Just months before Julie M. Jones ’20 MBA met Andrew Rose at an NAACP conference — he was president of Central Connecticut State’s chapter and she was VP of the chapter at Southern Connecticut — a friend had tried to introduce them at an event, but Jones couldn’t make it. Fortunately the two were seated at the same table at the conference and hit it off.

Nine years later, last August, they wed at the Farmington Polo Club. In addition to cars, they love UConn basketball, travel, and their English bulldog, Peanut Butter. For four years, Jones (now Rose) balanced UConn MBA studies with full-time work; she leads a corporate marketing team for Macy’s, Inc. Her husband is a health insurance industry consultant and a small business owner with his own production company and photography studio.

“Andrew and I over the last decade have worked very hard in our careers, pursuing our passions to create a great life for ourselves. UConn was a big part of that for me,” she says.