On the move: Devou to rappel in benefit event

Posted: 5:10 pm Thu, June 9, 2011
By Daily Record Staff

Accounting

Carrie Letsch has been promoted to staff accountant of Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates, of Baltimore. She joined the firm in January as an intern in the tax department and will graduate from McDaniel College this month with a bachelor’s degree in accounting/economics and business administration.

Whit MacCuaig has been promoted to senior in the audit, accounting, and consulting department of Ellin & Tucker. His responsibilities include assisting on audits and reviews of financial statements for clients involved in the not-for-profit, service, manufacturing, and construction industries. MacCuaig is enrolled in the professional MBA program at Loyola University Maryland, where he has completed the accounting certificate program. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Baltimore.

Awards

Michael Livingston, president and CEO of the Bank of Glen Burnie, has been named the Maryland Economic Development Association Volunteer of the Year for 2011. He will receive the award June 6 at MEDA’s 50th Anniversary Annual Conference in Cambridge. Livingston is chairman of the Anne Arundel County Economic Development Corp., and has worked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Jobs Forward Initiative Forum and Anne Arundel Community College’s Small Business Lending Forum. He also is chairman of the Glen Burnie Town Center Advisory Committee, overseeing implementation of the Glen Burnie Urban Renewal Plan. In 2006, he guided the reorganization of the Chesapeake Innovation Center.

Two members of the South Baltimore Learning Center won awards at the Maryland Association of Adult, Community and Continuing Education Annual Conference. Layla Blackwell received a Student Award. After completing the eighth grade, Blackwell halted her studies to care for her father. About five years later, in 2009, she began taking classes at SBLC. Since then, Blackwell has achieved perfect attendance. During her first three months, she increased her math test scores by four grade levels. Blackwell is a graphic designer at THICK, an online magazine company. She plans to take the GED exam in early 2012, then study photography and computer graphics in college. Clifford Fonda, who owns a photography-art business, won a Volunteer Award. He began volunteering one night a week at the South Baltimore Learning Center in late 2007, then increased his hours to two mornings a week. His work includes supplemental one-on-one and small group instruction to pre-GED and GED learners in the drop-in lab.

Alysha Davis, a member of the Pikesville High School basketball team, and Michael Wright, a member of the Eastern Technical High School football team, recently received the 71st annual McCormick Unsung Heroes Awards from McCormick & Co., of Sparks. The awards include $36,000 in college scholarship money for each student-athlete.

William S. Kelly, one of the founding partners of The Kelly Group in Bel Air, was recently named a 2011 Five Star Wealth Manager by Baltimore magazine. Kelly is a CPA and CFP with more than 30 years in accounting, and tax and financial planning experience. The Kelly Group, which provides financial guidance to individuals and businesses, recently expanded its offices with the historical renovation of the Proctor House at 54 E. Gordon St.

Catherine Kuenzel, vice president of federal civil programs for Northrop Grumman Information Systems, was named Distinguished Alumnus for 2011 by University of Maryland University College. Kuenzel held leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies, including Oracle and Lucent Technologies, before joining Northrop Grumman in 2002. She graduated from UMUC with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

The Neighborhoods at St. Elizabeth, a 162-bed rehabilitation and nursing center in Baltimore, recently received LifeSpan Network’s Golden Q award for dedication to cultural change philosophies to better care for elders. LifeSpan Network represents more than 300 senior care provider organizations in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Renegade Communications, of Hunt Valley, has received an educational advertising award from the Higher Education Marketing Report for its work with Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg. Renegade received a Merit Award in the Television Advertising Single Spot category in the “Schools Under 2,000 Students” group for an admissions video.

Boards

John A. Scaldara Jr., president and CEO of The Columbia Bank, has been appointed chairman of the bank’s board of directors. He replaces retiring board member Donald M. Bowman Jr.

Brent McGraw, a vice president in the private business banking division of BankAnnapolis, has been named to the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County. He is also a member of the Chesapeake Regional Technology Council.

The Maryland Association of Mortgage Professionals recently elected new leaders, including Brooks Bosley, wholesale account executive at Home Savings of America, as its volunteer president. Charles Reid III, account representative at Florida Capital Bank Mortgage, is president-elect. Rick Rall Jr., president of Navigator Financial Services, will again serve as the association’s vice president. Jim Clements, owner of 1st Financial Inc., will serve as secretary and Christine Wagner, account executive of SunTrust Mortgage, was re-elected to a third term as treasurer. Elected to two-year terms on the board of directors were Art Charron, partner at Security Consultants Financial; Brice Halbrook, broker-owner of Townsend & Halbrook Mortgage Corp.; and Colleen Palmer, senior account executive at Sierra Pacific Mortgage.

The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers recently elected new officers and board members: chair, Robert Waldman, Venable LLP; vice chair, Beth Harber, Abell Foundation; treasurer, Vernon Wright, Wright Family Foundation; secretary, Diane Bell-McKoy, Associated Black Charities; and new members Karen Dixon, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, and Patti Sterling, France-Merrick Foundation.

Jeffery P. McBride, of EBL Engineers, a Baltimore-based engineering firm, recently was inducted as president of the American Council of Engineering Companies, Maryland. McBride previously has served as director, secretary, treasurer and, most recently, vice president of the nonprofit association, which is based in Baltimore. He is a principal and director of engineering operations at EBL.

Stewart D. Sachs has been named president of the board of Har Sinai Congregation, of Owings Mills, for the 2011-2012 term. He previously has served as president of brotherhood as well as second vice president, treasurer and trustee of the congregation. Sachs is founder and president of Worthington Alternative Capital in Owings Mills, and a managing member of Black Walnut Capital Partners and Talbot Consulting. He is a member of the Maryland Private Lenders Association board of trustees and director of Lexington National Insurance Corp. Sachs received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore. Other new board officers are: Joanne Goldsmith, first vice president; Joseph DeMattos, second vice president; Anne Berman, third vice president; Cecilia Rund, secretary; Scott Hayet, treasurer; Samuel Dansicker, assistant treasurer.

Consulting

Popper and Co., an M&A advisory and specialty consulting firm with an office in Baltimore, has hired F. John Mills and Andreas Muehler as advisers. Mills is chairman of the board of BioStorage Technologies, which he co-founded. He has been corporate senior vice president and president of clinical support services for Covance. Muehler is the principal of the German health care consulting company Keimzelle Medical Ventures. Popper and Co. provides expertise and guidance about life sciences to companies and investors.

Culinary

The American Culinary Federation’s Greater Baltimore Chapter has new officers: president, Michael Wagner, director of Savory, Baltimore International College; vice president, Derrick Purcell, executive chef, Aramark Corp.; treasurer, Janet Canfield, director of practicum, Service Learning and Evening Programs, Baltimore International College; secretary, Emerson Wen, marketing manager, Wen’s Food; secretary, Glenn Spindler, sales executive/corporate chef, Keany Produce Co.; chairman of the board, Fred Parmenter, executive chef, Panache Cuisine.

Delivery

Evan Schwartz has been hired as account manager of the toner, ink & supplies division of Global Messenger Corp., a courier company based in Baltimore. Global Messenger delivers envelopes, small packages, pallets, cartons and freight weighing up to 12,000 pounds.

Development

Enterprise, of Columbia, has named three executives: Ginger McCallum has been promoted to vice president of human resources. Before joining the firm in 2002, she served as regional human resources manager and corporate business consultant for Zurich North America. McCallum, who has a master’s degree in organizational development from Johns Hopkins University, is a certified senior professional in human resources and an instructor at Howard Community College. Elaine Martin is now vice president of the New Markets Tax Credit program for Enterprise Community Investment. She is a Certified Public Accountant. Ed Manekin is now vice president and chief audit executive. Before joining Enterprise, Manekin was corporate audit manager for PHH Corp. in Baltimore, and principal auditor for the ARINC Corp., in Annapolis. He has a bachelor’s degree from Towson University and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and past president of the Maryland Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners. Enterprise provides development capital and expertise for creating affordable homes and rebuilding communities.

Education

Kelly Mansfield Brown has been appointed associate dean for external affairs of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. She previously was assistant dean of development and alumni relations at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business in College Park. Brown also served as director of development at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. She has a bachelor’s degree in American history from Johns Hopkins. During the 1990s she worked in development and alumni relations at the university’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., and at JHU’s Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore.

The Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management at Morgan State University, in Baltimore, has maintained its business and accounting accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in business and accounting. The business and management school, which was founded in 1975, has 55 full-time faculty members and an enrollment of about 1,400 graduate and undergraduate students.

Health Care

Howard County General Hospital, of Columbia, has received the Sustained Improvement Award, which recognizes progress in implementing systems showing sustained and consistent reductions over a period of 18 to 24 months in combating health care-associated infections, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The not-for-profit hospital is a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Museums

Kim Szondy has joined the Maryland Science Center, of Baltimore, as promotions coordinator. She will create and manage promotional events and sponsorship programs for the museum. Szondy most recently worked as production coordinator at Talking Tree Creative. She is a graduate of Towson University.

Nonprofits

Rachel Wiederhold has joined the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, of Columbia, as the program manager for communications and mission engagement. She will lead internal and external communications, including maintaining donor relations, websites and blogs. Wiederhold also will run the YACS B’more survivor support social group and Half Full Triathlon registration, and organize a Screw Cancer fundraiser in Baltimore. She has 10 years of human resources experience, having worked for several mid-sized to large organizations.

Real Estate

Michael J. Lester, a commercial appraiser with Lipman Frizzell & Mitchell, was recently awarded the MAI designation by the Appraisal Institute. Lester specializes in hotels, residential subdivisions and apartments, and has worked on financing, partial interest valuation, litigation and tax assessment in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Delaware and Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in community planning from the University of Maryland, College Park. Lester is licensed as a certified general real estate appraiser in Maryland.

Devou to rappel in benefit event

Gregory A. Devou, executive vice president/chief marketing officer of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, will be among people climbing down the 17-story Canton Crossing Tower in Baltimore on June 18 to raise money during the National Kidney Foundation of Maryland’s second annual Rappel for Kidney Health. Devou is corporate chair for the event and is a member of the Shock Trauma Board of Visitors. Each participant will pledge $1,000, receive a fundraising webpage and a rappelling time slot, undergo training session the day of the event and be photographed while in action. Celebrities who will take part in a preview rappel June 17 include former world champion skater Kimmie Meissner and former Baltimore Raven Bennie Thompson.

Gregory A. Devou

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marine engineering.

Resides in: Pikesville, Md.

Daily commute: 30 minutes

Most recent vacation: Charleston, S.C.

Interests/Hobbies: Motorcycling, golf, and World War II history.

Favorite book: “John Adams” by David McCullough.

Most recently read: From the Twilight Saga – “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer.

Favorite food: short ribs

Favorite quotation: “Just another day at the ranch.”