Recent News

The GBC is offering its members the opportunity to buy box seat tickets to Orioles home games this season on its Web site.

A look at the outcomes of business-related legislation in the 2010 Maryland General Assembly.

Business leaders and baseball fans from the Baltimore region's business community had a close-up look at the Orioles team at the Greater Baltimore Committee's annual rite of spring, "Lunch with the Orioles," on April 12.

Baltimore's political, technology, and business leaders are pulling out all the stops to convince Google executives that Baltimore is the perfect place to install Googles' new high-speed fiber-optic cable.

More than a thousand of the region’s business, civic and political leaders will review and celebrate the Greater Baltimore Committee’s work to strengthen the business climate in the Baltimore region and in Maryland at the GBC’s 2010 Annual Meeting on May 18 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

A panel of experts will discuss the implications of cyber security threats for Maryland business during a special Greater Baltimore Committee event on cyber security at 7:30 a.m. April 22 at The Tremont Grand.

For people who are not accountants or actuaries, there are few things more challenging than fully comprehending issues relating to employee pensions and other retirement benefits.

Fans will have a chance to win a 2011 spring training trip to Sarasota, Florida at GBC’s Lunch with the Orioles on April 12.

Leaders of two Columbia, Md. companies and the directors of university programs in Baltimore and College Park that conduct genome research and work to commercialize bioscience products have been named winners of the 2010 Maryland Bioscience Awards.

As many as 500 baseball fans in business suits are expected to descend upon the Hilton Baltimore on April 12 for the Greater Baltimore Committee's 30th annual Lunch with the Orioles.

Greater Baltimore President & CEO Donald C. Fry and executives from 21 GBC-member companies have been named by the Daily Record to its 2010 ‘Influential Marylanders’ list.

The Greater Baltimore Committee has been asked by Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to play a key role in the effort to convince Google to select the city as a site for its new high-speed fiber initiative.

The GBC's Don Fry discusses a point of contention among legislative leaders as to the origins of Maryland's current fiscal challenges.

Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md., has appointed Ivan L. Harrell, Ph.D., as dean of student services.

The Greater Baltimore Committee's annual breakfast tribute to Maryland's bioscience entrepreneurs is March 25 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore.

It’s not time to panic. But it is time for Maryland to make a smart, focused long-term commitment to stabilizing and reforming the state’s pension funding.

A Greater Baltimore Committee task force announces recommendations for addressing fiscal challenges facing Baltimore City's fire and police pension plan.

The Maryland Port Administration and Ports America recently announced a ground-breaking 50-year partnership to lease and operate the state-owned Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore.

Maryland has a proven tool -- the Historic District Tax credit -- for creating jobs and private sector investments while also revitalizing communities. The GBC's Don Fry is urging lawmakers to enact Governor O'Malley's "Sustainable Communities" legislation that would extend and strengthen it.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry and nine GBC members are among the “Power 20” honored by the Baltimore Business Journal.

Tax credits for building rehab, hiring the unemployed and generating renewable electricity are among governor’s legislative proposals before the Maryland General Assembly, along with a bill to lengthen new teachers’ probationary periods.

In his February Daily column, GBC President and CEO Donald C. Fry details the history of Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund’s current fiscal challenges.

As a result of de-regulation, residential customers in Maryland can now shop for electricity suppliers, but most have yet to take advantage of their ability to choose.

GBC President Donald C. Fry vows to fight a recommendation by General Assembly budget analysts to divert revenue targeted for transportation to the state's General Fund, Fry tells Sun reporter Michael Dresser.

The recession has reminded all of us – in the private sector and in government – of a basic economic principle: government doesn’t create jobs. Businesses do.

Maryland’s business and elected leaders are looking to convert our state’s celebrated strengths in research and our highly-educated workforce into expanding science and technology business sectors that will be major drivers of our future economy.

Greater Baltimore Committee President & CEO Donald C. Fry will co-chair transition team's economic development and jobs committee.

The GBC’s Jan. 19 State House Update reports that, in addition to federal stimulus funding, the plan to balance the FY2011 budget could include Medicaid reimbursement reductions and shifting some General Fund budget items to the bond-funded capital budget.

BALTIMORE, MD (January 15, 2010) – Governor Martin O’Malley today named Dr. Judith A. Britz, a scientist, academician and entrepreneur with more than 25 years in Maryland’s bioscience industry, as Executive Director of the Maryland Biotechnology Center, a part of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

Fyodor Biotechnologies Inc. announced that it has completed its relocation into a new, state-of-the-art facility in the BioInnovation Center at the University of Maryland BioPark in Baltimore, Maryland.

Governor Martin O'Malley announced last Friday that he will seek to implement a program to make $50 million in tax credits available over three years for commercial and residential rehabilitation of historic buildings.

Preserving Maryland’s bioscience investment tax credits and other business incentives, support for charter schools and higher education resources, protecting the state’s transportation funding from being used for other purposes, and nurturing the growth of small businesses are among the Greater Baltimore Committee’s priorities for the 2010 session of the Maryland General Assembly, which convenes this week on January 13.

William W. Heintzelman, president, Evergreen.cfo., LLC has been named chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Emerging Business Council.

As a group, state lawmakers are generally lukewarm to the idea of aggressive tax-credit programs and other incentives to nurture business growth in Maryland and to lure new business here.

It would be far more constructive for Maryland's business leaders and elected leaders to achieve a consensus on what, specifically, are the most important characteristics of a good business climate.

Ten Baltimore-area businesses, a university, and a state agency were honored as winners of the 2009 Mayor’s Business Recognition Awards for civic leadership and outstanding community service.

Two Maryland lawmakers who are among the most vocal in Annapolis on energy policy presented opposing views on the issue of whether to re-regulate electricity rates at the Greater Baltimore Committee’s December 9 Energy Symposium.

Corridor Inc. has named nominees for the 2009 Corridor Person of the Year. Online voting for Corridor Person of the Year begins Dec. 7 and closes Jan. 7.

In the event of inclement weather on the day of a GBC committee meeting or member event, the following policies will take effect ...

We are expected to be accessible anytime, anywhere - but still drive 45 minutes to go 15 miles to be in the office at a certain time, telecommuting expert Rick Albiero told GBC members at a Telework Baltimore event on December 1.

The GBC's enhanced Web site at www.gbc.org has drawn favorable reviews from a number of members who have contacted us since the Web site was launched on November 25.

It's difficult to rejoice over the current stock market rally when the jobless rate is almost 10 percent in our nation and 11 percent in Baltimore City. But the recovery from the recession has begun...

Synergy Physical Therapy, a locally owned and independent private physical therapy office, recently purchased a nearly 2,000 square foot medical office condo in Maple Lawn, Maryland, a 600-acre mixed-use development in Howard County.

Governor O’Malley’s announcement that the state and Ports America Chesapeake had entered a 50-year public-private partnership to improve and operate Baltimore’s Seagirt Marine drew strong praise from GBC's Fry.

For our future’s sake, all of us in our neighborhoods, businesses, law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system need to go beyond the statistics and ask ourselves what we can do better to reduce violent crime.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will deliver the keynote speech and co-host the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Small Business Summit on December 7 at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel.

Experts will detail new options for employees to commute electronically at a special event “TeleWork Baltimore,” hosted by the Greater Baltimore Committee, Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and Maryland Department of Transportation.

Eleven of the region’s top health care institutions and Greater Baltimore Committee members hosted a health care vendor fair on November 11 at The Forum Caterers.

Another family benefited from a simple car donation because of a community initiative helping to change the lives of low income families in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C.

Public-private partnerships have been used sporadically by cities and states since the 1980s for highway and transit projects. However, governments, including MD’s, are showing increasing interest in such partnerships.

Organizations will be honored for civic leadership and outstanding community service at the 2009 Mayor’s Business Recognition Awards, hosted by the GBC and Baltimore Development Corporation, on December 14 at Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

MD has many economic development strengths to build on – life sciences, health care, technology, and defense industries; its transportation resources, highly-educated workforce, and quality of life, to mention just a few.

A general consensus that the recession is beginning to dissipate is prompting optimism in the financial community tempered by concerns over a continuing high rate of joblessness, a still-sluggish housing market, and...

MD's draft six-year Consolidated Transportation Program issued in September reflects both a growing long-term deficit in funding transportation infrastructure and the recession’s negative effects on the state transportation fund’s revenue sources.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry and nominees from 10 GBC-member companies have been named among winners of The Daily Record’s 2009 Innovator of the Year Award.

Four recent studies by the GBC's Transportation Funding and Governance Task Force that review potential options for strengthening revenue to Maryland’s Transportation Trust Fund are available online here...

The Leadership, a program of the Greater Baltimore Committee, is accepting applications for its Class of 2010, which begins in January.

Biotech thrives on persistence – a key reason for the governor and state lawmakers to find ways to get planned bioscience funding and investment incentives back on track.

A panel of experts will discuss financing, business and technology; health care, and green, energy and sustainability at the GBC's Small Business Summit.

For MD, next year is an election year – a time when leaders in Annapolis do not traditionally look to enact measures that either cause controversy or bring them close to the third rail of election politics – taxes...

Five Baltimore-area companies, a majority-minority partnership, and two individuals were named winners of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 2009 Bridging the Gap Awards.

Many key points of misinformation are circulating in discussions regarding the Red Line.

The GBC will honor exceptional minority and women-owned businesses and outstanding advocates for minority business development at the 2009 Bridging the Gap Achievement Awards on September 23 in Baltimore.

In an effort to focus business resources on expanding and strengthening after-school programs, the GBC’s PreK-12 subcommittee received presentations from two additional after-school programs - Peer-to-Peer Youth Enterprises and Higher Achievement.

A panel of experts will discuss the “Green Economy” and “Post Recession Recovery” at the Greater Baltimore Committee's Economic Outlook Conference. The event will be held at 7:30 a.m. October 20 at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry urged the Maryland Public Service Commission to make a decision regarding the pending Constellation-EDF deal that allows the state to realize an “unprecedented opportunity to significantly enhance its economy.”

Public-private partnerships have been used sporadically by cities and states since the 1980s for highway and transit projects. However governments, including Maryland’s, are showing increasing interest in such partnerships.

Bernard Manekin, founder of Manekin & Co., a former chairman of the Greater Baltimore Committee, passed away on September 5.

GBC's Fry and nominees from eight GBC-member companies have been named among winners of The Daily Record’s 2009 Innovator of the Year Award.

Twenty finalists have been selected for the Greater Baltimore Committee’s sixth annual Bridging the Gap Awards for minority business achievement.

A GBC subcommittee is seeking to focus business resources on expanding and strengthening after-school programs.

Jay Hancock raises some interesting issues in his August 19 column speculating that the pending $4.5 billion deal between Constellation and EDF will fall victim to a combination of overreaching state regulators and/or Constellation's improving financial condition.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry and seven GBC members among leaders from the business, science, and education communities appointed by Governor O’Malley to serve on the revived MD Economic Development Commission.

The Texas Transportation Institute’s recent annual report on highway traffic shows that traffic congestion eased slightly in the nation’s urban areas as a whole – but not in Baltimore and Maryland.

MD Governor announced his selection of light rail as the preferred alternative for the Baltimore region’s planned 14-mile east-west Red Line from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins medical complex at Bayview.

Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon and two former mayors honored the memory of civic leader and long-time GBC senior advisor Walter Sondheim by dedicating an interactive, “dancing-waters” fountain on the Inner Harbor.

The presence of the bioscience industry in Maryland is becoming more and more evident. Despite the recession, bioscience industry growth in our state is beginning to percolate.

The upcoming round of budget cuts Gov. Martin O’Malley announced on July 10 provides more evidence that Maryland’s fiscal condition continues to erode...

The GBC will honor exceptional minority and women-owned businesses and outstanding advocates for minority business development at the 2009 Bridging the Gap Achievement Awards on September 23, 2009 in Baltimore.

The most recent national traffic congestion report from the Texas Transportation Institute shows that the recession and gas prices caused traffic congestion to ease slightly in the nation’s urban areas as a whole, but not in Baltimore and MD.

The unintended consequences of well-intentioned Baltimore City “green building” standards may hamper, rather than nurture, city efforts to promote the construction of commercial and residential buildings that conserve energy...

As a former state legislator, it's difficult for me to acknowledge this, but Maryland’s government too often acts as if it takes our state’s business climate for granted.

The GBC's Bridging the Gap minority business development initiative was named a finalist in the Best Small Business Project category of World Chambers Competition 2009 and featured in BusinessWeek...

Despite Obama’s call for 18-month extension of current federal transportation funding programs due to expire this fall, Congressman Cummings says he's convinced Congress can enact revamped transportation legislation this year.

On today's Sun op-ed page, GBC President Donald C. Fry writes that consumer choice is preferable to electricity re-regulation.

On today's Sun op-ed page, GBC President Donald C. Fry writes that consumer choice is preferable to electricity re-regulation.

Since state lawmakers are palpably reluctant to increase Maryland’s per-gallon gasoline tax, which is the single largest source of revenue for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, last month in this space I asked the question, “If not the gas tax, then what?”

Since state lawmakers are palpably reluctant to increase Maryland’s per-gallon gasoline tax, which is the single largest source of revenue for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, last month in this space I asked the question, “If not the gas tax, then what?”

Anne Ferro, president of the Maryland Motor Truck Association, has been nominated by President Barack Obama as the next Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator.

As Congress works on new federal transportation funding authorization, three experts on national transportation issues will address the GBC at its 2009 Transportation Summit.

More than 100 GBC members and guests participated in the 2009 Greater Baltimore Committee Golf Classic at Greystone Golf Club in White Hall, Maryland.

Because of the price-increase trauma we all experienced in 2006 as a by-product of Maryland’s 1999 de-regulation of electricity, Marylanders tend to think that de-regulation hasn’t worked.

Recent standardized test scores confirm what business leaders who watch Baltimore City schools have instinctively sensed – the city’s public schools are making a comeback.

The GBC will honor exceptional minority and women-owned businesses and outstanding advocates for minority business development at the 2009 Bridging the Gap Achievement Awards on September 17, 2009 in Baltimore.

Proposals to replace gas taxes with a tax on vehicle miles traveled appear to be gaining traction at the federal level and in at least one western state, but are raising concerns about technology and privacy...

Don Fry Commentary on WYPR: New federal transportation funding legislation should be framed around four strategic objectives ...

The Greater Baltimore Committee will host its annual Golf Classic on June 10, 2009 at Greystone Golf Club in White Hall, Maryland.

GBC members are offered both print and online advertising opportunities for Fall publication.

Charles O. Monk II, managing partner of the Baltimore law offices of Saul Ewing LLP, was elected chairman of the Greater Baltimore Committee during its May 5 annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

The GBC, during its May 5 annual meeting, presented Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of the Baltimore City Public School System with a special award for courage in public service.