Companies

In the year since Exelon Corp. acquired Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group, the company has donated more than $300,000 to first-responders in the region. It is handing out thousands of free trees to Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers. It is helping fund energy-efficient homes for low-income residents. That's much like the year before the merger, nonprofits say. "They're carrying out their volunteer commitments at a very high level," said Elise Lee, chief development officer for United Way of Central Maryland.

Fire Chief James S. Clack is considering moving a West Baltimore fire company across town this summer to alleviate the strain on East Baltimore units after two fire companies closed there last year. Clack said the plan, which has not been finalized and must be reviewed by the City Council, is an attempt to respond to a spike in calls to east-side companies — some have seen jumps of more than 50 percent — since East Baltimore's Truck 15 and Southeast Baltimore's Squad 11 were closed last summer.

Ronald J. Biglin, a former business professor and dean of graduate programs at what is now Loyola University Maryland who owned a winery and a distribution company, died Monday at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Lutherville resident was 81. "Ron always got outstanding ratings from the students. He taught in the executive program and marketing, plus he had lots of professional experience. For instance, he knew what it meant to do a payroll," said Charles R. "Bob" Margenthaler, who was dean of the business school at Loyola from 1985 to 1992.

Columbia cybersecurity firm Sourcefire Inc. named John Becker, a longtime member of its board of directors, as the company's new CEO on Monday. Becker comes to Sourcefire from a position as CEO of ScienceLogic, a Reston, Va., company that sells network monitoring software and services. Before that, he led a series of information security companies that were each sold. He has served on Sourcefire's board since 2008. Becker steps in after Sourcefire founder and chief technology officer Martin F. Roesch led the company on an interim basis for nearly a year.

Norman W. Meekins, founder of a Baltimore County paving company who was also a World War II veteran, died Thursday from complications of an infection at Carroll Hospital Center. The Sykesville resident was 94. Born in Stevenson, Mr. Meekins moved in 1921 to Stevensville, where he grew up on his family's farm. After graduating from Stevensville High School, he moved to Baltimore, where he worked delivering ice for Melvin J. Burnham Co. He then took a job as a salesman for the Formstone division of Lasting Products.

A Florida insurance company has repaid $312,551 to thousands of Marylanders after overcharging them on life and health benefits, the Maryland Insurance Administration said Monday. The state insurance regulator said it told Life of the South Insurance Co. in Jacksonville in 2010 to reduce certain premium rates between Nov. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2011. The insurance regulator discovered during its regular oversight process last year that Life of the South hadn't lowered the rates as required, according to the agency.

Millennial Media's stock has lost three-fourths of its value since the Canton company went public a year ago as an established force in the mobile advertising market. Ask CEO Paul Palmieri about that, and he'll repeat what he deems wise words from a prominent contemporary. "I care very much about our share owners, and so I care very much about our long-term share price," Palmieri said, quoting from an interview Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos gave to the Harvard Business Review in January.

With a confrontational streak of fire-red in his hair, Eli cannot help but be noticed when he shows up in an Iowa high school, an unwilling transplant from San Francisco, where his father recently died. Even as he draws attention to himself, Eli does not let people in easily, using a defense mechanism of glibness, mixed with snark, to keep them at bay -- starting with his mother. But Eli, the center of Daniel Talbott's affecting play "Slipping," which is receiving its Baltimore premiere from Iron Crow Theatre Company, cannot disguise the fact that he's a romantic at heart.

W. R. Grace & Co. of Columbia announced Wednesday that it acquired an Australian manufacturer of waterproofing and coatings systems for an undisclosed sum. Chemind Construction Products, a private research and manufacturing company based in Brisbane, Australia, brings waterproofing technology to Grace Construction Products division, which had $1 billion in sales last year. Chemind's waterproof coatings are used to protect commercial, residential and civil structures, the company said.

Colin P. Hollingsworth, a retired bag company executive and World War II naval veteran, died Friday of respiratory failure at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson. He was 99. Mr. Hollingsworth was born and raised on a Church Hill farm that had been in his family since 1668. After graduating from Church Hill High School in 1928, he entered Washington College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1933. He moved to Baltimore and began his business career as an $18-a-week shipping clerk at the Grafflin Bag Co. on Philpott Street that manufactured and sold feed and flour bags made of burlap, jute and cotton.