Business Leaders

Baltimore's new mayor needs to show local business leaders that she appreciates their investment in the city and will work hard to address their concerns, said Donald C. Fry, executive director of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a regional business leadership organization. "She has to reach out to the business community to let them know she understands the important role business has for the future of the city," Fry said. "She has to show people who have made significant capital investments in the city that she understands them."

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz will hold a community forum at the Double T Diner, 4140 E. Joppa Road, Perry Hall, this morning, Tuesday, March 26, beginning at 10 a.m.  The session, dubbed "Coffee with Kevin," will run for an hour and be open to the public. No registration is required. "We've held these community forums in the Lansdowne and Parkville areas and it was very valuable for me to have an unscripted opportunity to talk with people about what's on their mind," said Kamenetz.  "I look forward to a really good exchange of information and ideas.

For more than two decades, Chris Warner's business has taken him into a death zone 26,240 feet above sea level, where oxygen is thin, the weather is cruel and a single stumble can be fatal. A certified alpine guide, Warner has led nearly 200 international mountaineering expeditions. He is one of only nine U.S. climbers to reach the summits of Mount Everest and K2, the world's two highest peaks. Warner, 48, is the founder and owner of three Earth Treks climbing centers in Maryland, the co-author of two business books, and a teacher of leadership skills at universities and numerous corporations.

Joe Mechlinski, CEO and co-founder of Canton-based management consulting firm entreQuest, has worked with more than 400 businesses since starting the company 12 years ago. Last month, he released his first book, "Grow Regardless: Of Your Business' Size, Your Industry or the Economy … and Despite the Government. " Mechlinski — who grew up in Highlandtown and graduated from Patterson High School and Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics — describes his book as a "how-to guide for growing a small to midsize business in difficult economic times.

After a decade of mounting alienation between the state and its business community, Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening will ask senior business executives to take the lead in reshaping the state's drive to develop and attract jobs.He and top legislative leaders also plan to cut selected business taxes and start trimming the nation's highest real estate closing costs in this legislative session.They also promise to begin work this year toward broader tax and regulatory reform, although enactment of those would not occur until next year and later into their four-year term.

While business leaders hailed a federal court opinion striking down the so-called Wal-Mart law yesterday, they said Maryland's commercial reputation already has been damaged by the legislation. "The harm that gets done by proposing, passing and overruling a veto [of the bill] is much longer lasting than a sweet victory in court," said Aris Melissaratos, the secretary of the state's Department of Business and Economic Development. During recent sessions, the Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation that gives tax breaks and other incentives to startup companies and investors.

From the worlds of banking and publishing to crab cooking and trucking, Maryland business leaders are trying to figure out what President Clinton's new budget package means to them and their companies.The plan, signed into law yesterday, was designed to slow the growth of the federal debt by $496 billion over the next five years. The bill's narrow passage was considered a crucial test of the new administration.But many of the 19 chief executives surveyed by The Sun criticized the plan, saying its higher taxes could stifle the economic recovery and slow their companies' planned expansions.

More than 150 Baltimore-area business leaders have agreed to participate in a review of the city fire, housing, health, public works and recreation departments to help government officials run their agencies more efficiently. Mayor Martin O'Malley, drawing on a strategy used in Philadelphia, requested the review after his election in large part because of concern about a potential $153 million deficit the city faces. The Greater Baltimore Committee and the President's Roundtable made the appeal for volunteer business leaders to participate in the study.

The director of Loyola College's new Center for Family, Work and Education in Columbia said a recent survey of Howard County business leaders shows a surprisingly liberal shift that he expects could eventually influence local public policy.Joseph Procaccini studied 130 responses to the 12-question survey, which asked opinions on such issues as gun control (87 percent favored it), abortion (65 percent believe it is not morally wrong), and the availability of condoms in the public schools (78 percent support it)

Calling Towson a sleeping giant, business leaders gathered yesterday at Goucher College to explore ways to promote its attractions and stimulate a sluggish downtown area."

Maryland's business leaders are increasing efforts to speak with a louder, more unified voice to state officials, seeing in looming federal budget cuts the necessity — or opportunity — to focus more attention on the private sector. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce is organizing business groups, trade organizations and employers across the state in a "competitiveness coalition" that aims to agree on a handful of priorities and talk about them with everyone — elected officials, candidates and the public.

Kudos to Mike Tidwell for his clear commentary explaining why we need a revenue-neutral carbon tax to reduce emissions and slow climate change ("Forecast calls for pain," Feb. 6). I'm convinced, but how are the American people going to convince Congress to pass such a tax? Readers should go to Washington, D.C. on Feb. 17 for a noon rally and march assembling on the mall near the Washington Monument. The goal of the march is to let President Barack Obama know we have his back on his plans to impose more EPA regulations, to deny permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline, and whatever other environmental orders he chooses to issue with his executive authority.

Julie Lenzer Kirk, who heads Howard County's Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, has been to the White House for briefings before but has never been called upon to speak there. She got her chance this week, amid the lofty ceilings and marble-paneled walls, delivering a presentation on a nearly year-old economic development effort. "I enjoy public speaking, so I wasn't really nervous, although the three-minute hard limit had me doing some last-minute mental jockeying as I watched the speakers before me," Kirk said.

The goal for Race On is clear: To make the Grand Prix of Baltimore a long-term fixture, the company must generate significantly more money from Baltimore businesses and fans. Enter Debbie Bell. The former director of corporate sales and sponsorship for the Orioles has been named Race On's vice president for sales and marketing, officially becoming the first full-time employee of the promotion company founded by financier J.P. Grant and construction executive Greg O'Neill. She's been on the job for about two weeks, spending much of her time trying to drum up enthusiasm — and persuade business owners to set aside some of their 2013 budget to help support the Labor Day weekend auto racing festival.

Here's what I'm thinking: We get La Famille DeBeaufre to establish a second bakery in Sparrows Point and ship their beloved Berger Cookies all over the world — to China, India, Brazil, Mexico and other nations with rising economies. And maybe we send some cookies to North Korea to give those poor people a treat and the inspiration they need to rise up against the rocket club president who serves as their dictator. Think of it: Berger Cookies as an instrument of international influence, revolution and peace.

I have been deeply concerned by the role of American business leaders in the election. We have seen how business leaders are attempting to influence the vote by their major funding of super-PACs. The Supreme Court has apparently ruled that this is legal, but is it ethical? We have also heard that some American companies have been sitting on mounds of cash waiting until there would be a change of administrations to invest in America. The thinking was that a Mitt Romney administration would bring about fewer regulations and a more favorable tax environment for big business.

Many successful people of today are absolutely convinced that the "virtuousness" of successful entrepreneurs and business people doing what they do creates opportunities for the benefit of all in our society. I truly don't doubt that. That is exactly how Rockefeller and Roosevelt and Kennedy and Buffett and on and on felt. These people were as capitalistic as they come. What those people had and what is missing from many today who champion this "virtuousness" is two other principles.

For more than two decades, Chris Warner's business has taken him into a death zone 26,240 feet above sea level, where oxygen is thin, the weather is cruel and a single stumble can be fatal. A certified alpine guide, Warner has led nearly 200 international mountaineering expeditions. He is one of only nine U.S. climbers to reach the summits of Mount Everest and K2, the world's two highest peaks. Warner, 48, is the founder and owner of three Earth Treks climbing centers in Maryland, the co-author of two business books, and a teacher of leadership skills at universities and numerous corporations.