Marilda Lara Gándara is president of the Aetna Foundation, an independent charitable organization funded solely by Aetna Inc. She represents Aetna to the public on corporate citizenship issues and is liaison to private, nonprofit and public service organizations that work to improve the lives of people in the community. Aetna and the Aetna Foundation contributed more than $17.5 million in grants and sponsorships during 2004.

Ms. Gándara joined Aetna in 1978 as an attorney, specializing in real estate, workout and environmental law. During the 1990s, she was Managing Director and Vice President in Aetna's Real Estate Investments area, where she was responsible for the company's $5 billion national commercial real estate problem loan portfolio and $1 billion in hotel properties and mortgages. Prior to that, she worked in Aetna's Corporate Planning and Financial Reporting Department, where she was responsible for six strategic business units.

Ms. Gándara has served in leadership roles with national, regional and local nonprofit organizations, including Hispanics in Philanthropy, Vice Chair and Chair, Audit Committee; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Governance Committee; the Bushnell Performing Arts Center, chair, Strategic Planning Committee and Education Committee; Hartford Hospital, trustee; United Way of the Capitol Region, trustee and member, Allocations Committee; and, the Independent Sector, Treasurer and Chair, Investment Committee. Connecticut's governor and legislature appointed her to serve for two years as the Finance Trustee for the state-controlled Hartford Board of Education. She recently completed the Harvard Business School "Corporate Governance Program: Leadership in the Board Room" held in conjunction with the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility and chairs the HACR/HBS program alumni association.

Ms Gándara serves on the Board of Advisors of the SBA-licensed IronBridge Mezzanine Fund, L.P. She has served on the boards of TLC Beatrice International Foods Company, the McCall's Pattern Company and the Greater Hartford Bank Boston Board of Advisors.

Ms. Gándara is co-chair of the Latina Roundtable, an organization of professional and entrepreneurial Latinas engaged in political, economic and philanthropic efforts with the goal of having a positive influence on the economic status of Latinos in the United States through collective action and impact.

Numerous publications have listed Ms. Gándara among successful Latinas, including El Diario La Prensa's "Top 50 Latinas in American Business" and Hispanic Business magazine's 2005 Corporate Elite directory of 25 influential Hispanics in American corporations. Most recently, Latina Style featured Ms. Gándara on the cover for an article about Latinas in philanthropy. Boeing included her in its 2004 Women's History Month poster featuring eight prominent women. She is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards.

Born in Cuba, Ms. Gándara lives in Hartford. She holds a J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School in Hartford and a B.A. from St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J.