From a top-notch comedian to business executives and elected officials, graduation season has come back around with a new flock of college commencement speakers.
Here’s a look at who will be addressing this year’s college graduates at schools in Concord and around the state.
NHTI, Concord’s Community College
Amanda Grappone Osmer is the owner and chief vision officer for local car dealership Grappone Automovie Group, which started as a single gas station by Osmer’s great-grandparents. Osmer made the unconventional move of cutting a majority of the company’s sales force and eliminating its finance department, in an attempt to be more transparent in its car sales.
Grappone Automotive Group has given back to the greater Concord community in many ways. It donates at least 5% of its profits every year and supports hundreds of local organizations such as the Boys’ and Girls’ Club and New Hampshire PBS. It also established a nature-based preschool at Canterbury Shaker Village in 2018.
“Faith and volunteer work are central to Amanda’s life purpose, and we are honored to have such a respected community leader join us for this special occasion,” NHTI said in its Instagram announcement post.
NHTI will have its ceremony on Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. in the campus’s C Lot by the Wellness Center.
Dartmouth College
Rachel Dratch, an Emmy-nominated comedian, actress and writer known for her time as a Saturday Night Live cast member, will be speaking at Dartmouth’s commencement ceremony — but rest assured she won’t be a Debbie Downer.
Dratch started her career at an improvisational comedy enterprise in Chicago called The Second City. From there, she joined the SNL cast from 1999 to 2006 with the likes of Tina Fey, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen. One of her most memorable characters was Debbie Downer, whose bleak comments followed a comedically sad trombone tune.
She has made appearances in several iconic movies and TV shows, including “30 Rock,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Portlandia,” “Click” and “Down With Love.” She’s also lent her voice in animated shows such as “Bob’s Burgers” and “Harley Quinn.”
She will speak and receive an honorary doctorate of arts during the Dartmouth ceremony on Sunday, June 14 at 9:30 a.m. on the Green.
University of New Hampshire
The speaker for the undergraduate ceremony is Tom Hayes, the former CEO of Ocean Spray and Tyson Foods. He has over 30 years of experience guiding major consumer brands and is a major figure in the space.
Between 2020 and 2025, Hayes oversaw a global cooperative of 700 cranberry grower owners and 2,000 employees during his time at Ocean Spray, the top producer of cranberry products. At Tyson Foods, he stewarded $40 billion in sales and started a new brand growth strategy focused on sustainability.
New Hampshire PBS’s Rebecca Rule will speak to UNH graduate students. For 10 years, Rule hosted the New Hampshire Authors Series that invited poets, authors and journalists to talk about the writing craft. She currently hosts the Our Hometown series, highlighting different towns and cities across New Hampshire.
The graduate ceremony will be held Friday, May 15 at 10 a.m. in the Whittemore Center Arena at the Key Auto Group Complex. Undergraduates will have their ceremony on Saturday, May 16 at 4:30 p.m., also at the Whittemore Center Arena.
University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law
Charles McIntyre, the executive director of the New Hampshire Lottery and Gaming Commission, will speak to UNH law students during their commencement ceremony. He has grown the state’s lottery from being among the slowest in the U.S. to being in the top five in sales and net funding growth.
McIntyre joined the Commission in 2010, clocking in around $62 million in revenue during his first year. In 2025, revenues surged to $209 million, setting an all-time record. He also stewarded the launch of the state’s online lottery called iLottery and adopted Keno, a game offered in 90 communities that provides education funding to local schools.
Before joining the Commission, McIntyre was the Massachusetts Lottery’s chief lawyer and was a senior prosecutor for the Norfolk District Attorney.
The law school’s commencement ceremony will take place on Friday, May 15 at 5 p.m. in Concord’s White Park.
New England College
U.S. Representative Maggie Goodlander will deliver the commencement address to New England College graduates and will also be awarded the Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa.
Goodlander started her career as a foreign policy advisor for senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman and then went to the U.S. Navy Reserve to serve as an intelligence officer for 11 years. The Nashua native graduated from Yale Law School and went on to clerk for Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court and taught constitution law at UNH and Dartmouth.
In 2024, Goodlander was elected to represent New Hampshire’s Second District. One of the biggest platforms she ran on was reproductive freedom and expanding access to care across the state. She also focused on the housing crisis, limiting monopolies and protecting democracy.
New England College’s graduation ceremony will occur on Saturday, May 2 at 10 a.m. on the Simon Green.
Keene State College
Keene State will be honoring U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan and former college president Melinda Treadwell with an honorary doctor of laws degree and the Granite State Award, respectively.
Sen. Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 and is the second woman in U.S. history to be elected both governor and U.S. senator, after fellow Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. She has championed public health, small business growth and education through legislation she’s penned or grants she secured.
Melinda Treadwell was Keene State’s first alumna president, graduating in 1990 with a major in industrial safety and a minor in chemistry. She was appointed as president in 2018 after previously serving as dean, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. She left Keene State in October to join The State University of New York College at Geneseo to serve as its president.
The college’s ceremony will be on Saturday, May 9 at 1 p.m. on Fiske Quad.
Colby-Sawyer College
Brandon Arvesen will deliver the keynote address at the school’s 188th commencement and will receive the Jack Jensen Award for Excellence in teaching, the college’s highest faculty award.
Arvesen has been teaching at Colby-Sawyer since 2022 as an assistant professor of creative and professional writing. He’s the founding editor of 3cents Magazine and was a former managing editor at True Magazine. He earned an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College and a master’s in writing from John Hopkins University.
Colby-Sawyer will have its first graduate student address from Jeff Larson, who is earning a Master of Social Work at Colby-Sawyer. The California-native has done internships at a counseling center and at a private practice, working with clients to process trauma and develop coping skills. After graduation, Larson will have a full-time career as a primary therapist at a substance use treatment facility in New Hampshire.
The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 9 at the Hogan Sports Center.
Saint Anselm College
Father Edwin Leahy is the headmaster at Saint Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, N.J., a role he has served in since 1972. The school serves 1,000 K-12 students and emphasizes community, student leadership and mental health. The school’s model has been recognized nationally, showcased in a “60 Minutes” episode in 2016.
Leahy “has been the inspirational champion of generations of young men seeking to grow spiritually, emotionally, and professionally,” according to the school’s announcement page. He was honored in the New Jersey Hall of Fame in 2024 for public service.
He will be speaking to Saint Anslem students on Saturday, May 16 at 10 a.m. at the College Quad in front of Alumni Hall.
Plymouth State University
Tina Schumacher is a trauma-informed training specialist at Voices Against Violence, a crisis center based in Plymouth. She graduated from Plymouth State in 2000 and will be the undergraduate commencement speaker.
Schumacher has worked at Voices Against Violence for 17 years, helping victims of domestic and sexual violence and creating programs for young people to help process trauma. She started her career teaching special education for children with a history in trauma.
For graduate students, Richard “Dick” Ober of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation will speak at their commencement ceremony. The foundation has become the largest private provider of nonprofit grants and student aid in northern New England, managing over $1 billion in charitable dollars.
The graduate ceremony will take place on Friday, May 8 at 6 p.m. For undergraduates, the ceremony will be on Saturday, May 9 at 10 a.m. Both events will be held in the New Hampshire Field House.
