Barry Glassman

County Executive
Harford County

Barry Glassman has served as Harford County’s executive for seven years. Over his decades-long career in public service, Glassman has served on the Harford County Council and in the Maryland House of Delegate.

One of his proudest accomplishments was co-sponsoring legislation as a member of the Harford County Council that led to the adoption of new standards for the location of sanitary and rubble landfills. The law, which protected the St. James AME Church and historic cemetery near Havre de Grace, was recently validated by the Maryland Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court after a 30-year legal challenge.

What is the most important life lesson you learned?

As an avid runner, I navigate the daily stresses of life while I’m on the trail, and my two life lessons come from old sayings about running. The first one is the African proverb that you may go faster alone, but you’ll go farther together. The other is a reminder that running is not always about winning. Winning really has nothing to do with running — most days don’t have races anyway — winning is about struggle and effort, it’s about optimism and never ever giving up.