a few links forged at Quinnipiac.

“It's been a real pleasure in my life that people have grown and become more than they were after they’ve partnered with me — not because of me, but because of who they could become,” Olian said.

It was never about being Quinnipiac’s first woman president, after all. It was always about being the best president she could be. 

“I was the youngest of three growing up. I had two older brothers who were much bigger than me, so I had to be tough — and my parents were tough,” said Olian, the daughter of Holocaust survivors.

As a young professional after college, Olian worked in Israel’s Office of the Prime Minister. Although she didn’t work directly for Prime Minister Golda Meir, the experience gave her a charge for the future.

“I’ve never obsessed about my gender, but I am aware of being a role model, especially for women. I’m very conscious of that,” Olian said. “You always want to inspire others to plow ahead, to be self-confident, to achieve things they might not otherwise have done.”

For Olian, the next chapter offers the opportunity to have more control over her schedule, including supporting various priorities in higher education. She’ll also serve on corporate boards and nonprofit boards that reflect causes close to her heart.

“Pete tells me every second of my day is programmed. I won’t miss that part of my schedule,” Olian smiled. “But I will miss the camaraderie here. I look forward to the Monday morning meetings with our team. I’ll miss having a posse where you know they’ll always have your back and always do the right thing."

“But I'll still have access to some of the other amazing things Quinnipiac offers, including our sense of shared excitement to dream big,” Olian said. “I know because we’ve already done that. We’ve dreamed big — and we’ve done it together.”

A Tribute to Judy Olian

Celebrating President Olian