Gail Boudreaux's Got Game

Hi All,

As many of you may know, Gail Koziara Boudreaux ’82 is not only one of the most decorated women's basketball players in our program's history, but is also one of the most powerful women in the business world. Seriously - Forbes Magazine ranked her the 54th most powerful woman in the world this fall and last year was Fortune Magazine's 45th most powerful woman in business! She has also been a tremendous friend to our program throughout the years.

As  President of UnitedHealthCare and Executive Vice President for UnitedHealth Group, Koziara Boudreaux now oversees 42,000 employees worldwide. After joining UnitedHealth—the No. 1 health insurer in the U.S.— in 2008 as head of its most profitable division ($40+billion), she hit the ground running. Koziara Boudreaux immediately consolidated six national regions into four and plans to grow profits by focusing more intently on local markets.

Koziara Boudreaux still holds Dartmouth's career scoring (1,933 points) and rebounding (1,635 rebounds) records from her playing days in 1978-82, during which time she helped the Big Green to three Ivy Championships and was a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year.

Click here for a great interview from ForbesWoman Magazine, in which Koziara Boudreaux draws the connection from basketball to business.

A few of my favorite excerpts:

"At Dartmouth I was on the team that established women's basketball at that college. At the time, there were four boys to every girl at Dartmouth, so I learned to adapt to a male world, but I also bonded with the women on my team. We all learned that it's good to win. In sports, as in business, you never play to lose. You learn that there will always be someone looking to beat you, no matter how good you are, so you continually have to raise the bar and improve what you're doing. And when you have a defeat, it's not the end of the world. Instead of giving up, you look at what you could have done better and how not to repeat the same mistakes."

"I feel that whether or not you're a great athlete, playing sports is a great thing to do, and especially fabulous for girls because it builds self-esteem. When you play sports you have to ask yourself: Do I want to be the person who takes the shot at the end of the game or be the one who just stands still?"

- Dara