Sign In
Free Newsletter
Mike Gill
//December 18, 2017
[Back to 2017 Icon Honors Winners]
Mike Gill
Secretary of Commerce
Maryland Department of Commerce
As Maryland Secretary of Commerce, Mike Gill oversees one of the busiest agencies in the state. Tasked with attracting more businesses to Maryland, boosting job growth and the state’s job competitiveness, Gill’s business acumen has helped transform the agency.
A Towson University graduate, Gill began his career at IBM. In 1984, he founded AMERICOM, a Baltimore-based provider of cellular products and services to businesses in the area. The company expanded nationwide, with more than 1,200 employees, and was acquired by Solectron in 2000.
Gill is also the founder of Hoyt Capital, an investment and advisory firm serving startup and growth companies. Prior to becoming Commerce secretary, Gill led Evergreen Advisors, an investment bank. Needless to say, Gill is familiar with starting businesses, finding new opportunities, and investing in the next best thing.
To him, integrity is the most important trait one should possess.
“There’s a saying that ‘character is non-negotiable,’ so keep that in mind in all aspects of your life. Learning to work collaboratively with all kinds of people is invaluable to success, both in the workplace and personally,” he says.
Gill is passionate about teamwork and team-building and works to foster better working relationships, both within his agency and externally. Under Gill’s leadership, the agency holds bi-monthly meetings where teams give updates and guest speakers deliver motivational talks. He also instituted monthly employee recognition awards.
The agency has also sought to reinvigorate relationships with local economic development offices to foster better partnership and communication.
Gill released a new strategic plan for economic development in Maryland, which includes annual progress reports and quarterly scorecards to track progress. He also launched a new public-private partnership marketing corporation to lead business marketing for the state, which has already generated over $3.5 million in private-sector financial commitments.
-
