Scientist and Business Leader Becomes a Family Health Advocate
Janet Simpson Benvenuti '77, '82, says UML faculty were "actively interested in my work and career."
04/16/2024
By Karen Angelo
Looking back on her career, Janet Simpson Benvenuti ’77, ’82 thinks of her life in 10-year increments.
“In my 20s, I focused on my education and establishing my career,” says Benvenuti. “I worked as a scientist while earning two graduate degrees.“But then life happened.”
Decades later, she is far removed from the lab bench. An outspoken family health advocate, Benvenuti has spent the past 20 years working to strengthen health and elder care in the United States, advising business and clinical leaders, supporting entrepreneurs and offering coaching to adults struggling to understand how best to support their aging relatives.
The youngest of five siblings, Benvenuti grew up in Woburn, Massachusetts. She followed her two older brothers and enrolled at UMass Lowell. A first-generation college student, Benvenuti majored in chemistry.
“As one of the few female chemistry majors at the time, I was never intimidated,” she says. “I was mentored by faculty who were actively interested in my work and career. That personal attention built my confidence as a scientist.”
After graduating, Benvenuti worked for Textron on projects for the U.S. Department of Defense, held a security clearance and supervised an analytical chemistry laboratory. While working at Textron, she returned to UMass Lowell to earn a master’s degree in chemistry, using the university’s nuclear reactor to study coal combustion.
“At Textron, I discovered I enjoyed leading people, so I set out to learn more about the business aspects of running a company,” she says. “To my complete surprise, I was admitted to Harvard Business School.”
By age 29, with two chemistry degrees and an MBA in hand, Benvenuti’s second chapter was about to begin.
She joined Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), the global pharmaceutical company, as corporate director of quality and productivity, organizing global project teams to improve business performance. Selected by President George H.W. Bush as one of the inaugural members of the Malcolm Baldrige Commission, whose mission was to promote America’s competitiveness, she traveled across the country showing business leaders how to systematically improve service or product quality.
After the birth of her first child, Benvenuti realized that staying on the traditional corporate path with international travel and limited child care choices was not the life she wanted. She left her job and set up a virtual consulting business, helping companies improve profitability and manage change.
When she was in her early 40s, Benvenuti’s father was diagnosed with throat cancer. Her parents were in Massachusetts, and Benvenuti was living in New Jersey. Her father recovered, but his illness and her mother’s heart disease and dementia prompted a move north.
“I became legally responsible for both parents when my children were 6 and 3 years old,” she says. “I was completely unprepared for the world of elder care, and I knew there were millions of people like me in the same situation. After my parents passed away, I decided to share what I learned and see how I might positively impact other people’s lives.”
In 2004, Benvenuti launched the Circle of Life Partners, which provides customized education programs for employers, universities, professional organizations and communities on how to “navigate the aging journey.” She networks with organizations that help family caregivers, speaks publicly about how to care for older relatives and is vocal about the need for employee benefits such as family leave.
She also serves on the Kennedy College of Sciences advisory board. Reflecting on the winding path of her life and career, Benvenuti challenges students to follow their interests and be open and flexible.
“Having both technical and business degrees created opportunities for me,” she says. “I was not locked into any one company or any one career path. I deeply appreciate the education I got at UMass Lowell and the faculty mentors who gave me the confidence to make career choices that were right for me.”