Commencement Speaker

Dan Beck has spent more than 50 years in the music and entertainment industry, building an extraordinary career in marketing, artist development, and innovation.

Drawn to Nashville while attending Robert Morris College, Beck began writing for Record World, a leading music industry trade publication. Just six months after earning his degree in 1972, he was promoted to regional editor.

In 1974, Beck was hired to establish the first publicity department for a major record label in Nashville, representing the Columbia and Epic imprints for CBS Records. His roster included Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Charlie Rich, and Johnny Cash, among many others. A year later, he was promoted to head national publicity for Epic Records in New York, where he spearheaded press campaigns for artists including Labelle, Cheap Trick, Charlie Daniels Band, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Kansas, and the extensive Epic roster.

After a period in artist management overseeing music publishing for Aerosmith and Ted Nugent, Beck returned to Epic as a product manager, a role he held for 17 years. There, he led marketing strategy and logistics for a wide range of artists, including The Clash, Cyndi Lauper, Luther Vandross, Sade, Living Colour, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, and Michael Jackson.

A pioneer in music video production and licensing as a marketing tool, Beck consistently embraced innovation. His hearing conservation film, Listen Smart, received the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award and was featured at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, as well as in hundreds of high school programs nationwide.

Beck has co-written songs with Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Dion DiMucci and Felix Cavaliere, and collaborated with Pittsburgh’s Joe Grushecky & the Iron City Houserockers. He executive produced Broke (reprised), a documentary examining sustainability challenges facing independent artists, which won “Best Vision in a Music Film” at the 2011 Nashville Film Festival.

Since 2013, Beck has served as the sole Trustee of the Music Performance Trust Fund, overseeing grants that support admission-free live music performances in parks, schools, and community venues across the United States and Canada. Under his leadership, the fund’s annual grant budget has grown from $500,000 to nearly $5 million.

His critically acclaimed memoir, You’ve Got Michael, was released in October 2025. Beck has been featured in numerous books and major media outlets and has served multiple terms as Governor of the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy (Grammys), as well as Secretary of the National Music Council of the United States.

Above all, Beck values family. He and his wife, Clare, are the proud parents of three adult children—Matthew, Rachel, and Michaela—and grandparents to six grandchildren.