Building a Legacy: Fidelis Care’s Thomas Halloran ’87 on Leadership, Giving Back, and the Iona Foundation of Success
Thomas Halloran ’87, CPA, an alumnus of Iona University, attributes his career success to the foundation he built as a student at Iona, where he developed the credentials and confidence needed to thrive as a professional. Halloran is the president and CEO of Fidelis Care, a health plan subsidiary of Centene Corporation that serves more than 2.4 million members in New York State.
“As a student at Iona, I learned the University’s purpose to foster community engagement and an appreciation for diversity,” Halloran shared. “Iona encouraged me to be ethical, curious, and generous with my talents.”
Reflecting on his career and tenure at Fidelis Care, Halloran values being part of a mission-based organization that is helping people navigate complex healthcare environments to access quality care. Halloran recently accepted the Arthur Ashe Institute Leadership Award at the 30th annual SportsBall Gala.
“This is a recognition of our commitment to health equity and community,” Halloran said. “Fidelis Care is deeply committed to ensuring everyone has access to the healthcare they need, regardless of their background or circumstances.”
One of Halloran’s career highlights was the $5 billion sale of Fidelis Care to Centene in 2018. A significant portion of the sales proceeds were used to fund the formation of the Mother Cabrini Foundation, which is one of the largest foundations in the country. The mission of the Mother Cabrini Foundation is to improve the health and wellbeing of New York’s poor, disadvantaged and underserved and eliminating health disparities. This is evidenced by the awarding of 2700 grants totaling $800 million to nonprofits, community-based organizations and healthcare providers in the past five years.
The Bronx native is the son of Irish immigrants and is a first-generation college graduate. After attending Cardinal Spellman High School, he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University in 1987 and became a Certified Public Accountant. Halloran serves on the inaugural advisory council for the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences.
“I was fortunate to have opportunities as an Iona student and think it is important to share my experiences and lessons of my journey,” Halloran reflects. “The ‘givers/takers’ should balance like the ‘debits/credits,’ and now it is my chance to ‘balance my books’ with Iona by giving back.”
Halloran traces his early interest in business to his high school paper-route experience delivering the NY Daily News. “The route touched on marketing, operations, finance, people management, and customer relations.”
His advice to aspiring professionals? “Engage in different experiences inside and outside of the classroom to build relationships, skills, and confidence. Leverage technology to be more efficient while never losing sight of the customer experience. Seek honest candid feedback to help you grow and build resilience.”
ABOUT IONA
Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of more than 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona students enjoy small class sizes, engaged professors and a wide array of academic programs across the School of Arts & Science; LaPenta School of Business; NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences; and Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Iona is widely recognized in prestigious rankings, including The Princeton Review’s 2025 national list of “The Best 390 Colleges” and The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse’s “2024 Best Colleges in America,” which ranked Iona at #66 in the nation overall and #8 in the nation among Catholic schools. Iona’s LaPenta School of Business is also accredited by AACSB International, a recognition awarded to just six percent of business schools worldwide. In addition, The Princeton Review recognized Iona’s on-campus MBA program as a “Best Business School for 2023.” Iona also offers a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, which is now principally located on Iona’s Bronxville campus in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian. Connecting to its Irish heritage, the University also recently announced it is expanding abroad with a new campus in County Mayo, Ireland. A school on the rise, Iona officially changed its status from College to University on July 1, 2022, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.