Since leaving office, Governor McKernan has served as Chairman and CEO of McKernan Enterprises, Inc. and Nottingham Equity, Inc. in Portland, Maine. In 1996, he led an investor group in its purchase of C.F. Hathaway, the oldest shirt company in America. He now serves as Chairman of Hathaway Holdings Corporation.
Governor McKernan has won national recognition for leadership and innovation in education and human resources. The National Alliance of Business honored him in 1993 with the first annual School-to-Work transition award and in 1989 by naming Maine State of the Year. He was also recognized as Outstanding Governor in 1992 by the American Society for Training and Development.

In 1991-1992 he served as member of the Secretary of Labor's National Advisory Commission on Work-Based Learning. He also chaired Jobs for America's Graduates, a nationwide school-to-work transition organization. In 1993 Governor McKernan replaced President Clinton as the Governors' Representative to the Scholastic, Inc. Advisory Board and in 1994, he chaired the National Education Goals Panel.

McKernan served as Chairman of the Education Commission of the States, Coalition of Northeastern Governors, New England Governors Conference, and Republican Governors' Association, as well as the National Governors' Association's lead governor on telecommunications. He is also the author of Making the Grade, a book on youth apprenticeship.

Continuing his interest in education reform since leaving office, McKernan serves as Chairman of the National School-to-Work Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. and of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Career Development in South Portland, Maine.