The recognition, and Olian’s inspiring keynote address, highlighted the Chamber’s 83rd Annual Meeting and Business Awards at the Farms Country Club in Wallingford on June 12. Key university administrators, faculty and staff joined with numerous community, business and organizational leaders from Hamden, North Haven, Wallingford and the Greater New Haven area to recognize Olian, who completes her tenure as the university’s ninth president on June 30.

The award was presented to Olian by Chamber Executive Director Renee Miller and Quinnipiac Board of Trustees member Brett M. Amendola, ’91, managing partner of Wooster Square Advisors, a Chamber member business located in New Haven.

Amendola said Olian’s leadership has not only shaped Quinnipiac but leaves an indelible mark on higher education and the university’s surrounding communities.

“Since arriving seven years ago, Judy has led with vision, urgency and resolve. Within her first year Judy coalesced our entire community around a strategic plan to position Quinnipiac as the University of the Future,” said Amendola.

Under Olian’s leadership, Quinnipiac attracted growing numbers of students and faculty to fields where the future is being written. Quinnipiac launched new degrees, adult learning programs, and forged innovative partnerships with Chamber members like M&T Bank, Hartford HealthCare and MidState Hospital, the Town of North Haven, The Regional Water Authority, Webster Bank, Liberty Bank, NBC Universal/Comcast and Masonicare.

“These partnerships continue to open doors for our students and strengthen Quinnipiac’s role in Connecticut’s economy,” Amendola said.

Appointed by Governor Ned Lamont, Olian also serves as co-chair of AdvanceCT, the economic development arm of the State of Connecticut. Together with co-chair Adam Norwitt, president and CEO of Wallingford-based Amphenol, Olian brings together the public sector, private sector and higher education to promote in-state training, workforce development, talent recruitment and retention, partnerships and more.

“Judy has a can-do spirit which permeates all she does,” Amendola said. “That was certainly evident during the enormous challenges of Covid. She led the university with her signature grace and wit, as well as compassion and kindness,” said Amendola.

During Olian’s tenure, Quinnipiac constructed four new sustainable buildings and is ranked among the nation’s top universities for post-graduation success, with over 97% of Quinnipiac graduates employed or in graduate school within six months of earning a degree. Additionally, 73% of Quinnipiac undergraduates complete at least one internship, well above the national average. Among many impressive rankings, the Wall Street Journal ranked Quinnipiac among the top 100 best colleges in the U.S. this year, Amendola noted.

“Thanks to Judy and all that you do in your support, Quinnipiac remains on an upward trajectory and continues to climb. Our future has never been brighter,” said Amendola.

Olian thanked Amendola for his generous introduction and for wearing many hats to support Quinnipiac. As a Trustee, Amendola serves as Investment Committee chair. He also chairs Quinnipiac’s “For the Ambitious” $160 million campaign. A former chair of the Alumni Committee, Amendola is also a generous alumnus, said Olian.

“And your success in business, your leadership across the Greater New Haven community, is just one more way in which you lift the community. We’re proud to ride your coattails,” said Olian.

Olian said she was delighted to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award as a representative of Quinnipiac and her deserving colleagues and for what the university does in the community.

“I view this award as a celebration of our partnership with the region. It belongs to our entire community of faculty, staff, students and alumni who are really embedded in the region,” said Olian. “We’re all committed to lifting the quality of life and the economy of the region.”

Connecticut’s also fortunate to have a state government that supplies a supportive and balanced framework and provides investments into critical services, she said.

Olian also thanked the Chamber for bestowing an award upon the university which recognizes the “inseparable link” between educational excellence and economic growth.

“We each — the Quinnipiac Chamber and Quinnipiac University — play a critical role. You are each key to this region’s vibrancy in fueling growth and economic well-being, and so are universities,” said Olian.

Olian noted that, in 2025, the Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC) biennial economic impact study of its 14 independent non-public colleges determined Quinnipiac’s direct and induced economic impact is $1.46 billion dollars. Additionally, the university created over 11,500 jobs, directly and indirectly.

Combined, CCIC schools accounted for nearly $20 billion in statewide economic impact and created some 150,000 jobs in 2025. While public universities provide a similar effect, the state’s private colleges, combined, produce more graduates annually than Connecticut’s public universities.

Quinnipiac’s impact on the area’s economy can be readily seen in the development of its four newly-constructed campus buildings.

“Combined, they reflect over $350 million in capital investments. That is good for local businesses, good for the towns, and of course good for the learning and living experiences of our students and for the scholarly research of faculty,” said Olian.

Along with healthcare, bioscience, finance, financial technology, insurance and advanced manufacturing, higher education is one of Connecticut’s economic pillars, Olian said.

“All of these industries need talent and trained knowledge workers. The two go hand-in-hand,” said Olian.

In the nation, Connecticut is ranked first for college readiness, third highest for percentage of adults with graduate or professional degrees, sixth highest for percentage of adults with bachelor's degrees or beyond, and has the ninth highest percentage of science, engineering, or health doctorate holders.

Tying her talk to Quinnipiac’s outstanding ice hockey programs, including its 2023 NCAA Division I National Championship men’s ice hockey team, Olian said Quinnipiac is an agile and nimble university that can adjust to “where the puck is headed.”

“Quinnipiac embraces the marketplace and prides itself on being a strong business partner with the myriads of businesses and municipalities in the region. Beyond in-class learning, Quinnipiac is laser focused on experiential and immersive learning, on internships, and on the rich learning opportunities that come from corporate partnerships,” including many forged with Chamber members, said Olian.

Olian also noted Quinnipiac is a net importer of talent to Connecticut. Approximately 40% of the university’s 70,000 alumni reside in the state.

“That’s well above the portion of students who come to us and are originally from Connecticut. We cause people to love Connecticut once they come, and to stay in the state,” Olian said. “The students enroll, receive a highly marketable and market-relevant education, and you offer them attractive and interesting employment opportunities during and at the completion of their studies. That’s why they stay. We thank you for that.”

Companies are also partnering with Quinnipiac to co-create coursework and degrees that will serve current and future needs. They’re tapping into student talent at career fairs, including the statewide Connecticut Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology Career Fair held annually at Quinnipiac’s M&T Bank Arena on the York Hill Campus. As the largest fair of its kind in the state, company participation has grown exponentially due to collaboration with the Chamber, and due to support and funding from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Olian said.

Within her keynote address, Olian also announced that, in the fall of 2025, a new Quinnipiac University-Quinnipiac Chamber partnership will launch “Commerce and Community,” a bi-monthly live podcast. It will be hosted in the Podcast Studio at the School of Communications and produced by students who will earn course credit.

“It will feature you - local business voices and regional stories — and give students hands-on media experience. It’s also terrific exposure not just for our students in their internships, but for Chamber members,” said Olian.

Such exposures create the type of channels for students which have led to Zippia.com’s ranking of Quinnipiac as first the nation in ten-year employment outcomes.

“Our alumni do really well because of the channels that you created for them to get that exposure,” said Olian.

Additionally, Quinnipiac has introduced a variety of new degrees and programs due to feedback from industry and business connections regarding future talent needs.

In addition to the university’s business focus, Quinnipiac is also proud to be good neighbors to its communities, said Olian.

“There are countless ways, too many to mention, in which our students, faculty and staff are embedded in the community,” she said.

Last year, Quinnipiac students completed some 38,000 hours of community service, donated nearly $500,000 to charitable causes, and contributed two and half tons of food to food banks. Quinnipiac students work with faculty to offer free clinics in legal aid, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and cardiac screening. They have provided volunteer income tax assistance for individuals and families with annual incomes of less than $68,000, processing over $400,000 in refunds for over 300 taxpayers in 2025 alone.

As a university, a recent donation helped fund the restoration of Hamden High School’s tennis courts. The university’s voluntary contributions to North Haven have underwritten renovation of a fire station, supported the construction of accessible elementary school playscapes, replacement of the North Haven High School track, and construction of a fire training facility.

In addition to recently adding four new LEED-certified buildings together with outdoor spaces, Quinnipiac planted hundreds of new trees on its Mount Carmel Campus in Hamden and at neighboring Sleeping Giant State Park.

In closing, Olian said, “…I hope that you see higher education as a force of good for this country and for the world. Not that we can’t improve certain things about ourselves. Sure we can. But when it comes to improving health and quality of life, lifting economic prosperity and reducing poverty, elevating community well-being, nurturing democratic governance, I think that many, maybe most, would agree that higher education has had very positive impacts on individual lives and on societal advancement.”

If universities begin to falter, the impact will be felt immediately in the communities that surround them, Olian said. Whether they are supportive of what higher education achieves or just enjoy the economic advantages universities generate for a community, Olian asked the audience to consider the current threats to the success and survival of universities.

“I hope that I’ve been persuasive that universities, and in particular, Quinnipiac, is an important partner to you and to communities in which we are located. In fact, we see ourselves as something of a workforce development arm of the state. We attract talent into Connecticut from other parts of the country, and then we retain that talent in the state through programs that are in demand in the marketplace and through the wonderful partnerships that we have with you,” said Olian.

Olian thanked the Chamber for seeing Quinnipiac as worthy of an award recognizing both educational excellence and economic growth

“I’m especially pleased because we see both as our purposes,” Olian said. “I’m certain that the partnership between Quinnipiac University and the Quinnipiac Chamber will continue to flourish. We need each other, and we thrive when we are both successful. It’s been a real privilege to serve as Quinnipiac’s president and to partner with all of you.”