The Changemakers

Karen Lynch '84

President and CEO, CVS Health

Early in her career, an executive told Karen Lynch to “sit in the back, not at the [boardroom] table, because women just take up space.” Now as President and CEO of CVS Health, Lynch leads the sixth-largest company in the Fortune 500—the highest ranked US corporation ever run by a female CEO. In that role, Lynch drives a company-wide focus on helping 100 million Americans along their journey to better health. Lynch’s own journey wasn’t an easy one. After losing her mom to suicide when Lynch was 12 years old—and later losing her aunt, who helped raise her, to lung cancer—Lynch has made it her mission to improve access to both physical and mental healthcare resources. During her time on the Heights, she was known among classmates for her relentless work ethic, and she went on to work in leadership roles at healthcare insurance companies like Aetna and Cigna. Since becoming CVS Health CEO in 2021, she has expanded virtual behavioral health services, which helped increase psychiatric telehealth appointments from 9,000 to a remarkable 30 million. In addition to overseeing the largest vaccination drive in US history during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lynch has become a prominent advocate for women in the workplace. In her new book, Taking Up Space, she writes: “I want to share how I have overcome barriers, used my voice, and created opportunities to make a difference.”

Rene Jones '86, P '25

René Jones '86, P'25

Chairman and CEO, M&T Bank

In the banking industry, René Jones has stood out for his calm and steady approach to managing problems, a trait that served him and M&T Bank well when two bank failures in 2023 sent tremors through the industry. The CEO stands out for another reason: He encourages everyone to embrace and tell their story. His own story begins with his father, a Black sergeant during World War II who served under General George Patton when the Army was still segregated. Jones has shared his recollections of growing up in a biracial family as the youngest of seven children, which taught him much about how people form stereotypes. He says M&T, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, highlights other stories to foster common ground and “tackle challenges facing our communities” within the organization. These include acknowledging “members of our Black and Brown communities who are creating positive change and inspiring others,” he says. As one of only four Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, Jones oversees a variety of initiatives aimed at promoting diversity, including mentorship, meaningful professional development programs, and efforts to put diverse talent on promising career paths. “For me, Boston College was one of the first places to lift me up,” says Jones, adding that he encountered values on the Heights, including discernment of one’s gifts and talents, that have helped steer him as a leader. Today, Jones is a Boston College trustee. He and his wife, Brigid Doherty ’96, P ’25, also serve as cochairs of Soaring Higher: the Campaign for Boston College, which is their way, he says, of helping BC “continue its long tradition of lifting up others.”

Brett Heffes '89

Chair and CEO, Winmark Corporation

As a leader in the booming resale sector, Winmark Corporation has a whole slew of competitors, including other resellers as well as traditional retailers. But when asked about the competition, Winmark CEO Brett Heffes ’89 gives a surprising answer. “We believe our biggest competitor is not one of those,” he clarifies. “It’s the landfill.” That comment offers a glimpse into the world of Winmark, which has more than 1,300 franchised outlets, and into the thinking of an Eagle. Those franchises, under different store names including “Play It Again Sports” and “Plato’s Closet,” resell everything from lacrosse sticks and blue jeans to electric guitars—items destined for the landfill before the stores buy them secondhand and keep them in circulation, reducing waste. The environmental and economic benefits are clear enough, but Heffes says the 30-year-old company only recently came to fully realize that its mission is sustainability. He credits a conversation he had five years ago with University President William P. Leahy, SJ, who quoted the Book of Proverbs: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” A member of Boston College’s Board of Regents, Heffes jotted down those words, ruminated on them, and crafted a new vision for Winmark together with his team. Now, each store extends the life of 140,000 used items per year, on average. “That’s our business,” says Heffes, who studied finance at the Carroll School and says he learned to think broadly at Boston College. “Jesuit principles, the liberal arts, critical analysis—you just package all of that up, and you’re ready to go,” he says.

Ernie Herrman '83

CEO and President, The TJX Companies, INC.

Ernie Herrman credits the late Eugene Bronstein, a Carroll School marketing professor who had previously served as a retail executive, with opening his eyes to the industry of merchandising. “The idea of not just picking out apparel, but also the combination of analytics, creativity, visual, and people skills, it was all very appealing to me,” he says. Now CEO of The TJX Companies—home to brands like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods—Herrman originally joined the company in 1989 when there were only 200 stores. “I am extremely proud to have ‘grown up’ at TJX,” he says of his start in merchandising roles. As his career evolved, so did the organization. Herrman has been the Chief Executive Officer since 2016, overseeing more than 4,900 stores across nine countries for the Fortune 500 company, with more than $50 billion in annual sales. Beyond expansion, Herrman has his eye on some ambitious corporate goals, which include "how our corporate responsability work has evolved," he says. TJX is looking to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations by 2040 and divert 85 percent of operational waste from landfills by 2027 through initiatives like upgrading stores with LED technology, installing solar panels on distribution centers, and running operational waste reclycling centers. "We tend to be a quiet company about our work in these areas, because we've created a culture where we find more value in doing the work than talking about it," Herrman says. "That's always been refreshing to me."

Katie Diasti '19

Founder and CEO, Viv for your V

Katie Diasti discovered her passion for menstrual equity while volunteering at Boston women’s shelter Rosie’s Place through Boston College’s PULSE service learning program. Among her responsibilities there, Diasti helped distribute menstrual products to residents. Moved by this experience, she used her position as co-president of the Residence Hall Association to start an initiative to supply free menstrual products in bathrooms across campus. The initiative is still going strong, but these days students can grab organic cotton tampons and biodegradable bamboo pads from Viv for Your V, the sustainable period care company Diasti started during her senior year. As Viv’s CEO, Diasti’s mission is to provide period products that are less harmful to the environment, while also pushing back against the stigma surrounding menstruation. “When you walk down the period care aisle, it feels like a sterile, anxious place,” she says. “I wanted to bring approachability, as well as sustainability, to period care.” Growing up in an Egyptian American family, Diasti was inspired by the important women in her life. She was raised by a single mom, an Egyptian immigrant whose own mother was denied an education because of her gender. Now, Viv leverages social media platforms like TikTok to create educational content for a primarily Gen Z and millennial audience—the comment sections of Viv’s online videos are often flooded with questions from young menstruators. “I wish I had that when I was a kid,” she says. “I want to ensure that education always stays a part of the Viv brand."

Cindi Bigelow '82

President and CEO, Bigelow Tea

When Cindi Bigelow is not overseeing the blend of her grandmother’s original recipe, traveling around the world to personally meet the farmers who grow the tea’s ingredients, or spending time with her family, you can count on her to be enjoying a fresh cup of tea—one of the more than 2 billion that Bigelow Tea produces each year. For Bigelow, president and CEO of the company, there is only one thing more important than tea: family. Luckily for her, the two are very much intertwined, as her family has been operating Bigelow Tea since it was founded by Ruth Bigelow, Cindi’s grandmother, in 1945 (the original recipe remains to this day a family secret). Now, as the third-generation CEO, Bigelow says that honoring this heritage is the foundation of who she is as a leader. “You’re allowed to have your own style and your way of operating, but I never lose sight of what my grandmother did to get this company going and the hurdles that she had to get over,” she says. While she has spent the majority of her career working alongside family, Bigelow is family-oriented outside of the office, too, and is a firm believer in the importance of a healthy work-life balance—a lifestyle that she established during her time at Boston College. “I think one of the greatest things about BC students is that they work hard, but they also have a rich life outside of the classroom,” she says. “That has always been important to me, and I still try to live that life today.”

Nikesh Arora, MSF '95

Chairman and CEO, Palo Alto Networks

“There’s really no logical line running through my career,” says Nikesh Arora, whose senior executive roles have ranged from chief business officer of Google and chief marketing officer of T-Mobile to president and CEO of SoftBank. And when the cyber security giant Palo Alto Networks was considering him for the top job, Arora made one thing clear to the board: “I know nothing about cybersecurity.” That was in 2018, and since then, Arora has solidified Palo Alto’s position as the world’s leading cybersecurity firm, overhauling product lines and personally going out to the market to show the products to corporations and governments worldwide. Arora wasn’t lacking confidence when he emphasized his dearth of cybersecurity experience. He was letting the board know that, as an outsider, he intended to disrupt the business. “That’s the history of innovation,” he says, noting that Uber’s founders weren’t taxi drivers, Jeff Bezos hadn’t sold books pre-Amazon, and Elon Musk had never fired off rockets. “In Silicon Valley, I run into people every day who are doing things they never did before.” Arora gives credit to faculty members, including Professor and Griffith Family Millennium Chair Hassan Tehranian. Before seeking out the MSF, Arora was accepted into the Carroll School’s Ph.D. program in finance. Tehranian helped him think through the choices, leading him to conclude that the best route for him would be the MSF, which enabled Arora to seize new career opportunities. “When professors like Hassan take a real interest in students, that’s when the faculty have the longest-range influence in your life,” he says.

Matt Giovanniello '18

Cofounder and CEO, Frenalytics

Matt Giovanniello was 12 years old when his grandmother suffered a stroke that damaged her cognitive abilities. Frustrated with the memory recovery tools she was using, Giovanniello made a slideshow of important family memories, calling it “Grandma’s Ultimate Challenge,” to help her instead. Motivated by the experience, Giovanniello cofounded the software startup Frenalytics in 2013, using a similar concept to rethink rehabilitation for patients with brain injuries. But as schools went remote during the pandemic, he saw a need for tools to assist special education students with online learning. The company—which recently established a partnership with the nation’s largest school district, the New York City Public Schools—now offers a collaborative and personalized way for teachers, parents, and other educational staff to monitor the progress of individual students. The shift to an education-focused business model has been rewarding, says Giovanniello, “from a do-good aspect and for the growth of our company.” While Giovanniello has worked on Frenalytics since high school, his time at Boston College was integral to making the company a success. He credits the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship for shaping his entrepreneurial goals and now serves as a mentor for the Accelerate@Shea accelerator program. “It’s inspiring to work with student founders who are in the same place that I was a few years ago,” he says. “As much as I am teaching them, I’m always learning something from them, too.”

Keith Wargo '90, P '24

President and CEO, Autism Speaks

Keith Wargo spent nearly three decades working in investment banking for institutions like Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank before becoming president and CEO of Autism Speaks, the largest nonprofit autism advocacy organization in the US. While it might seem like a drastic career change, for Wargo the choice felt very personal: His adult son AJ is autistic. When AJ was first diagnosed, there were few autism resources available, he explains. Now there are many, thanks in large part to Autism Speaks, which aided more than 1.6 million autistic people and their families last year. Wargo believes that his drive and expectation for excellence from his days in the private sector have helped him work on key challenges—for example, employment for adults with autism. “Having a meaningful job provides a paycheck, but also opportunities to connect with other people, to continue to grow and develop skills,” he says, noting that these workers also help fill employment gaps for companies. Wargo, who became CEO in 2021, got one of his first tastes of leadership as a Boston College resident assistant, where he learned the importance of mission and strategy. “When I was being asked for help, [using] BC’s mission as my guidepost was powerful,” he says. “My whole BC experience provided me with a sense of who I was. It set me up to figure out the rest over the past 30-plus years.”