Former Boston Globe editor and past Camden Conference president Matthew Storin is returning as president, to guide the Conference forward into a new episode in its long history – and through the 2026 conference on “Power, Politics, and Players in Today’s Middle East.” 

"Under the skilled guidance of retiring President Wayne Hobson, the last two years have seen the Conference return to pre-Covid vigor with a 2025 sell-out of the Camden Opera House, strong streaming-venue attendance at the Strand Theater in Rockland and Lunt Auditorium in Falmouth, and several great new additions to our committees and Board of Directors," said Camden Conference, in a news release. "A highly successful, first-ever Annual Appeal further bolstered Conference finances – leaving us well-positioned to navigate new paths." 

Storin presided at the 2020 Media Conference and the first fully remote 2021 Arctic Conference. 

He contributed to Camden Conference’s mission of fostering informed discussion in the interim, as well. Most recently, he moderated and helped organize a panel discussion last December by leading media lights in Maine on “Democracy Diminished: Is Local News Dying?” at Lunt Auditorium; and in September, 2024, he hosted “An Evening with Nick Schifrin,” in which the famed PBS News Hour Foreign Affairs and Defense correspondent shared experiences and insights with a packed Camden Opera House audience. 

“I guess you could say I couldn’t leave well enough alone,” said Storin. “But the Camden Conference has been the most rewarding experience of my time in Maine, so I’m up for whatever I can do to support its important mission.”   

Before editing the Globe from 1993 to 2001, Storin was editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, executive editor of the (NY) Daily News, editor of Maine Times and national editor of U.S. News & World Report. His earlier reporting career included coverage of Congress and the White House, as well as the late stages of the wars in Cambodia and Vietnam. A three-year stint as associate vice president for communications at his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, followed Matt’s departure from the Globe, before he and his wife Keiko became full-time residents of Camden.