Board of Trustees
John B. Isbister, JD, Chair
John B. Isbister is a partner with the Maryland law firm of Tydings & Rosenberg LLP. He concentrates his practice in the litigation of business and commercial disputes. For a number of years he has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America ® (Mr. Isbister was named the Best Lawyers' 2012 Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Defendants Lawyer of the Year in the Baltimore community), Benchmark Litigation, and Maryland Super Lawyers magazine.
Mr. Isbister is an active leader in the
legal profession. He currently serves as
the Publications and Content Officer of the
Section of Litigation of the American Bar
Association. He is a Past President of
the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar
Association. In 2006 he received a
“Champion of Justice” award from the Equal
Justice Council for his work helping the
Maryland Legal Aid Bureau provide access to
justice for low-income people.
Mr. Isbister is a resident of Ellicott City and
has been a volunteer and leader in Howard
County community affairs since 1979. He
previously served on the boards of Howard
County General Hospital, Leadership Howard
County, the United Way Partnership of Howard
County, the Howard County Police Foundation,
and the Howard County YMCA. He currently
serves as a member of the Board of Visitors of
the University of Maryland School of Law.
Nicolette (Nikki) Highsmith Vernick, President & CEO
Nicolette (Nikki) Highsmith
Vernick is the Foundation's President &
Chief Executive Officer. She cares passionately
for improving health and health care for
vulnerable Americans and has almost 20 years of
health policy and philanthropic
experience. Before her tenure at the
Foundation, she served as Senior Vice President
for Program at the Center for Health Care
Strategies (CHCS). CHCS is a nationally
recognized center on improving care for
beneficiaries of this country’s publicly
financed health care programs. CHCS has a
staff of 35 and receives support for its $10
million operating budget from major health care
philanthropies including The Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth
Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and
the California HealthCare Foundation, corporate
community benefit programs, and the federal
government.
Ms. Highsmith Vernick has
led quality and equity work in state capitols
all across the country. She has brought
together disparate stakeholders, including
Medicaid agencies, private payers, providers,
community organizations, state departments of
health, and social service agencies to improve
health outcomes and achieve common health care
reform objectives. Ms. Highsmith Vernick
has served as Project Director, Deputy Project
Director, and Principal Investigator for many
national philanthropic programs, including the
Medicaid Managed Care Program, which has given
over $15 million in grants to states. Ms.
Highsmith Vernick sits on several national
committees and advisory groups related to
health care redesign and quality, including for
the National Committee for Quality Assurance,
the National Quality Forum, and the Agency for
Health Care Research and Policy, and has
published frequently.
Prior to joining
CHCS, she was the Deputy Director of the
Medicaid Managed Care Program for the
Massachusetts Medicaid Program, worked as a
senior Medicaid analyst during the Clinton
Administration at the Executive Office of the
President, U.S. Office of Management and
Budget, and was a professional staff member for
U.S. Congressman Michael A. Andrews of
Texas.
Ms. Highsmith Vernick holds a
master's degree in public administration from
American University, and a bachelor's degree in
history from the University of Texas. She
lives in Ellicott City with her husband and two
children, Zach and Ellie.
Lynn Coleman, Treasurer
Lynn Coleman, CPA, MBA has worked in higher education for over twenty years and is currently Vice President of Administration and Finance at Howard Community College (HCC). In her HCC role, Lynn oversees all finance areas of the college, human resources, plant operations, security, capital projects, risk management and auxiliary services.
Prior to her
experience in higher
education, Lynn worked at The Rouse Company
and in public accounting.
Lynn is active in NACUBO (National
Association of College and University Business
Officers)
where she currently is serving as Secretary
of the Board. She has also served on the
EACUBO
(Eastern Association of College and
University Business Officers) Board of
Directors. She was
Chair of the NACUBO Community College
Planning Council and the EACUBO Two-Year
College
Committee. Lynn is a past-president of the
Maryland Association of Community College
Business
Officers and is also a past member and
Treasurer of the Board of the Maryland chapter
of the
American Council on Education Network for
women leaders in higher education.
In addition to activities in higher
education, Lynn is an active member of the
Community
Emergency Response Network, where she
co-chaired the Continuity of Operations
Committee. She was a member of the Howard
County Spending Affordability Committee and was
formerly on the Board of Leadership Howard
County. Lynn is active in her sorority,
Alpha Kappa Alpha, where
she works on a number of community service
projects through the local chapter.
Shirley Collier
Shirley Collier is CEO of Optemax, LLC, a developer of wireless optical airborne network communications technologies and President of techGrowth, Inc., a nonprofit organization that fosters innovation-based economic development in distressed areas of the country. For over 25 years, she has worked in the product technology, university, government, systems integration and financial services industries in a variety of technical and managerial positions.
She was founder and CEO for 15 years of Paragon Computer Services, Inc. and all of its subsidiaries, Managing Associate with an international consulting firm located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and prior to that established and managed end user computing for a $17 billion regional bank. Shirley has an undergraduate degree in Marketing with a Master's degree in IT Management.She has published over 50 articles and spoken extensively on aligning business and Information Technology, IT security/governance, strategic planning, technology commercialization and e- commerce. She is the immediate past chair the Board of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, currently serving on the Neotech Advisory Board and is a founding member and past President of the International Alliance of Technology Integrators. She formerly served on the Boards of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce (chairing the Education and Nominating Committees), the Lazarus Foundation and the Domestic Violence Center of Howard County (and recipient of their Spirit Award). Shirley serves on the Howard County Superintendent's Advisory Council for Educational Partnerships chairing the Technology Advisory Council, and is Vice President of the Board of the Multinational Development of Women in Technology, chairing the International Committee.
Shirley has served on numerous commissions and committees including the County Executive and County Council's Compensation Committee, the Columbia Town Center Rotary annual fundraisers (for 7 years), The Heart Ball (chair for two years), the EDA's Incubator Committee (chair for 2 years), the Science, Technology Engineering and Math Business/Education Coalition and the Howard Community College's Commission on the Future. She is a graduate of Leadership Howard County and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1996.
Shirley received the 1999 Woman of the Year award from the Business Women's Network of Howard County. She was named the Leadership Howard County's 1997 Distinguished Alumnus and was awarded the EBO Outstanding Woman in Business award in 1997. Shirley was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women in 1996 and in 2000 and was named to the Circle of Excellence in 2005 by The Daily Record. She was named as one of the Arthritis Foundation's Women of Distinction, and in 1995 founded "Computer Mania," a free computer symposium for girls in the public school system to foster confidence in technology, mathematics and science, now being held worldwide. Shirley was inducted into the Women's Hall of Fame by the Howard County Women's Commission. In 2004 she received the YWCA's Special Leader award for leadership and economic empowerment, and the Children's Advocate Award by Leadership Howard County. Shirley and her company also were awarded the Torch Award for ethical business practices by the Better Business Bureau of Greater Baltimore.
Duane Alexander, MD
Duane Alexander was born in Baltimore, grew up in Annapolis and came to Howard County with his wife Marianne in 1968. At their farmette on Manor Lane, they raised two children as well as sheep, chickens and assorted fruits and vegetables.
Duane graduated from Penn State in 1962 and from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1966, where he also completed his medical training in pediatrics and developmental disabilities. He began his career at the National Institutes of Health in 1968 as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, retiring after 31 years with the rank of Assistant Surgeon General (Rear Admiral).
His research and research administration activities at the NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) began with oversight of the study that demonstrated the safety and accuracy of amniocentesis for prenatal diagnoses. He then spent four years on the staff of the Federal Commission that developed the regulations for protecting human subjects of research. With this experience he served later for 12 years as the U.S. Observer to the meetings of the Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe.
Returning to NIH in 1979, he became Deputy Director of NICHD and then the Director from 1986 to 2009, leading the institute in its research on improving maternal and child health and medical rehabilitation. Examples of this research and its translation to practice include reducing sudden infant death syndrome deaths through the Back-to-Sleep Campaign, reducing HIV transmission from mother to infant, improving intact survival of premature infants, and marked expansion of newborn screening.
Duane’s initiative and leadership have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Surgeon General’s Medallion, the AMA Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, and awards from eight other national organizations for his outstanding public service in improving maternal and child health.
Duane stepped down from the directorship of NICHD in 2009 and moved to the NIH Fogarty International Center as an advisor to the director on global maternal and child health issues, and in retirement serves as Scientist Emeritus there.
David H. Barrett
Since 2005, David Barrett has been a teacher of secondary mathematics in the Howard County Public School System. He teaches algebra and geometry in the Gateway program, the high school component of the Homewood Center, the county's only alternative school.
Barrett returned to teaching after a 30-year career in the information technology (IT) sector, starting as a computer programmer and ending his IT career as a vice president. During this period, he worked on or led teams that programmed sophisticated weapons systems for the U.S. Navy. In 1976, he was part of a three-person team that designed and developed the approach landing test (ALT) for the fledgling space shuttle. The ALT was a training tool that simulated the landing of the space shuttle and was used to train the ground crew years before the first shuttle mission.
Subsequently, he worked for management consulting firm, Booz Allen and Hamilton and computer manufacturers, Data General and Wang Laboratories where he entered management. His last IT position was with Houston Associates, Inc. where he was vice president of a group that designed and implemented high performance networks used in war gaming and mission-critical military endeavors. Barrett made several trips to Bosnia where these systems were first implemented in support of the UN peace keeping force.
As a consultant to Destiny Management Services, LLC, in response to a request from the Transportation Security Administration, he conceived of an wrote the wining proposal to design, develop and implement an online integrated management system to collect TSA employees’ payments for parking at the airports, add the TSA subsidy and pay the parking garages.
He serves on the boards of the Alpha
Foundation of Howard County, the Harriet
Tubman Foundation and after 10 years as board
chair of the Howard County Poetry and
Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo) is now
resident agent. For 10 years, eight as
president, he also served on the board of the
Howard County Library. He is a life member of
the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and is an
active of the Howard County Chapter and a
member of its education committee. He is
co-founder of the Alpha Achievers, an academic
club of high-school African American males who
have a 3.0 or higher GPA.
Barrett was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, where he attended public school. He spent one year at Delaware State College and then transferred to Rutgers University, Newark from which he graduated with a degree in mathematics. He holds a masters degree in computer science from Howard University.
After college, he taught mathematics for one
year in Newark before being lured to
Pittsfield, MA to work for General Electric
Ordnance Department to be part of a team that
designed and built a missile fire control
system for the Navy nuclear submarine fleet. He
was still in Pittsfield when he watched live
television footage of the July, 1967 Newark
uprising. Moved by what he saw and
wanting to help make a difference in the city
of his birth, he moved back to Newark three
months later.
He soon became very active in Newark
politics, first as part of the local black
power movement (United Brothers and the
Congress of African Peoples) that spearheaded
the election of Kenneth A. Gibson as Newark's
first black mayor and later as a candidate for
Freeholder and the state assembly.
He left Newark for Maryland in 1974 and two years later, earned a masters degree in computer science from Howard University.
Barrett is married to Saundra Barrett and has three adult sons, two granddaughters and one grandson. He has lived in Howard County since 1977.
Guillermo Birmingham
Guillermo Birmingham is the Director of Administration for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the America's Regional Office of the World Health Organization. In his current capacity, Mr. Birmingham provides leadership over Human Resources, Financial Management, Procurement, Information Technology, and General Services. Prior to joining the PAHO Mr. Birmingham served as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer and Chief Compliance Officer for CHF International an international development nonprofit. Additionally, he retired from the US Air Force in 2008 as a Colonel after 26 years of service.
He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from East Texas State University, Commerce, Texas, in 1982, and a Master of Science in Professional Accounting from Strayer University, Washington, D.C., in 1997. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) since 1997.Mr. Birmingham's work experience includes financial, administration and operational leadership positions in the United States, and in Latin American and Asian countries. During his professional career, he has served as Secretary General of the System of Cooperation Among the American Air Forces; Chief Financial Officer/Director of Resource Management at the Directorate of Services, HQ United States Air Force; Deputy Director, Resource Management, of the US Southern Command; Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras; Commander, 89th Services Squadron at the Andrews Air Force Base; and Commander, 8th Services Squadron, Kunsan Air Base in Korea.
Mr. Birmingham is an active member of numerous societies including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves on the Baltimore City Veterans Commission and the Howard County Maryland Human Rights Commission.
He has received multiple awards and recognitions throughout his professional career. Mr. Birmingham speaks, reads, and writes fluently in Spanish.
Glenn Falcao, Chair, Investment Committee
Glenn is currently President of Falcao Investment Group, an investment firm he founded in 2001. He focuses on funding early stage technology companies and he is a partner in a real estate investment firm that invests in commercial real estate in south Florida. Prior to founding his company, Glenn was a partner with Bessemer Venture Partners, a Venture Capital Company in Boston. Before joining Bessemer, he was the Executive Vice President of Corvis Corporation; an optical networking company that he helped take public in one of the most successful IPOs in 1999. Before Corvis, Glenn held various executive management positions at Nortel Networks where he was instrumental in the launch of their Optical Networking business and their Internet business. He has been involved in the Communications industry for over 20 years and sits on a number of company boards.
Glenn is past chair and is currently on the NeoTech Advisory Board for the Howard County Business Incubator and is on the Finance Committee of the Columbia Festival of the Arts. He is also on the Board of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore and the advisory board of Partners in Excellence, which administers a number of Catholic schools in Baltimore. Glenn works with the Mortel Foundation which builds schools in Haiti. Glenn lives in Howard County with his wife Beth and two daughters, Genesa and Jenael.Steven A. Gershman, Chair, Audit Committee
Steven A. Gershman, is a Shareholder with
KatzAbosch.
He has experience in accounting, auditing,
management services, and
personal financial planning that spans more
than 30 years. He has been
an instructor at the University of Baltimore
and an adjunct instructor at Howard Community
College. Gershman is also an active
speaker at various community meetings and
seminars.
He graduated from the University of Baltimore with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.
Gershman has been active in a number of Howard County organizations such as the Howard County Arts Council as Chair of "Celebration of the Arts" and has acted as past president and treasurer. He has also held positions as treasurer and past board member of Howard County's Leadership Program, and is a founding member and on the Board of Directors at the Woodmark Community Association, Inc. He has also been a past participant and past president of the alumni committee of the Howard County Leadership Program. He has also held board-level positions at the American Institute of Mental Health, the Easter Seals Society of Maryland, Inc., the Howard County Executive for the Evaluation of County Needs for Child Care, HCDrugfree, and REP Stage.Gershman is recipient of the H. Mebane Turner Service Award, a University of Baltimore Alumni Association award, the Howie Award from the Howard County Arts Council, and the Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Association For Community Leadership.
Paul Gleichauf
Paul Gleichauf is the Senior Vice President, Planning and Marketing for Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine. In this role Mr. Gleichauf directs strategic planning, new business development, marketing and public relations, and oversees a number of support departments for the 249-bed community hospital located in Columbia, Maryland, and its local affiliates. He works closely with the local physicians and other health and human service providers, businesses, and regulatory agencies to carry out this function.
Prior to joining Howard County General Hospital in 1995, Mr. Gleichauf served in various management positions at hospitals and a health maintenance organization in Massachusetts.
Mr. Gleichauf is
extensively involved in Howard County
community organizations. He also serves
on the Board of Directors of The Horizon
Foundation. He has previously served on
the boards of directors of Leadership Howard
County, United Way of Central Maryland,
Humanim, Inc., Vision Howard County, and on
the National Pike District board of the Boy
Scouts of America.
He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Cornell University and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a member of several professional organizations. Mr. Gleichauf is married, has three children and lives in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Michael H. Kelemen, MD, Chair, Grants & Special Initiatives Committee
Michael H. Kelemen, MD, is a cardiologist at the Columbia Regional Medical Center. He is a member of the Health Alliance Board of Directors and a volunteer there. He has been active in the American Heart Association and, with his wife, very involved with the arts community and was named Outstanding Community Supporter of the Arts by the Howard County Arts Council. He serves on the board of the Maryland Museum of African Art. He lives in Columbia.
Pam Mack
Pam Mack, a 35-year county resident, has used her leadership to forward housing and health care in the County for almost 30 years.
She helped transition the CA board from the Rouse Company to community control in the 1980s and served as board chairwoman.
She also promoted low-income housing as chairwoman of the countywide housing task force.
As executive director and CEO of Health Alliance, a nonprofit providing uninsured residents with free healthcare, she recruited medical specialists to volunteer their services and improved its financial stability through her fundraising efforts.
She managed the transition of the Health Alliance patients into Chase Brexton Health Services, a federally qualified health clinic.
Mack's civic work includes chairing The
Columbia Association Board of Directors and
serving on the boards of The Columbia
Foundation, the Columbia Festival of the Arts,
Foreign-born Information and Referral Network
and the Howard County Chamber of Commerce,
among other activities. She is former Chair of
Family Life Center. She was nominated by the
Howard County Commission for Women for
induction into the Howard County Women's Hall
of Fame in 2008.
Floyd Malveaux, MD, PhD
Floyd J. Malveaux, MD, PhD is Executive
Director of the Merck Childhood Asthma Network,
Inc. (MCAN). Dr. Malveaux, a nationally
recognized expert on asthma and allergic
diseases, is Emeritus Dean of the College
of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and
Medicine at Howard University. A native
of Louisiana, Dr. Malveaux earned a B.S. degree
from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, a
M.S. degree from Loyola University in New
Orleans, a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology and
Public Health from Michigan State University,
and the Doctor of Medicine degree, with honors,
from Howard University College of
Medicine.
Dr. Malveaux received
specialty training in Internal Medicine at the
Washington Hospital Center in the District of
Columbia and subspecialty training in Allergy
and Clinical Immunology at the John Hopkins
University in Baltimore. He was member of
the faculty at Howard University where he
established the Conjoint Training Program in
Allergy and Immunology and the faculty of Johns
Hopkins University where, as a member of the
Division of Clinical Immunology, he initiated
studies on asthma mortality and
morbidity. Dr. Malveaux served as
Chairman of Department of Microbiology and
Associate Professor of Microbiology and
Medicine at Howard, and became Dean in 1995 of
the Howard University College of
Medicine. From July 1996 until 2001, Dr.
Malveaux also served as interim Vice President
for Health Affairs and Dean, and Professor of
Microbiology and Medicine. From 2001 to
2003, he served as Vice Provost for Health
Affairs and Dean of the College of
Medicine. He remained Dean of the College
of Medicine and Professor of Microbiology and
Medicine at Howard University until July
2005.
Dr. Malveaux is a fellow of the
American College of Physicians and the American
Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology. He is a member of Alpha Omega
Alpha Honor Medical Society and was elected to
the Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies of Science. He is active in
numerous professional organizations and is, or
has served as, a member of the Board of
Directors of the American Lung Association;
Creighton University; Children's Research
Institute of the Children's National Medical
Center; the National Allergy and Infectious
Diseases Advisory Council; chairman of the
Committee of Underrepresented Minorities,
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and
Immunology; the Board of Trustees of the Asthma
and Allergy Foundation of America, the National
Asthma Education and Prevention Program of the
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the
National Institutes of Health; and the HHS/APHA
Steering Committee of the Initiative to
Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Health
Disparities. He has held a number of
positions with the National Medical Association
including member of the Board of Trustees (1988
- 1994) and was first chair of the
Allergy/Immunology Section. Dr. Malveaux was
founder and president of the Urban Asthma and
Allergy Center in Baltimore from 1986 to
1989.
Dr. Malveaux is the recipient of
numerous awards, including the National
Research Service Award from the National
Institutes of Health, the Vivian B. Allen
Foundation Fellowship, the Clemens von Pirquet
Research Award from the Georgetown School of
Medicine, the Outstanding Faculty Research
Award from Howard University and the Legacy of
Leadership Award from Howard University
Hospital.
Henry Posko
Henry received a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of Baltimore and his Masters in Counseling Psychology from the Loyola University Maryland. During his career, he has been invited to present and consult both nationally and internationally on issues related to human services and workforce development. In 2009, he was invited to accompany the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation on a poverty and workforce exchange mission to Israel. In 2011 he accepted an invitation to present at the Social Enterprise World Forum in South Africa.
Henry has also presented on board development at the National Community Leadership Conference and has been the opening retreat facilitator for Howard County’s Leadership U. In addition, his leadership has resulted in key state legislation for workforce development and social enterprises, resulting in employment for thousands with disabilities in the Baltimore-Washington region.
He previously served as Chairman of Leadership Maryland, Maryland Works, and the Association of Community Services of Howard County. He is a graduate of Leadership Howard County, Baltimore City Leadership and Leadership Maryland. Henry has served on the board of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce and was named to the City First Bank of DC and the National Trust for Historic Preservation Tax Credit Advisory Boards. In 2007 he became a founding Board Member of Revere Bank, a community bank in Laurel, Maryland.
Henry is a former recipient of the Audrey Robbins Humanitarian of the Year, Leadership Maryland’s Outstanding Leader of the Year, Horizon Foundation’s Richard G. McCauley Award, and Leadership Howard County's Distinguished Alumni awards. He received the SBA Welfare to Work Employer of the Year. Henry was recently named Innovator of the Year by the Daily Record and given the Wavemaker Award by the Urban Land Institute for his community development work in a dis-invested neighborhood in East Baltimore.
Felícita Solá-Carter, Chair, Communications Committee
Felícita Solá-Carter, prior to her retirement in January, 2009, served as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Human Resources and Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer of the Social Security Administration. She shared national leadership of the Personnel, Training, Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Labor, Management and Employee Relations, Human Capital Planning and Executive Services Support programs.
A native of Puerto Rico, Feli graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent in 1971. She began her career with SSA in New York City. In 1991, she joined the Office of the Commissioner in Baltimore, Md., as Senior Advisor to the Principal Deputy Commissioner, becoming the first Hispanic in that role. She is the recipient of a 2004 Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive and a 2005 Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest honor a career Federal executive may receive.
Feli is a Coach for the Excellence in Government Program of the Partnership for Public Service, and a leadership, diversity, and training consultant. She is President of Conexiones, a volunteer, non-profit organization supporting Hispanic student achievement. Conexiones was honored as the 2009 Maryland Non-profit of the year by the Governor's Commission on Hispanic Affairs. She serves on the Equity Council and the District Planning Team of the Howard County, Maryland Public School System. In 2008, she was named a Hispanic Hero by the United States Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education and one of the 2008 Maryland Top 100 Women. Her professional affiliations include service as Senior Advisor to the Federal Training Institute of the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Hispanic Youth Institute of the Hispanic College Fund.
Ned Tillman
Ned Tillman and his wife Kathy moved to Howard County when he joined the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in the 1970s as their in-house energy and environmental advisor. He served as CEO of Target Environmental Services, Inc. and Columbia Technologies, LLC from 1980 until 2006, managing environmental assessment and cleanup projects throughout the US and abroad. He has received 5 patents for the award winning SmartData Solutions® data management and visualization process. His firm, Columbia Technologies, received 4 Achievement Awards from the Environmental Business Journal and was selected as the Best Innovative Company in Maryland in 2002. He served as Chairman of the Maryland Commission on geothermal energy and wrote the natural gas drilling regulations for the state of Maryland.
Since 2006, Ned has focused on the sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay region. He is the author of The Chesapeake Watershed: A sense of place and a call to action, 2009, which is the recipient of two national book awards. He speaks on environmental health, sustainability, and behavioral change issues throughout the region. He is currently a principal of Sustainable Growth, LLC which advises corporations and government agencies on how to become more sustainable and helps drive adoption of better operational practices.
Ned serves as the Chair of the Howard County Board on Sustainability which has the responsibility to educate and advise the County Council and the County Executive on sustainability issues and how they impact nearly every major decision. He also served as the Chair of Howard County 2012 General Plan Task Force, and as Chair of the Howard County Conservancy. He is on the Maryland Science Center Advisory Council and is on the national board of the Izaak Walton Conservation League of America.
Ned received his degrees from Franklin and Marshall College and Syracuse University.
Kwang Chul Whang
Mr. Kwang Chul "KC" Whang is the Founder and
Principal Broker of The W Group Commercial Real
Estate (WGC), established in 1991, a full
service commercial real estate brokerage and
business mergers and acquisitions and
consulting practice operating in the Greater
Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area.
From
2001-2004 Mr. Whang served for 3 years as
Senior Broker and Broker of Record for the
national commercial real estate brokerage and
investment firm of Sperry Van Ness (SVN),
representing Maryland and Washington DC.
In 2004, Mr. Whang has resigned from SVN and re-focused on developing WGC, into a regional niche brand. Through WGC, Mr. Whang has brokered and facilitated numerous complex multi-million dollar business and investment transactions, representing landlords and tenants, buyers and sellers from all ethnic groups, and in a myriad of industries: medical, office, legal, food, entertainment, retail, education, religious, non-profit, etc. and, in real estate product categories ranging from: office, condominiums, warehouses, flex-spaces, land and shopping centers, etc.
For two and a half decades, Mr. Whang's success as a business transaction facilitator has earned him a distinguished reputation as a "deal-maker", in an increasingly complex global world where sensitivity to and knowledge of various cultures and business practices are a must. Mr. Whang, has lived and traveled overseas extensively in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South, Central and North America. He is a rare, multi-cultural and multi-lingual professional with a unique insight into business and regional real estate.
Mr. Whang also serves the public through his appointment as a board member of Maryland's Howard County Economic Development Authority, and as the Vice Chairman of Howard County's Committee for Economic and Business Diversity. Additionally, Mr. Whang serves on the board of Boltcutters Ministries International, Inc. an international Christian community development consultancy, and also sits on the Board of Elders of Bridgeway Community Church, in Columbia, MD.
Mr. Whang, earned his MBA at The Crummer Graduate School of Business Administration, in Orlando, Florida, and a BA from Middlebury College, in Middlebury, Vermont. Mr. Whang is a licensed real estate broker in the State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia. He resides in Howard County, Maryland, with his wife and three children.
Dou Alvin Zhang, MD, PhD
Dr. Zhang is a board certified internist and cardiologist at Mid-Atlantic Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. He currently serves as a Diversity Council member at Kaiser Foundation to help promote diversity, inclusion, and culturally competent medical care in our communities. He is the cofounder and president of Chinese American Doctors Association and the medical director of Asian American Healthcare Center. Both are 501C(3) organizations dedicated to improve the overall health of Asian Americans living in the State of Maryland, by increasing access to health care through community volunteer clinic, health promotion and health education.
Born in China, Dr. Zhang graduated from Hunan Xiangya Medical University in China in 1992. After receiving his Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Science at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in 1999, he continued his post-doc research on the molecular mechanism in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure at Baylor College of Medicine. He has authored and co-authored scientific papers published in Nature Medicine, PNAS, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Journal of Biological Chemistry etc. He received his clinical training in internal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine from 2003 to 2006 and clinical cardiology fellowship training at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, he was recruited by Kaiser Permanente as one of the two cardiologists to establish its Cardiology Division in Baltimore, Maryland.
Dr. Zhang has received multiple awards and recognitions throughout his professional career, including Young Investigator Award from American College of Cardiology, Cell Biology/Human Genetics Research Award from National Student Research Forum, Recognition of Best Basic Research Award from Baylor College of Medicine, Stanley L. Blumenthal Award for Basic Research and Howard S. Silverman Award from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Zhang and his family have been living in Howard County since moving to Maryland in 2006. He and his wife, Dr. Jianxia Qiu, have three children, Sarah, Hannah and Michael. Beside his busy schedule with patient care and community service, he enjoys his time with his family, playing volleyball, basketball and tennis with his friends.