Prominent NBA Executive and Top Health Care CEO to Give UHart's 2026 Commencement Addresses

Kathleen Behrens '85, president for social responsibility and player programs for the National Basketball Association, will deliver the afternoon undergraduate address at the University of Hartford's 2026 commencement ceremonies.

Sabrina Trocchi MPA '96, president and chief executive officer of Wheeler Health, will deliver the morning graduate address. The ceremonies will take place Sunday, May 17, at the PeoplesBank Arena in downtown Hartford.

Behrens oversees the NBA's programs that support player growth and development, leverage marketing opportunities for current and former players, and coordinate league and player social responsibility efforts. She is also the vice chair of the University of Hartford Board of Regents.

A Bronx native now based in Westchester County, N.Y., Behrens earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Hartford, where she was a member of the basketball and tennis teams, as well as president of the Student Government Association.

After serving in the administration of former New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo, Behrens moved to the nonprofit sector as executive director of New York Cares, which mobilizes volunteers to help New York City's neediest residents. In 2000, she joined the NBA as vice president of community relations and later served as senior vice president of community & player programs. She is a member of the Board of Governors for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass and serves on the Board of Directors for Avangrid Power.

Since 2019, Trocchi has led Wheeler Health, one of Connecticut's leading nonprofit community health and human services organizations. Wheeler provides comprehensive solutions that address complex health issues and provides individuals, families, and communities with accessible, innovative care that encourages recovery, health, and growth at all stages of life.

Trocchi received a master's degree in public administration from the University of Hartford and later earned a PhD in public health from the University of Connecticut. She has received numerous honors and awards, including two from the Hartford Business Journal in 2021: its Women in Business Award and the Power 25 Health Care Award. On eight separate occasions, her organization has won the Hartford Courant's Top Workplace Award in the large employer category, with special recognition as a woman-led organization, and Trocchi herself won a Top Workplace Award as Top Leader, for leading Wheeler through the COVID-19 pandemic just months after assuming the role of President and CEO.

As president and CEO, Trocchi was instrumental in envisioning, developing, and opening Wheeler's first newly constructed building since 1972, its flagship federally qualified health center and administrative headquarters in Bristol, as well as expanding community health care services in Wheeler's Hartford, Plainville, New Britain, and Waterbury health centers. Trocchi also launched a company-wide initiative to advance the role of diversity and inclusion throughout the organization, and has overseen Wheeler's growth to now serve more than 70,000 people in 90 percent of the state's cities and towns. Her previous roles at the company include chief strategy officer and chief operating officer.

Prior to joining Wheeler, Trocchi served with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. There, she directed the planning, development, and acquisition of over $170 million in federal funds to expand clinical substance abuse and mental health treatment and prevention services.