Tom Barkin is the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He has held this position since 2018.

Tom serves as a voting member on the Fed’s chief monetary policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee, and is also responsible for bank supervision and the Federal Reserve’s technology organization. He is “on the ground” continually in the Fed’s Fifth District, which covers South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, D.C., West Virginia and Maryland. His engagement in the region has brought real attention to areas facing economic challenges.

Prior to joining the Richmond Fed, Tom was a senior partner and CFO at McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, where he also oversaw McKinsey’s offices in the southern United States.

Tom earned his bachelor’s, MBA and law degrees from Harvard University

Brooke Lierman is the 34th Comptroller of the state of Maryland and the first woman to be independently elected to one of our state’s constitutional offices. After running a strong, policy-focused and grassroots-led two-year campaign, she was elected with over 60% of the vote in November 2022. She is an attorney by training, practicing as a civil rights and disability rights lawyer for many years, and prior to her election as Comptroller, she served for 8 years a member of the House of Delegates representing part of Baltimore City.



While in the House, she spent time in leadership roles on both the Appropriations Committee and the Environment and Transportation Committee.



Additionally, she was the House Chair for the Joint Committee on Pensions, sat on the Joint Committee on Ending Homelessness, and founded the Maryland Transit Caucus. Brooke successfully passed landmark legislation to invest in and improve public transit and public schools; prohibit suspension and expulsion of young public school students; fund evidence-based gun violence prevention programs; aid sex trafficking victims; close loopholes in affordable housing laws, and create the office of statewide broadband.



As Comptroller, she is leading an agency of 1,100 dedicated Maryland public servants in 12 offices around the state. Together and under her leadership, the office is working to create a Maryland that is more equitable, more resilient, and more prosperous so that all Marylanders can reach their full potential.

Steuart Pittman, Jr. was elected Anne Arundel County Executive after his first campaign for
public office in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.

Born and raised on his family farm in Davidsonville, Steuart
graduated from the University of Chicago and then went on to
work as a community organizer in Chicago and Des Moines,
Iowa. In that role, he built neighborhood organizations,
confronted environmental hazards, and attracted private
investment to blighted communities.

Once back home, Steuart coordinated national programs for
National Low Income Housing Coalition and Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) before
starting his own business as a farmer and horse trainer. He is best known in the horse industry
for creating Retired Racehorse Project, an award-winning national nonprofit that is responsible
for transitioning thousands of racehorses into second careers.

Steuart’s philosophy of government is both conservative and progressive. As a farmer, he
worked hard against onerous regulations that had no public benefit and promoted policies to
make the industry commercially viable. As a Director of the Anne Arundel County Soil
Conservation District, he pushed for compliance with erosion and sediment control standards to
protect local waterways.

As County Executive, Steuart has pledged to make Anne Arundel County “The Best Place - For
All,” by “Putting Communities First.” His strategy is to engage communities from every sector
and to practice transparency and data-driven policymaking.

Dr. Mohan Suntha is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), a nationally recognized academic health system that employees 28,000 people across the state of Maryland at more than 150 locations, including a network of academic, community and specialty hospitals.

In 1991, he joined the University of Maryland SOM, training as a resident in the Department of Radiation Oncology and eventually joining the faculty in 1995. He became a tenured professor and the inaugural Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum endowed Professor of Radiation Oncology in 2008 and continues to maintain his faculty and clinical appointments. Throughout his career, Dr. Suntha has also served in numerous roles with UMMS, including the Vice President for System Program Development from 2009-2012, the President and CEO of St. Joseph Medical Center from 2012-2016, and the President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center, 2016-2020.

Dr. Suntha is a member of the American College of Radiation Oncology and the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology. He received his MD from Jefferson Medical College, his MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Brown University.

With over a decade of leadership in both early-stage startups and big tech, Kory Bailey has emerged as a thought leader on equitable economic growth and champion for the Baltimore tech ecosystem.

Bailey is the CEO of UpSurge Baltimore, an ecosystem-building organization with a vision for Baltimore to be recognized as the first Equitech hub in the world; a new model for American innovation.

UpSurge's mission is to build a thriving tech ecosystem for innovators, founders, and talent by strengthening its culture and connectivity, and mobilizing regional and national assets around Baltimore startups.

Bailey is an ecosystem builder and servant leader seeking opportunities to leverage his relationships, talents, and resources to support successful outcomes for individuals and communities.

Bailey has been recognized as a 2022 Technical.ly RealLIST Connectors Award winner and 2023 RealLIST Tech Community Leader of the Year nominee.

Greg Fitchitt is Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and Business Development for Howard Hughes, providing strategic oversight at the corporate level on public policy and government relations matters, and working with the regional and corporate teams across the Howard Hughes portfolio on transformative development initiatives.

A dedicated leader in the Maryland region, Mr. Fitchitt joined Howard Hughes in 2013 and succeeded the late John DeWolf as regional president in 2018, a role in which he was responsible for the strong public-private partnership between Howard County and Howard Hughes. He led the efforts resulting in the Howard County Council’s approval of a $90 million TIF for public infrastructure and a comprehensive plan for affordable housing, and has overseen the creation of the Merriweather District, Downtown Columbia’s vibrant new mixed-use neighborhood. He has over 25 years of real estate experience including development, planning, entitlements, community and government relations, leasing, design and construction management, and property operations. Before joining Howard Hughes in 2013, Mr. Fitchitt completed nine shopping center redevelopments in Washington State and Southern California. Mr. Fitchitt led the development of Westfield UTC in La Jolla, CA, obtaining entitlements for a $1 billion LEED-ND Gold mixed-use revitalization and completing the $180 million first phase in 2012. Together, the Westfield projects completed under his direction represented over $500 million in investment. Mr. Fitchitt holds a MBA from UCLA and a B.A. in Philosophy from Pomona College. He chairs the Downtown Columbia Partnership board and serves on the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Board of Directors, the National Association of Home Builders Leadership Council, the Merriweather Arts and Culture Center board, and co-chairs the ULI Transit Oriented Development Council for the ULI Baltimore District. He also previously served for ten years on the boards of non-profit affordable housing developers in California

Gregg Herlong has over 13 years of commercial real estate experience. As a Vice President of Development and Market Executive, he actively manages the marketing, leasing, financing, operation, and construction of Wexford’s development activities in Providence, RI and Baltimore, MD, as well as the pursuit of new business opportunities.



Gregg was previously a Senior Associate at Tradepoint Atlantic, a 3,100-acre global logistics park in Baltimore, MD, and an Associate at Wexford Science & Technology, where he focused on financing, underwriting, and structuring various office, lab, retail, and industrial real estate transactions.

Gregg began his career in commercial real estate at CBRE as a property manager and has a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Clemson University and a Master of Science in Real Estate from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. In addition, Gregg currently serves on the board of Southwest Partnership, Inc.

Jennifer Jones has over 20 years of business and leadership experience in the private and public sectors.

As Chief Executive Officer of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, Jennifer is responsible for being a catalyst for economic growth, supporting existing businesses, targeting new businesses, and working with stakeholders to set the vision and direction for Howard County that positions it as a regional, national, and international business location.

In her years in the public sector, she has been an integral part of the Howard County business ecosystem, directly assisting and helping thousands of Howard County businesses who have grown to know and trust her. As a former Deputy Chief of Staff in Howard County Government, she worked collaboratively with the Howard County Economic Development Authority, the Chamber, and others, to devise millions of dollars in grant programs that ultimately helped thousands of businesses survive and thrive through the pandemic.

She also led in accelerating opportunities through the pandemic. Leveraging federal funds, she quickly produced a strategy and executed new public and private partnerships so that Howard County was the first in the state to stand up county testing sites and mobile vaccination.

Previously, Jennifer served as Vice President, Business Development at Live Nation, where she was responsible for business analysis and market expansion. She also worked with various other Fortune 500 companies, notably Sony and Universal Studios on international business development, and as a Manager at Ernst and Young, LLP, assisting middle market companies with their corporate finance needs.

A Howard County native and graduate of Wilde Lake High School, she holds a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law, a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University School of Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

Ricky Dorell Smith was appointed Executive Director/CEO of the Maryland Aviation Administration (MAA) on July 10, 2015. Mr. Smith is responsible for the management and operations of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI Marshall), Martin State Airport, and regional aviation activities throughout the State of Maryland.

Mr. Smith, a 33-year transportation professional, returned to Maryland after serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Airport System, which includes Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Burke Lakefront Airport. In addition, he was responsible for overseeing the development and management of the City’s lakefront properties.

Since returning to BWI Marshall, Mr. Smith has led the airport to five (5) consecutive record-setting years for passengers including restoring BWI Marshall as the busiest airport in the Washington/Baltimore region and the Best Airport in North America for Customer Service according to Airport Council International. Establishing a culture of performance, customer service, safety, and innovation, the airports have received several other national and regional awards for customer service, capital development, and marketing including an Emmy Awards in 2018 and 2019. In 2017, the LaunchPad program was started to enable minority-owned micro-businesses the opportunity to participate in BWI Marshall’s thriving food and retail program without barriers to entry. In 2015, he launched the BWI Marshall Summer Youth Initiative aimed at introducing youth in Baltimore City to careers in aviation and transportation. To date, over 100 youths have participated in this program.

Prior to his service in Cleveland, Mr. Smith served as the Chief Operating Officer for the MAA, where he helped lead BWI Marshall Airport through a $2 billion expansion program, increased air service throughout the world, and the creation of a new food and retail program. Prior to returning to the MAA, after a two-year departure, Ricky served as the Deputy Administrator for the Maryland State Highway Administration. In addition, he served in the private sector for several years with International Business Machines, H&R Block Business Services, The May Company, and others.

Ricky holds an Accounting degree from Howard University and an Executive MBA from Loyola University in Maryland. He is a graduate of several leadership programs, including the Greater Baltimore Committee and Leadership Cleveland. He is active on several national and local boards and industry associations including the Airport Minority Advisory Council where he serves as Board Chair, American Association of Airport Executives, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) Board of Directors, the BWI Business Partnership, World Trade Center Institute, Greater Baltimore Urban League where he serves as Board Chair, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture where he serves as Vice Board Chair, Morgan State University School of Communications Board of Advisors and the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center Board of Directors.

President & CEO Mark Anthony Thomas brings more than two decades of experience leading competitive economic development strategies and public-private partnerships for the nation’s largest and most complex metropolitan areas.

Executive Vice President of Policy & Research Jennifer Vey has more than 25 years of experience in urban policy research and program management, bringing a wealth of expertise and a deep commitment to the connection between place, placemaking, and inclusive economic development.

Calvin Allen Young, III is a Co-Founder, General Partner and an Investment Committee member of Green Street Impact Partners, a private equity fund focused on education sector investments. Mr. Young has over 15 years of experience in investing and operations management. Mr. Young has led teams that have made over $70 million in private equity investments. Mr. Young joined the investment team at Camden Partners in 2018 and supported investments in SaaS and tech-enabled business services. While at Camden Partners, Mr. Young led Camden Partners’ investment into Roshal Health, a healthcare workforce platform based in Houston, where he served on the board of directors and executive committee. He also served as a board observer at RedPoint Global, Viventium, RocketDocs, Outmatch, and Techtonic. He also served on the audit committee at RedPoint Global and on the executive committee at Roshal Health.

Prior to Camden Partners, Mr. Young worked at Harbor Bankshares Corporation, a community development financial institution where he led small business financing solutions. Some of his accomplishments include building a small business and start-up incubator at the bank, establishing an EB-5 Regional Center, and creating a pre-seed fund in collaboration with the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) to invest in minority-led start-ups. Mr. Young began his career as an engineer in aircraft health management at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in Stratford, Connecticut where he supported management and testing of the integrated vehicle health monitoring units on Blackhawk helicopters and operations manager at United Technologies Corporation.

Mr. Young served five years on the national executive board of the National Society of Black Engineers including as its Chair, an engineering education and professional organization, and currently serves on the board of Green Street Academy, a public charter school in Baltimore, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, East Baltimore Development, Inc., and Live Baltimore, and Roshal Health. He also serves on the Business Advisory Committee for the Comptroller of Maryland, and co-chairs the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 10 Year Regional Strategy Steering Committee.

Mr. Young received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from New York University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.