2026 Grand Marshal
2026
Grand Marshal
Robert J. McCann
Robert James “Bob” McCann has built a distinguished career in financial services and currently serves as Co-Chairman of NewEdge Capital Group and owner of Forest Creek Golf Club. His career includes executive leadership positions as President of Global Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch and Chairman of UBS Americas. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland. Through board membership at The American Ireland Funds and now with the Irish Arts Center, he has worked for nearly 30 years to strengthen the cultural and civic ties between Ireland and the United States.
His work has been shaped by a deeply personal commitment to reconciliation in Northern Ireland, including leading an initiative to bring Sesame Street there for the first time, using locally created characters to introduce young children to the values of mutual respect and shared community. He also supported the Integrated Schools movement, which brings Catholic and Protestant children into classrooms together to help shape a new generation less burdened by the divisions of the past.
The great-grandson of a miner who emigrated from County Armagh to Windber, Pennsylvania, in the late 1800s, Bob’s story reflects the arc of the Irish-American experience. His father, one of nine children, moved the family from Windber to Pittsburgh, where he became a printer and member of the Pittsburgh Typographical Union. His union card brought economic stability and enabled his two sons to pursue higher education.
Bob credits his mother, Dolores Ann (Shaffer) McCann, with shaping the values that guide his life. Raised by James and Mary (Reilly) Shaffer in Pittsburgh, she graduated from Saint Rosalia High School and instilled a deep belief in faith and education in her family. She believed, because she lived it, that resilience and strong relationships are the keys to a full life, and she reminded her boys of that often.
Today, Bob serves as Board Chair of the Irish Arts Center in New York City. He works closely with the leadership team and fellow board members to advance the Center’s mission of promoting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century while preserving Irish culture for future generations.
Bob and his partner, Sarah Kea Capel, share a happy, growing family of six children and six grandchildren. They divide their time between Pinehurst, North Carolina, and Brielle, New Jersey, and are members of St. Catharine Church in Spring Lake, New Jersey.
2026 Aides to The Grand Marshal
2025
