Elease Wright was appointed to the Board of Regents for Higher Education in 2014 and serves as a member of the Board’s Executive Committee, Human Resource and Education Committee, and is Chair of the Audit Committee. Regent Wright, of Hartford, built a successful career at Aetna Inc., a leading diversified health care benefits company, where she served as their Chief Human Resources Officer until her retirement in 2012. In her more than 25 years of human resources experience, she has held HR leadership positions in financial services, education, employee relations and leadership development..
In her 30-year career with Aetna, Ms. Wright helped shape what is one of the nation’s most heralded business transformations. She was instrumental in attracting and retaining key talent during Aetna’s challenging multi-year transition from broad-based insurer to health care leader. Her focus on both business success and attention to values and employee engagement yielded a highly effective senior team that took Aetna from a period of financial decline to one of significant success.
Wright’s community involvement includes serving as Vice Chair for the National Academy of Human Resources Board and serving on the board of the Hartford Stage. She is a past board member of Cornell University’s Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies and the Human Resource Policy Association and past board president of the Hartford Region YWCA.