The Neal W. Allen Award, for Leadership in the Public Sector

John Elias Baldacci is serving his second four-year term as Maine's Governor.  Born and raised in Bangor, Governor Baldacci was first elected to public office in 1978, earning a seat on the Bangor City Council at the age of 23. In 1982, he was elected to the Maine State Senate, where he served for twelve years.

John Baldacci was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994.  He was re-elected to Congress by wide margins in 1996, 1998, and 2000.

He was first elected Governor of the State of Maine in 2002.  In his first term as Governor, Baldacci won approval for major initiatives including Dirigo Health, the Community College System, and Pine Tree Zones.

In his second term, Governor Baldacci has built on the foundation he created in his first four years in office.  He has worked to increase Maine's competitiveness in the global economy; streamline government services; attract good paying jobs; build the capacity in Maine for clean, renewable energy; and ensure all Mainers have access to quality education, workforce training and health care.

Governor Baldacci is a graduate of the University of Maine in Orono.  The Governor resides with his wife, Karen, and son, Jack, at the Blaine House in Augusta. 

The President's Award

Richard L. Connor, a native of Bangor, has spent 40 years in the newspaper and media business. After a distinguished career that took him to newspapers in several states, he returned to Maine in July 2009 as an owner and CEO of The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, along with daily newspapers in Augusta and Waterville, and a weekly newspaper in Bath.

He is CEO and founder of MaineToday Media - owner of the newspapers, and the state's largest media company. He also serves as Editor and Publisher of MaineToday's newspapers and websites.

Connor has run his own media company for the past 12 years and has owned more than 70 newspapers in five states over that period. He worked most of his career for Capital Cities/ABC and, later, the Walt Disney Co. Before starting his own company, Connor was Publisher/CEO of the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, the 25th largest newspaper in the country.

He has received numerous professional and civic awards, including several for his newspapers' leadership as outstanding corporate citizens as well as watchdogs on government. He won Texas' top prize for editorial writing and has won several awards for column writing. He served twice on the nominating committee for the Pulitzer Prizes and his newspapers have won numerous awards for journalistic excellence.

Connor is married to the former Deborah Karanges and has three children. 

The Henri A. Benoit Award for Leadership in the Private Sector

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit family of leading high-quality providers and other healthcare organizations working together to make our communities the healthiest in America.

MaineHealth, along with our member organizations, is dedicated to supporting the health and well-being of the people and communities we serve. Our members provide a vast array of services to you, your family and your neighbors in ways that are obvious (an emergency room, a birthing center, a cardiac care facility) and those that may be less so (a depression support program, help for elders facing transitions, diabetes education for the newly diagnosed).

Working together to keep our communities in a healthy state

As an integrated, not-for-profit system of healthcare providers and support services, MaineHealth and its members work together to make our communities - in southern, central and western Maine - the healthiest in America.

MaineHealth, serving as the corporate parent to our members, provides a unified voice in communicating our systemwide commitment to excellence and safety in clinical care, medical education and research.

It's the collaboration of our member organizations that truly brings the MaineHealth mission to life. Our members, working in concert, provide a continuum of care that ranges from prevention and primary care to acute, chronic and long-term care and rehabilitation. No matter where a patient enters our system, he or she is assured access to the right level of care, in the right setting, at the right time - expertly and compassionately delivered.

This powerful collaboration of our members helps us keep our Maine communities in a healthy state.

Ranked among the nation's top 100 integrated delivery networks, MaineHealth includes the following member organizations: Maine Medical Center, Miles Memorial Hospital, St. Andrews Hospital & Healthcare Center, Southern Maine Medical Center, Stephens Memorial Hospital, Waldo County General Hospital, Spring Harbor Hospital, HomeHealth Visiting Nurses, Maine Physician Hospital Organization, NorDx and Synernet. Affiliates of MaineHealth include MaineGeneral Medical Center, Mid Coast Hospital, St. Mary's Regional Medical Center and Penobscot Bay Medical Center. 

The Robert R. Masterton Award for Economic Development

The University of New England is a top-ranked independent university with internationally recognized scholars in the liberal arts, sciences, health and medicine. The highly integrated learning environment promotes excellence through interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation in education, research and service.

With 4,500 students and more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and professional programs, UNE has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report among the top regional universities in the Northeast, and is one of only five private universities with a comprehensive health education mission including a medical school, pharmacy, dental hygiene and allied health.

The historic Portland Campus hosts the Westbrook College of Health Professions, College of Pharmacy, College of Graduate Studies, Art Gallery and Maine Women Writer's Collection.  The Biddeford Campus, located on the Saco River, is home to Maine's only medical school - the College of Osteopathic Medicine - and the College of Arts and Sciences, including the Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center. 

UNE's Centers of Excellence for Research and Scholarship build on institutional strengths in marine science and neuroscience, humanities and public health, and provide opportunities for collaborative research and scholarship programs that are competitive for interdisciplinary, multi-investigator and multi-institutional awards. 

More health professionals are educated at UNE than at any other institution of higher learning in Maine. Graduating each year are a total of 900 physicians, physician assistants, pharmacists, nurses, nurse anesthetists, dental hygienists, social workers, occupational therapists, physical therapists and athletic trainers. 

With nearly 1,000 employees and an annual operational budget of $127 million, UNE's impact on Maine's economy totals $341 million in annual sales for businesses, supporting 2,600 jobs.  In addition, each year's graduating class of UNE students who stay and work in Maine add more than $216 million to the state's economy over their lifetime, bringing the total impact to nearly $560 million.  UNE students volunteer more than 10,000 hours of community service annually at 150-plus local agencies, organizations and schools.