2011 Distinguished Alumni Award: Robert M. Holster

Robert M. Holster has been Chairman of the Board of HMS Holdings Corp. (HMS) since 2006. He was also President from 2001 to 2005 and CEO from 2005 until 2009. HMS (which trades on NASDAQ under the symbol HMSY) is a leader in providing cost containment solutions for government-funded, commercial, and private healthcare payors. HMS helps clients ensure that healthcare claims are paid correctly and by the responsible party, and that those enrolled to receive program benefits meet qualifying criteria. HMS is headquartered in New York City, employs more than 1500 associates nationwide, and this year will report revenues in excess of $300 million. HMS was ranked tenth on Fortune’s 2010 “100 Fastest-Growing Companies” list and first on Crain’s 2010 list of the fastest growing companies in New York.

Following graduation from the University of Connecticut in 1968 and two years as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Mr. Holster received an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he was a Bronfman Fellow. He started his business career at Price Waterhouse, and later worked as Controller of the Pfizer Laboratories division of Pfizer, Inc., as CFO of Macmillan, Inc., and as CEO of HHL Financial Services, Inc., which at the time was the nation’s largest privately held provider of hospital business office services. He formerly served on the boards of directors of NASDAQ companies HiTech Parmacal and Varsity Group. He presently serves on the advisory board of Health Enterprise Partners, a New York City based private equity firm, on the Board of the UConn Foundation, and as a member of the Harvard School of Public Health’s Health Policy and Management Executive Council.

Mr. Holster entered UConn in 1964 as part of the inaugural group admitted to the Honors Program; while there he lettered in swimming and served for two years as President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity before graduating with a B.A. in Economics in 1968. He is married to Carlotta Holster, a 1968 family studies graduate of UConn, and has two grown sons, Andrew and Brett. Mr. and Mrs. Holster are 1881 Circle members of the Founders Society.