Development Office

The county commissioners, hoping to save money and boost business development in Carroll, are considering turning the Office of Economic Development over to the business community."

Dr. Christopher Dela Rosa has been appointed as chief information officer at Harford Community College. In this position, Dela Rosa will continue to provide leadership to staff and manage the day-to-day operations of Computing and Technology Services. Dela Rosa had been serving as interim vice president for information technology at Harford Community College since January. He served previously as associate vice president for information technology, director for information technology operations and manager of technology operations at Harford Community College.

Despite a nearly stalled real estate market, the county economic development office was busier than usual the last two months of the year."We're seeing a pickup in activity because there's a perception that because the market is slowing down there are deals to be made on land and buildings," said William E. Jenne, business and industrialrepresentative for the Department of Economic and Community Development."

R. Gayle Layfield, a retired Friends School official who worked in fundraising, died of cancer Feb. 1 at her North Baltimore home. She was 64. Born Ruth Gayle Layfield in Richmond, Va., she was a 1966 graduate of the Collegiate School, where she was class president and played sports. She earned a bachelor of arts degree at Hollins College, where she was active on the trustee and alumnae boards. She also received a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University. After moving to Baltimore in the mid-1970s, she was an English teacher at Roland Park Country School, where she was also director of admissions and worked in development.

Allegations that the county economic development office is in disarray because it can't seem to keep a director longer than TC few months are "100 percent wrong," County Executive Charles I. Ecker said yesterday."

Carroll County's new director of economic development brings years of experience with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development to the job. Lawrence F. Twele, 38, a resident of Elkridge in Howard County, will join the county's staff next month, officials announced yesterday. "My main focus will be on business retention and on marketing Carroll County as the attractive destination that it is," Twele said yesterday. Since 1998, he has worked for the state, initially as director of the regional economic development office and more recently as senior business development specialist for the Greater Baltimore region.

Dr. Christopher Dela Rosa has been appointed as chief information officer at Harford Community College. In this position, Dela Rosa will continue to provide leadership to staff and manage the day-to-day operations of Computing and Technology Services. Dela Rosa had been serving as interim vice president for information technology at Harford Community College since January. He served previously as associate vice president for information technology, director for information technology operations and manager of technology operations at Harford Community College.

Howard Community College is looking for graduates and former students who have gone on to assume leadership roles or achieved professional excellence. The Development Office will accept nominations for this year's HCC Distinguished Alumni Awards program until March 1. HCC seeks nominations of graduates or former students who have earned 30 or more credits and distinction in areas such as business, community service, education, law, medicine or public service. Final candidates will be chosen on the basis of professional accomplishments, community leadership, continuing education, diversity of experience, interests and successes.

It would be easy to blame Howard County Executive Charles I. Ecker for the middling progress the county has made on the economic development front.But look at what Mr. Ecker had to work with.Under former County Executive Elizabeth Bobo, Howard's economic development office had been the county's step child; shunted aside, its missions given low priority. It was even consigned to a small house, far from government offices.Granted, those were different times. Ms. Bobo faced a snarling group of no-growth proponents.

It may seem a bit of an exaggeration to label a span of only two years an "era," but that is what Howard County experienced in the tenure of recently departed economic development director Dyan Brasington.Ms. Brasington, who left last week to lead economic development efforts for the state of West Virginia, deserves credit for shepherding Howard County's business development office away from the step-child status it held when she came here from Montgomery County in 1990.The task of her successor, William H. Howard Jr., a former banking executive from Ellicott City, is far different.

WESTMINSTER — The Board of County Commissioners announced this week that they'll reorganize the county's Department of Economic Development — and won't hire a replacement for former director Larry Twele, who resigned in July 2011. WESTMINSTER — The Board of County Commissioners announced on Feb. 9 that it will reorganize the county's Department of Economic Development — and won't hire a replacement for former director Larry Twele, who resigned in July 2011. On Feb. 9, the commissioners announced that instead of replacing Twele, who left to take a similar post in Howard County, the county will leave the directorship vacant and hire two administrators for the department — one to oversee day-to-day operations and be the coordinator of the new Carroll Business Path project; and other to be responsible for business retention and outreach.

About 200 people shouted "Jobs! Jobs!" as they marched Tuesday through the streets of East Baltimore. Their voices grew louder and their numbers grew along the 10-block route to the headquarters of a nonprofit overseeing the $1.8 billion redevelopment of the area north of Johns Hopkins Hospital. They were orderly but vocal enough to bring people to their porch fronts. "If we don't work, nobody works!" became the rallying cry. 'We are out here fighting for construction jobs," said Richie Armstrong, an organizer with Community Services United, a coalition of local churches.

Martha Leich Parkhurst, who founded the Baltimore Museum of Art's development office and was a voice for governmental arts support, died Tuesday of pneumonia at the Blakehurst Retirement Community. She was 97. Born Martha Leich in Evansville, Ind., she earned an economics degree at Wellesley College and worked for a Wall Street investment firm. She married her boss, Martin Pfahler. After his death a decade later, she married Baltimore attorney George V. Parkhurst. The couple lived for many years in Roland Park.

Howard Community College is looking for graduates and former students who have gone on to assume leadership roles or achieved professional excellence. The Development Office will accept nominations for this year's HCC Distinguished Alumni Awards program until March 1. HCC seeks nominations of graduates or former students who have earned 30 or more credits and distinction in areas such as business, community service, education, law, medicine or public service. Final candidates will be chosen on the basis of professional accomplishments, community leadership, continuing education, diversity of experience, interests and successes.

William A. Badger Jr. had a premonition that Anne Arundel County was destined for business success, and he wanted to be a part of that future when he joined the county's economic development arm. More than a decade later, Badger - who is stepping down tomorrow as president and chief executive of the Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. - can look back on steady growth and a broadening of the county's economic base, including high-tech, defense and homeland security ventures. From 1999 to 2005, the county has netted more than 30,000 new jobs and $1.3 billion in capital investment.

Carroll County's new director of economic development brings years of experience with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development to the job. Lawrence F. Twele, 38, a resident of Elkridge in Howard County, will join the county's staff next month, officials announced yesterday. "My main focus will be on business retention and on marketing Carroll County as the attractive destination that it is," Twele said yesterday. Since 1998, he has worked for the state, initially as director of the regional economic development office and more recently as senior business development specialist for the Greater Baltimore region.

For nearly two years, Carroll County's economic development office has lacked a full-time director, and it shows. During a period when other Baltimore metropolitan counties have been landing large projects, Carroll, by comparison, has little to show in the way of new enterprises or expansion of existing businesses. Economic development in the county deserves much more attention than it has been receiving.Without business and commercial growth, Carroll's homeowners are living on borrowed time.

County Executive Charles I. Ecker said Monday he has dropped for now his plans to make the county's economic development office a separate department.Although the move would not cost the county more money, Ecker said, it might have created the perception that he was expanding government. During the campaign, Ecker had chastised the previous administration for excessively enlarging the government bureaucracy.Ecker said his reasons initially for seeking the change from office to department level were to give the development office "a little more status" and to have the director to report directly to him. Now, the director reports to the county administrator.

The Oakland Mills Partnership Group, under the auspices of the Enterprise Foundation, will hire a community development officer to help launch the Oakland Mills Revitalization Plan. The draft of the revitalization plan is the outcome of an Oakland Mills town hall meeting held Feb. 7, when 160 residents met to discuss their vision for the community's future and identified actions needed to accomplish it. With facilitation by AmericaSpeaks, the residents selected four issues - community growth, education, housing and safety - that they deemed essential to creating an attractive and healthy community, with thriving businesses, well-maintained open space, support for youths and community participation.

A task force proposing mixed-use centers along U.S. 40 and Frederick Road will seek more input from community members about their concerns. Areas around Chatham Mall and Normandy Shopping Center, as well as sites along Frederick Road at St. Johns Lane and at Centennial and Bethany lanes, could be developed with housing, offices and shops under the proposed commercial zoning. The task force charged with charting a course for the corridor's future development outlined its draft plan last week in a workshop that drew more than 100 people to the Ellicott City Senior Center.