2026 Commencement Speaker
Daniel P. McCormack, MBA
Daniel McCormack is the chief executive officer of Spectrum Healthcare Partners, New England’s largest independent physician-owned health care organization, a role he assumed in February 2026. Raised in Aroostook County, Maine, he has spent his career at the intersection of the business and practice of health care, guided by a firsthand understanding of the access challenges facing rural and underserved communities.
McCormack began his career as a U.S. Air Force Medical Service Corps officer, serving at the David Grant USAF Medical Center at Travis Air Force Base in California and the Bolling Air Force Base Medical Group in Washington, D.C. He went on to lead provider network management at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine, served 14 years as CEO of InterMed, and most recently served as chief operating officer at Martin’s Point Health Care. Across those roles, he developed expertise in value-based contracting, strategic planning, long-range financial management, and health informatics, as well as a track record of overseeing major capital and construction projects.
A UNE Trustee since 2013, McCormack served as Treasurer from 2015 to 2019 and as Chairman of the Board from 2019 to 2023. During his tenure, he helped develop the University’s first financial strategic plan, guided UNE through its initial bond rating, helped secure the Alfond Foundation grant supporting the University’s health sciences facilities, and served on the presidential search committee that brought President James Herbert to UNE.
As Chairman, he also steered the Board through the COVID-19 pandemic and played an influential role as UNE expanded its interprofessional health education offerings, including the historic relocation of the College of Osteopathic Medicine from Biddeford to Portland, which united all of UNE’s health professions programs on the Portland Campus for the Health Sciences. He oversaw numerous campus building and renovation projects, including the Danielle N. Ripich Commons, Leonard Hall, and the Harold Alfond Forum in Biddeford and Alumni Hall in Portland.
McCormack holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the University of Southern Maine. He currently serves on the board of directors of Maine Community Bank.
Previous Commencement Speakers
- 2025: USAF Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, 19th superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy
- 2024: Honorable Bernie Sanders (I), U.S. Senator, Vermont
- 2023: Ronald A. Crutcher, D.M.A., president emeritus of Wheaton College and the University of Richmond, national leader in higher education, distinguished classical musician
- 2022: Jonathan Haidt, Ph.D., social psychologist at New York University's Stern School of Business
- 2021: Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- 2019: Honorable Janet T. Mills, Governor of Maine
- 2018: Catherine A. Sanderson, Ph.D., Manwell Family Professor of Life Sciences (Psychology), Amherst College
- 2017: Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
- 2016: Dr. Robert Michael Franklin, Jr., James T. and Berta R. Laney Professor of Moral Leadership at Emory University, Director of the Religion Department of the Chautauqua Institution
- 2015: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, President/CEO, Goodwill Industries of Northern New England
- 2014: Gregory W. Powell, J.D., CEO/President of Dexter Enterprises, Inc, & Chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation
- 2013: Honorable Angus King (I), U.S. Senator, Maine
- 2012: Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D)
- 2011: Congressman Michael Michaud (D)
- 2010: Harvey V. Fineberg, M.D., Ph.D., President of the Institute of Medicine
- 2009: Rita Colwell, Ph.D., Nationally-respected Scientist and Educator
- 2008: John McKernan, Former Governor of Maine
- 2007: Robert Shetterly, Maine Artist and Author
- 2006: Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic Gold Medalist
- 2005: Olympia J. Snowe, United States Senator, Maine
- 2004: Henry L. P. Schmelzer, President and CEO Maine Community Foundation
- 2003: Henry L. P. Schmelzer, President and CEO Maine Community Foundation
- 2002: Daniel Wathen, Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Court
- 2001: Congressman Tom Allen, U.S. Congressman, Maine
- 2000: Robert McAfee, Former President of the American Medical Association, UNE Board of Trustees member
- 1999: Susan Collins, U.S. Senator, Maine
- 1998: Richard MacPherson
- 1997: Marvin Wachman, Ph.D.
- 1996: Olympia Snowe, U.S. Senator, Maine
- 1995: Judith Isaacson
- 1994: Rev. John Brooks
- 1993: Thomas Andrews
- 1992: Dorothy Cotton
- 1991: Marie Gadsden, Ph.D.
- 1990: George Mitchell
- 1989: Andrew McGuire
- 1988: Dr. David Matthews
- 1987: Dodge Morgan
- 1986: Douglas Edwards
- 1985: Assoc. Justice Caroline D. Glassman, Maine Supreme Judicial Court
- 1984: Honorable Joseph E. Brennan, Governor of Maine
- 1983: Arthur Elliott Levine, Ph.D., President, Bradford College (Bradford, MA)
- 1982: James Russell Wiggins, Editor and Publisher, Ellsworth American
- 1981: Honorable William S. Cohen, U.S. Senator, Maine
- 1980: William J. Caldwell, Columnist, Portland Press Herald & Maine Sunday Telegram
- 1979: F. Stephen Larrabee, Ph.D., National Security Council
- 1978: Benjamin M. Ziegler, Ph.D., Educator, Amherst College
- 1977: Honorable Sherry Huber
- 1976: Dr. Elsa M. Meder
- 1975: Dr. Scott Nearing, Economist, Farmer, and Author
- 1974: Reverend Paul C. Reinert, President, St. Louis University
- 1973: Dr. Kenneth E. Eble
- 1972: Dr. Richard Weigle, President, Saint John’s College (Annapolis, Maryland)
- 1971: The Honorable Kenneth M. Curtis
- 1970: The Honorable James L. Farmer, A.B., B.D., Assistant Secretrary, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
- 1969: The Honorable Frank Licht A.B., and L.L.D., Governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation
- 1968: Mr. Edwin D. Canham, Editor-in-Chief, Christian Science Monitor
- 1967: Dr. Donald M. MacKenzie, President, Park College (Parkville, Missouri)
- 1966: Rev. Bernard Haring, Department of Religious Studies, Brown University
- 1965: His Excellency The Most Reverand Ernest Primeau, Bishop of Manchester
- 1964: Dr. John W. McDeVitt, Supreme Knight, Knights of Columbus
- 1963: Dr. Philip Lambert
- 1962: Father Juvenal Lawlor
- 1961: Rev. Edward V. Stanford
- 1960: Reverend Msgr. Robert J. White
- 1959: Mr. William B. Mahoney
- 1958: Reverend Mark Franck
- 1957: Dr. Harry Doyle
- 1956: Reverend Kevin Kidd
- 1955: Reverend Fernand Porter
- 1954: His Excellency The Most Reverend Daniel J. Feeney