Recent News

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.

The Maryland General Assembly recently ended a difficult, deficit-dominated session. Despite the budget trauma, a number of bills passed that will have a positive impact on MD's business climate and economic growth.

With an aging population, the health care industry has become increasingly synonymous with “sick care.”

Despite what has been a difficult session for both lawmakers and business advocates, a number of GBC-supported bills that will have a positive impact on Maryland's business climate and economic growth gained passage...

The Greater Baltimore Committee along with The Baltimore Sun Media Group, St. John Properties, and WYPR are sponsors of the 2009 - 2010 Baltimore Speaker Series presented by Stevenson University.

Charles O. Monk II, managing partner of the Baltimore office of Saul Ewing LLP, has been nominated to become the next chairman of the GBC.

Business leaders and baseball fans from the Baltimore region’s business community had a close-up look at the Orioles team at the GBC's 30th annual rite of spring, “Lunch with the Orioles,” on April 8.

The Greater Baltimore Committee’s Bridging the Gap minority business development initiative has been named a finalist in the Best Small Business Project category of World Chambers Competition 2009.

At the request of City Council leaders, the Greater Baltimore Committee will convene an independent task force to study a fiscal crisis the city faces in funding its fire and police employee retirement system and to recommend reform measures.

Members enjoyed hors d' oeuvres, cocktails and great networking opportunities in the Style Sky Lounge at the Greater Baltimore Committee's latest Baltimore Business Mixer...

The Greater Baltimore Committee’s transportation funding task force has issued a report on congestion pricing – the first in a series of informational reports to the panel on various new options for funding transportation infrastructure in Maryland.

Maryland state hospitals, particularly the four largest systems, have invested aggressively in electronic health records (EHR) and stiff competition exists for experienced health care IT practitioners and new entrants.

This winter, Marylanders have been very angry about unusually high utility bills. That’s why lawmakers in Annapolis feel a certain amount of pressure to revert our state back to full-fledged regulation of electricity prices.

Elected officials refer to just about every kind of government spending as an investment. While this is true, much government spending doesn’t lend itself directly to a traditional dollars-and-cents measurement of return on investment.

Adriel Hilton, the GBC’s public policy fellow, has been named to Ebony magazine’s national list of 2009 “Young Leaders.”

In order to continue providing access to a quality, affordable and practical education in these difficult economic times, Capitol College will reduce undergraduate tuition rates by 1/3 for the 2009 summer semester.

Maryland biotech CEOs and companies were honored today by the Greater Baltimore Committee as winners of the region's fourth bioscience award competition.

Building and construction industry workers can learn how to prepare successful bids to build sensitive and secure buildings needed to house government agencies and homeland security companies relocating to the area as part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure initiatives through a series of courses offered this spring at Anne Arundel Community College.

Last July 1, fourteen Maryland bioscience executives lined up at dawn – some had camped overnight – to be among the first to apply for available state biotechnology tax credits.

College of Notre Dame of Maryland’s Black Student Association is hosting a forum in celebration of Women’s History Month on Thursday, March 19, at 6 p.m. in Doyle Formal Lounge.

A new study from the Abell Foundation confirms the value of Governor O'Malley's proposed legislation to strengthen Maryland's historic structure rehabilitation tax credit program -- a proposal the GBC strongly supports.

As many as 500 baseball fans in business suits are expected to descend upon the Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel on April 8 for the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 30th annual Lunch with the Orioles.

Governor O'Malley has proposed legislation that would extend and greatly strengthen MD's tax credit program for rehabilitating historic buildings and make needed adjustments to a key statewide economic development incentive...

More than 150 leaders from Maryland's bioscience industry and research community will attend a breakfast at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel to honor winners of the GBC's 2009 Bioscience Awards.

The Maryland Transit Administration plans to construct two new commuter parking lots for West Baltimore’s MARC state that would add 400 spaces – doubling the station’s parking capacity, an MTA official told GBC.

David Gregory, NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator, will be a featured speaker at the 2009 GBC Annual Meeting on May 5 at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore.

Congress’s recent passage of the $787 billion federal stimulus package no doubt triggered sighs of relief in Annapolis. By most accounts a federal windfall of several billion dollars will be headed Maryland’s way.

Transit advocates were pleasantly surprised when the final federal stimulus package that emerged from the congressional conference committee included $9.3 billion in funding for intercity and high-speed rail – an increase of more than $6 billion from any previous version of the stimulus bill.

At the invitation of Legislative Biotech Caucus Co-founder Delegate Dan Morhaim, three members of the GBC bioscience committee made presentations to the biotech caucus on Wednesday, February 11 in Annapolis.

The MD Science Center and Jeff Goldstein, director of the Center for Earth and Space Science, proposes the permanent installation of a 'Voyage' scale model solar system exhibition in Baltimore Inner Harbor.

The GBC has written a letter to Senate and House leaders urging them to at least maintain the amount of available tax credits for biotech investment at the budgeted level of $6 million and to significantly increase it as soon as economically practical.

Anyone expecting eloquent, triumphant oratory from President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech may have been slightly disappointed... He got to the point immediately -- our country faces challenges that threaten our economy, our safety, and our way of life.

Thanks to funding support from business leaders and eight locally-based foundations, the Safe Streets program has been expanded during the last 20 months to four other city neighborhoods.

Both Democrat and GOP legislative leaders are expressing reservations about the governor’s proposal to use more than $1 billion in fund transfers and one-time adjustments to balance the state’s FY 2010 budget.

GBC's Fry, and GBC Chairman Atwood “Woody” Collins III, president and CEO of M&T Bank’s Mid-Atlantic Division, are among executives from 12 GBC-member companies named by the BBJ to its 2009 "Power 20" list.

Maryland is making progress in its health care expansion efforts, but there’s still a lot of work to be done, said Secretary John Colmers, Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The GBC Health Care Committee has chosen as one of its program initiatives in the current year an examination of best practices for employee wellness programs at businesses throughout the region.

Finding “vital behaviors,” recognizable and repeatable actions, can lead to becoming a successful influencer, said Al Switzler, business communication expert and New York Times bestselling author.

Many in Annapolis call it a “perfect storm”... the confluence of economic declines and fiscal challenges the state faces today, only 14 months after MD’s elected leaders passed tax and fee increases designed to raise more than $3 billion in new revenue over five years to close projected state government deficits.

Strong state support for bioscience and technology industry development, tax credits that nurture business growth, funding the Red Line’s construction... among GBC's priorities for 2009 MD General Assembly session.

The Greater Baltimore Committee is seeking nominations for the Fourth Annual Bioscience Awards to be held on Thursday, March 12, 2009.

Sometime this month, the Maryland Transit Administration and Governor O’Malley will recommend to federal transportation funding officials a “preferred alternative” for the planned rapid transit Red Line from Woodlawn to Bayview in southeast Baltimore.

What is Red Line light rail alternative 4C? How does it affect you? What can you do to help? Click here for news, links, and more...

The Greater Baltimore Committee is partnering with Vehicles for Change (VFC), a nonprofit organization that repairs donated cars and provides them to low-wage families.

Eight Baltimore-area businesses and a university were honored by Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon on December 8 as winners of the 2008 Mayor’s Business Recognition Awards for civic leadership and outstanding community service.

Maryland’s fiscal challenges relating to the economic downturn will be a key topic of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 2009 Legislative Forum on January 26.

Governor O'Malley today announced the appointment of GBC's Fry as the Chair of the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission, a seven member Commission charged with the selection of the facilities and awarding of operators’ licenses through competitive bidding for the five video lottery locations throughout the State.

The "Safe Streets" strategy includes a unique outreach component where streetwise counselors mediate disputes in crime-prone neighborhoods and head off developing violent situations.

GBC's Don Fry distilled the business community’s advocacy for a proposed 14.6 mile light rail Red Line from Woodlawn to Bayview in southeast Baltimore down to 10 simple words at a Dec. 2 GBC rally in Canton...

Twenty-five executives have been named to serve on a GBC task force that will meet on December 1 to begin studying the way transportation is funded and managed in Maryland, GBC President and CEO Donald C. Fry announced today.

There has been a lot of progress on projects throughout Baltimore City, some well-known and other developments that are just as important, Kimberly A. Clark, executive vice president, Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) told GBC members at a Planning and Project Development Committee Meeting on November 17.

Greater Baltimore Committee is hosting a “Business Rally for the Red Line” and news briefing at Du Burns Arena, South Ellwood Avenue in Canton, on December 2 at 11:30 a.m.

For political leaders and policy makers in our nation and state, there are lessons to be gained from the historic election of Barack Obama.

Policy makers in Washington are wrestling with which tactic for the federal $700 billion bailout will most benefit the economy -- using federal funds to buy troubled financial paper or investing directly into financial institutions hoping to inject the money into the economy through revived lending.

The more than 300 GBC members who attended the GBC’s Business Outlook 2009 Conference on Nov. 3 got a substantive glimpse of President-Elect Barack Obama’s campaign proposals on economic issues, social security and defense.

GBC members attending the GBC’s Business Outlook 2009 on Nov. 3 got a dose of perspective from highly regarded investment analyst Richard Cripps ... the stock market crash of 2008 ranks as the 9th worst bear market since 1900...

The GBC has identified energy and working toward a stable regulatory policy environment in Maryland as key issues for the region’s business community.

Amid declining national economic indicators, the news from Annapolis on Maryland’s fiscal condition is equally disturbing in the wake of Governor O’Malley’s most recent budget cuts of $345 million.

The baseball season is over and the Orioles aren’t playing in the post-season. Disappointing, of course.

Investment in strengthening the nation’s infrastructure, particularly its transportation resources, should be a major element of any new congressional economic stimulus package...

With public hearings scheduled to begin November 6 on the Red Line, representatives from Baltimore’s colleges and medical institutions today added their support to the GBC's call to build the planned east-west rapid transit project...

The Greater Baltimore Committee is urging state transportation planners to adopt a plan that would make the east-west Red Line from Woodlawn to Bayview a light rail system with two strategically-placed tunnels.

The GBC is moving aggressively to nurture support for a Red Line alternative that features light rail and two tunnels – a tunnel under Cooks Lane on the western leg and a tunnel under Baltimore’s downtown and Fells Point.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry has begun writing a monthly business column in the Daily Record. His first column appeared in the newspaper’s October 24 statewide edition.

The nomination deadline for the GBC Mayor’s Business Recognition Awards has been extended to October 29, 2008. The awards recognize organizations for civic leadership and outstanding community service.

More than 80 GBC members and guests participated in the first annual Greater Baltimore Committee Fall Golf Classic at Greystone Golf Club in White Hall, Maryland.

Six Baltimore-area companies, two nonprofits, a majority-minority partnership, and two individuals were named winners of the GBC's 2008 Bridging the Gap Awards.

The issue of slots gaming in Maryland elicits passion and emotion for many. It’s been no different among the business leaders of the Greater Baltimore Committee who, for the last 10 years have thoroughly studied and debated the gaming issue.

Maryland’s system of funding transportation is broken. That became clear recently when state Transportation Secretary John Porcari announced that the Maryland’s budget for capital transportation projects

A recent article and subsequent editorial in the BBJ regarding a partnership between the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the GBC to develop a business model to expedite bioscience tech transfer in MD do not accurately reflect the nature of this project.

Maryland’s transportation funding shortfall and the state’s continuing inability to generate sufficient transportation revenue for new projects is delaying BRAC-related road improvements and needed expansion of commuter rail service

Five of the region’s top health care institutions and Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) members hosted a health care vendor fair on September 16 at University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Laurence M. Merlis, president and chief executive officer, Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC), has been named chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s Health Care Committee.

The Leadership, a program of the Greater Baltimore Committee, is accepting applications for its Class of 2009, which begins in January.

GBC, the region’s most prominent group of business and civic leaders, today announced support for passage of Maryland’s slots proposal and urged voters to approve it during the November 4 statewide referendum.

MD’s recently announced $1.1 billion in transportation budget cuts and the growing uncertainty of federal funding confirm that the current system of paying for transportation infrastructure in the state and nation is broken.

GBC President & CEO Donald C. Fry urged members of Congress to pass veto-proof bipartisan legislation now before Congress that would pledge between $11 billion and $14 billion to sustain and strengthen the Amtrak rail system.

There was good news for Maryland in early August when the West Virginia Public Service Commission approved plans to build a 500-kilovolt electric transmission line

Twenty-four finalists have been selected for the Greater Baltimore Committee's Fifth Annual Bridging the Gap Awards for minority business achievement.

Five of the region’s top health care institutions and Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) members will host a health care vendor fair on September 16 at University of Maryland, Baltimore.