{"id":245867,"date":"2026-05-11T15:08:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=245867"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:08:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T19:08:42","slug":"commencement-speaker-toni-boucher-resilience-enthusiasm-determination-key-to-thriving-in-unpredictable-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2026\/05\/commencement-speaker-toni-boucher-resilience-enthusiasm-determination-key-to-thriving-in-unpredictable-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Speaker Toni Boucher: Resilience, Enthusiasm, Determination Key to Thriving in Unpredictable Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antonietta \u2018Toni\u2019 Boucher, the First Selectman of Wilton, a former corporate executive, and a 22-year leader in the Connecticut legislature, looked at the sea of soon-to-be graduates on Saturday, and smiled with tremendous pride.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
Commencement Speaker Toni Boucher (Nathan Oldham \/ UConn School of Business)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI see the future leaders who will propel Connecticut forward, who will make this university a technology juggernaut that attracts top talent and investment, who will make UConn the undisputed innovation leader of our state,\u2019\u2019 said Boucher, the undergraduate commencement speaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as you go out to build this future, I want to offer a word of caution about your plans,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cClass of 2026, the world you are entering is unpredictable. It is fragile \u2026 You may need to pivot when you least expect it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

A Personal Journey of Challenges, Determination<\/h2>\n

That ability to pivot is something that Boucher knows well. Her life has been marked by struggle and challenge, but also by resilience and success.<\/p>\n

\u201cStanding here today, looking out at this sea of ambition, I must tell you, this is a \u2018Cinderella moment\u2019 for me, she said. \u201cMy story didn\u2019t start in a boardroom or a legislative chamber. It started in a small village in Italy in the aftermath of World War II.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

She came to the U.S. at age 5, unable to speak or read English, and never having attended school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember sitting in the back of an elementary school classroom\u2026not comprehending a single word until I reached 5th grade, when a light finally came on that would not be extinguished,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you told that little girl she would be standing here today, addressing the graduates of Connecticut\u2019s flagship university, she wouldn\u2019t have believed you,\u2019\u2019 Boucher said. \u201cShe would have thought you were describing someone else\u2019s life entirely. But that is the remarkable thing about this country, this state, and specifically the power of this university.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Boucher earned her MBA at UConn in 2002. A non-traditional student, she juggled her studies with the demands of raising three children, working full-time and entering politics. In 2024, she was inducted into the School of Business Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Husband, Bud, Was a Passionate Entrepreneur<\/h2>\n

She urged the soon-to-be grads to turn innovations and inventions into thriving businesses, that make an impact in Connecticut and beyond, delivering prosperity for individuals and communities.<\/p>\n

Boucher then talked about her late husband, Bud, who was a management consultant and, later, a serial entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lived by the words of Winston Churchill: \u2018Success is moving from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm,\u2019\u2019\u2019 she said. She described her husband as brilliant, but said he didn\u2019t succeed at everything he touched. He developed consumer products, medical devices, and real estate development. He watched others give up when things got difficult, but he never did.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when his last risky startup finally succeeded, it changed everything\u2014not just for us, but for what we could give back to institutions like UConn. He died two weeks before he could turn his success into reality,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cAt that very moment, it fell to me to pick up the mantel. In the depths of the most profound grief I ever experienced, I fought every obstacle to make his dream come true.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

She and her family subsequently presented an $8 million gift to the school to create and expand programs for aspiring entrepreneurs. The Boucher Management & Entrepreneurship Department is named in the family\u2019s honor. It is her hope that students can take risks within the safety of an academic environment and that it will help them minimize errors in their careers.<\/p>\n

Lift People Up Along the Way<\/h2>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the only lesson that Boucher shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you this: the most important element in succeeding in both work and life isn\u2019t just about your hard work and persistence, or what\u2019s in your portfolio, or on your resume,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cIt\u2019s those relationships. They\u2019ll take you far. They\u2019ll build strength to create and sustain a life that matters, a life with purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour career will be defined by your grit, yes. But your happiness will be defined by the people you lift up along the way. In my view, the best social justice program is creating job opportunities for everyone at every level, so they can elevate and better their lives, and in turn, improve the economy of where you live,\u2019\u2019 Boucher said.<\/p>\n

A former boss once told her that sometimes Cinderella stories do come true.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he was right. Mine did. And yours can too,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cSo, Class of 2026, make us proud. Make yourselves proud. Go out there and make your own miracles happen.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI see the future leaders who will propel Connecticut forward, who will make this university a technology juggernaut that attracts top talent and investment, who will make UConn the undisputed innovation leader of our state,\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":245868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1862],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-245867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-busn"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 14:29:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245867"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245886,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245867\/revisions\/245886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/245868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245867"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=245867"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=245867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}