Kevin Burns ’86 (ENGR), president and chief operating officer of Chobani, will deliver the 2026 College of Agriculture Health, and Natural Resources (CAHNR) commencement address and receive an honorary degree from the College.

Burns was named president and COO of Chobani, which produces yogurt, creamers, oat milk, and other beverages, in 2022. Burns previously served in these positions for Chobani from 2014 to 2016, seeing the company through challenges and growth.

Throughout his diverse career, Burns has also held positions with Alto Pharmacy, JUUL Labs, TPG Capital, Solectron/Flextronics Corporation, Westinghouse, General Electric, and McKinsey & Co.

What made you choose UConn?

A few things. I liked the size of the school; it was big but not too big, and the campus was a bit rural. I wanted to study engineering but have options if I went a different direction. It was close to home but not too close, and I really liked the students I met when I visited.

How would you characterize your time at UConn?

Busy, challenging, and fulfilling. As a double major in engineering, I was very focused and committed to academics and worked hard, but still focused on having an active athletic and social life. The academics were challenging but you could set your own pace or degree of difficulty driven by what you wanted to get out of the program. I wanted to stretch and get the max I could. So I was busy, active, challenged, and I experienced lots of personal growth. I have very fond memories of my four years at UConn.

What has your relationship with the University been like since graduating?

I’ve been continuously connected and proud, but less connected than I would like. This is mostly driven by me. I have had a demanding professional and personal life over the past 40 years (yikes, it’s been 40 years since I graduated!) and these two areas have taken almost all of my focus. As my children have grown and frankly, I have focused on ways to better connect with organizations that interest me and where I can be helpful, I have strengthened my relationship with UConn. I am excited about the days ahead.

How and why did you make the transition from studying engineering to working in business, and the food industry more specifically?

It’s been a natural progression where I have continued to leverage my thought process and problem-solving skills that I developed from my engineering education into broader areas of business. I returned to graduate school and got an MBA in finance to try and broaden my skillsets and foundational knowledge. That also helped provide a broader set of opportunities. I have been fortunate to, early on in my career, be in consulting at McKinsey & Co, and later private equity at TPG that really gave me broad opportunities to stretch all my skills and learning and accelerate them across industries, geographies, and functional areas. I have worked across a host of industries – automotive, financial services, industrial, consumer, distribution and logistics – so my focus on food is more related to the specific challenges and opportunities related to Chobani and the desire to work with mission-driven organizations that have both massive growth and transformation opportunities.

What brought you back to Chobani?

I left the first time [in 2016] after almost three years really driven by a personal choice to be closer to my family. Chobani is based in New York and I lived in California. Hamdi Ulukaya, Chobani founder and CEO, and I always remained close. I had the opportunity to lead two companies as CEO through massive transformations and growth over the five years post-Chobani. One day Hamdi reached out to me, and we both agreed that Chobani has massive opportunity, but needed to change and needed some injection of new leadership. I love the mission, the brand, the culture, how Hamdi thinks and operates, and I saw an opportunity to be challenged and really have an impact in a company that I believed could be a force for good. I took a chance on the opportunity at Chobani, and it has been an incredibly challenging and rewarding for four plus years.

How does the work Chobani is doing fit in with the larger picture of the future of food industry in the US and even globally?

I think Chobani is helping to lead by example on how food companies should operate and deliver food to the consumers. Hamdi has been consistent over the 20 years with a NADA (natural, nutritious, delicious and accessible) focus at Chobani. You are seeing a big shift in consumer preferences related to food in terms of natural versus processed, and high nutritional content while not sacrificing on taste and enjoyment. This is coupled with a desire by consumers to have their food be much more transparent regarding ingredients and nutritional content. You also need to make the food accessible – Chobani’s mission is “Good Food for All” – if you want to drive broad and sustained impact. It’s not easy to achieve all these things, but that is what makes the opportunity exciting and why Chobani is having unprecedented growth and success right now. The macro tailwinds related to consumers and policymakers – look at the latest USDA food guidelines for example – are all trending in a positive direction for better health and wellness outcomes. But there’s a long way to go.

What would you say have been the highlight of your career so far?

Wow – hard to say. I have been fortunate to have been exposed to many exciting and fulfilling opportunities and surrounded by and associated with amazing team members at so many levels. I also have been able to work in a broad array of geographies and countries including England, Germany, Mexico, and China. That has been eye opening and fulfilling.

What advice do you have for this year’s graduating class?

I have a few messages for them:

• Be passionate about what you do. Work hard and “give a shit.” Not every day will be “great” or fulfilling, but attack every opportunity with energy. Get better every day. Hard work, perseverance and grit matter – they overcome lots of obstacles.
• Don’t be too prescriptive in planning your career. You can be thoughtful, but opportunities come from strange places. Take some risks, don’t over-plan, and build your toolkit. Growth and success are rarely perfectly linear.
• Play the long game while progressing all the time. Sometimes you go sideways to go up. Sometimes you fail or have setbacks to get better. Play the long game regarding relationships – professional and personal too. And play the long game regarding your reputation. The older I get, the smaller the world is. Reputations are hard to build and easy to damage.
• Take care of yourself. Your physical health, your mental health, your social health. Being healthy, rested and “happy” make you a better person and a better leader.
• Have impact and give back outside of your personal ecosystem. It’s fulfilling and each person can have real impact in the smallest of ways. It adds up. Collectively we can have real and sustained positive impact.

CAHNR’s undergraduate commencement ceremony will take place Saturday May 9, 2026 at 6pm.

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