Managing Director

William D. Crump, who rose from part-time usher to managing director and president of the Lyric Theater, died Sunday at the Charlestown Retirement Community of cancer. He was 89.He was known as "Buddy" to performers, governors, mayors and members of Baltimore society, whom he escorted to their private boxes. To the staff, he was "Mr. Crump."A draftsman by trade, Mr. Crump began working as a part-time usher at the Lyric in 1932 "because he wanted to hear the music without buying a ticket," said his daughter, Karen L. Davison of Bunker Hill, W.Va.

Center Stage officials announced Tuesday that they have hired a new managing director with impressive credentials as a fundraiser — Stephen J. Richard, who planned and managed the recent $125 million campaign to renovate Arena Stage in Washington. Artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah will continue to determine the company's overall vision onstage and off, while Richard will be in charge of the management, fundraising and organizational responsibilities that can make those ideas reality.

Alex. Brown Inc. said yesterday that it was expanding its asset management business in Europe by purchasing ......TC London-based investment firm.The three professionals of Jamestown Securities Ltd. have become the staff of the newly created Alex. Brown & Sons Holdings Ltd., the Baltimore-based company said. William J. Tyne Jr. of Jamestown has been named managing director, while John Loudon, previously a managing director with N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd., was appointed chairman of the company.

Mary Suzanne Beck Keech, a corporate managing director of Studley Inc., a Washington commercial real estate firm, who was also an active alumna of Garrison Forest School, died of cancer Monday at Georgetown University Hospital. The former Catonsville resident had celebrated her 46th birthday last month. The daughter of Rea Keech, a former Buick automobile dealer, and Mary Keech, a Talbots Cross Keys sales associate, Mary Suzanne Beck Keech was born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville.

Gardner selected for Rep Stage job Rep Stage, the professional theater in residence at Howard Community College, has announced the hiring of Lee Mikeska Gardner as managing director. Gardner has been interim managing director since July. He previously held the position of grants writer and consultant from January to July last year. Before he came to the Rep Stage, Gardner spent six years as managing/producing director with the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company, six years with Shenandoah Playwrights Retreat as associate artistic director and resident director and 12 years with the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company as assistant to the artistic director, artistic associate, and founder and director of the Theatre School at the Wooly Mammoth.

The parking lot at Sheppard Pratt's Conference Center was full. And that was just at the 6 p.m. start time of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society's "ArtWeek 2000" Preview Party. Three hours later, when the party ended, almost three-quarters of the show's more than 125 pieces of art displayed blue dots on their labels indicating they'd been sold. "This is a 'snooze you lose' kinda deal," music director Tom Hall explained, "It's an 'attention Kmart shoppers' thing. We have the blue dot specials."

Michael Ross, who oversaw the revitalization of the highly respected Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., will be named the new managing director of Center Stage today. Ross, 42, succeeds Thomas Pechar, who resigned in November after 17 months. Pechar last week was named managing director of the Alliance Theatre Co. in Atlanta. In July 2000, Pechar had succeeded Peter Culman, the driving force for 34 years behind Center Stage's emergence as one of the country's most respected and financially successful regional theaters.

Upcoming guests and topics on "Wall $treet Week With Louis Rukeyser," produced by Maryland Public Television. It airs at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on Channels 22, 26 and 67 and is repeated Saturdays at noon on Channel 26 and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on Channels 22 and 67.SEPT. 28: "Are Pollution Control Stocks a Waste?" -- Guest: Kenneth C. Leung, managing director, Smith Barney Harris Upham & Co. The outlook for the environment and waste management companies with a top analyst in the field.OCT. 5: "Where Does the Market Go from Here?"

Auto racing NASCAR: Named Gary Nelson managing director of competition, Kevin Triplett managing director of business operations, John Darby Winston Cup Series director, Brian DeHart Busch Grand National Series director and Joe Garone Research and Development Center director. Baseball Blue Jays: Sent P Kevin Beirne, P Matt DeWitt and IF Ryan Freel outright to Triple-A Syracuse. Mets: Named Matt Galante third base coach, Tom Robson bench coach and Mike Herbst assistant trainer. Announced John Stearns and Bobby Floyd will not return as coaches next season and have been offered other jobs within the organization.

Center Stage administrators today will announce that Thomas Pechar, a sometime sailor and erstwhile philosopher known for his fund-raising skills, will be the theater's next managing director. The selection of Pechar, now managing director of the Seattle Children's Theatre, ends a yearlong search that began when Peter Culman, who built Center Stage into one of the nation's most respected and financially stable regional theaters, announced his retirement. Pechar, 48, steps into his new job July 1. "Tom brings to the job exactly what we were looking for: He has an enormous commitment to art and to accessibility to the art," says Nancy K. Roche, who led the 15-member search committee with board president James T. Brady, former secretary of the state's Department of Business and Economic Development.

Debbie Chinn will step down from Center Stage after a whirlwind two years as managing director of Baltimore's largest and best-known regional theater — a decision she says she initiated. Chinn, 53, announced her resignation Tuesday during a meeting of Center Stage staff. "There were gasps," she said, adding that she will leave at the end of December. "These are extraordinary times that require bold decisions," Chinn said. "I've been thinking about this for quite some time and became convinced that Center Stage should be free to chart its own course without being confined by past practices — even if that meant reconsidering my own position.

A veteran Annapolis official will be named to the city's No. 2 post Thursday, as his successor prepares to step down. Mayor Joshua J. Cohen is expected to announce at a Thursday afternoon news conference that Michael D. Mallinoff, the director of the Department of Neighborhood and Environmental Programs, will be the new city manager, according to government sources. Mallinoff was city administrator for about six years ending in 1995, though the position was recently renamed "city manager" as the Annapolis city council tweaked its government structure in response to dissatisfaction over the job performance of the departing administrator, Douglas E Smith.

The co-founder of a 280-employee accounting firm in Sparks who was fired from his management role last month has sued the company and the remaining owners, alleging that they ousted him to gain control of his ownership stake on the cheap. Thomas E. Stout, who had been the managing director of SC&H Group and helped found the firm in 1991, asked for $15 million in damages — plus $45 million in punitive damages from each of the owners — in a suit filed Friday in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

Gardner selected for Rep Stage job Rep Stage, the professional theater in residence at Howard Community College, has announced the hiring of Lee Mikeska Gardner as managing director. Gardner has been interim managing director since July. He previously held the position of grants writer and consultant from January to July last year. Before he came to the Rep Stage, Gardner spent six years as managing/producing director with the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company, six years with Shenandoah Playwrights Retreat as associate artistic director and resident director and 12 years with the Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company as assistant to the artistic director, artistic associate, and founder and director of the Theatre School at the Wooly Mammoth.

Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, the private client services division of Deutsche Bank Securities, said yesterday that it has hired a former Morgan Stanley executive to oversee and expand its Baltimore office. Rick Faby was named Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown managing director and regional executive in Baltimore effective immediately. In his new post, Faby is responsible for "the oversight and expansion of Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown's Baltimore branch office and for achieving the firm's growth objectives," the company said in a statement.

Banking-finance The Columbia Bank named Katrice Simpson as an assistant vice president for commercial banking at the Howard County-based bank. She will focus on the development of new business with small-to-medium-size businesses in the Prince George's County market. Hospitality-tourism Tremont Hotels named Emile Debsia director of rooms division. Hard Rock Cafe international named Jamie Moore as sales and marketing manager for its Baltimore Inner Harbor location. Legal-insurance McGuire Woods LLP elected Jennifer J. Stearman as a partner in the Baltimore office of the national law firm.

Carton Donofrio Partners named Colleen McVearry an account leader, Erin Casserly project manager and Matthew Reichard a project coordinator. Banking-finance HarVest Bank of Maryland, headquartered in Rockville, appointed Michelle Riley Levenson vice president of commercial relationships, Lynda Tolbert as a commercial loan assistant and Masoud Edalatkhah as a management associate. Insurance-legal Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP named Angela W. Russell managing partner of the regional law firm's Baltimore office.