William McCormick

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William P. McCormick, U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand

William (Bill) P. McCormick (born August 18, 1939, in Providence, Rhode Island) is the current United States ambassador to New Zealand. He was accredited on 9 November 2005, replacing Charles J. Swindells. He is married and has six children.

He attended Roger Williams University and Boston University while serving in the United States Army Reserve Military Police until he was honorably discharged in 1963. McCormick then moved to northern California and worked in the brokerage office of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in San Francisco until 1965. It was at this time that he became a partner in the Refectory Steak House Restaurant chain. By the early 1970s Mr McCormick had moved further north to Portland, Oregon, and sold his interest in the Refectory Restaurants.

In 1973 he purchased the restaurant, "Jake's Famous Crawfish", and within the year had partnered with Doug Schmick. While growing the restaurant company, he attended the Harvard Business School, Executive Management Program, in 1979. Today there are 56 McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants in 24 states. The company went public in July 2004 and is traded on the NASDAQ. Mr. McCormick currently serves as Chairman Emeritus.

Throughout his business career Mr. McCormick’s civic and charitable involvement has been far-reaching; it encompasses virtually all aspects of society and its institutions. He has provided thousands of pounds of food for the Pasadena, California, food bank and 10,000 books for disadvantaged children in Los Angeles County; he began the Shamrock Run twenty-seven years ago for the benefit of many service organizations in Portland, Oregon. As co-chair of the Portland Opera Foundation, he was successful in raising twenty-four million dollars to help sustain that organization in the future.

McCormick was recently awarded the Secretary’s Award by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for his contributions to, and recognition of, the nation’s veterans. Each year McCormick & Schmick Seafood Restaurants provides over 17,000 complimentary meals to veterans visiting any McCormick & Schmick Restaurant on Veterans Day.

McCormick’s philanthropy and love of the arts recently afforded him the opportunity to serve on the President's Committee of the Arts & Humanities, whose Honorary Chairman is First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush.