Managing Director

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.

When Peter Culman stepped down in 2000 after 34 years as Center Stage's managing director, the footlights dimmed on one of the longest and most successful runs in the history of Baltimore theater. Many observers thought that his was an impossible act to follow. But just six years later, Michael Ross' administration has all the hallmarks of another hit production. And that production just might just be Mame. At first glance, the free-spirited heroine of the 1966 musical would seem to have little in common with a guy who next month will celebrate his fourth anniversary in the decidedly sober position of being Center Stage's managing director, or head of the business side of the theater's operations.

For years, critics have howled about executive pay, saying something must be done to curb excessive compensation. Now some are challenging what they consider one of the root causes: pay for the directors who set chief executives' compensation packages. Director compensation has risen sharply in the past few years as demands on boards have ratcheted up since the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance law passed in 2002. A recent study by the Institutional Shareholder Services proxy advisory firm found that the average compensation for directors at the largest U.S. firms disclosed in 2005 proxies rose 14 percent, to just under $144,000.

John Darrington Gandy Jr., a retired general manager of a risk management company, died of a heart attack Tuesday at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 76 and lived in Timonium. Born in Jackson, Miss., he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi and also attended law school there. In 1953, he married Virginia "Ginger" Tucker in Baton Rouge, La., where he was living at the time. Mr. Gandy served from 1954 to 1956 in the Army, stationed at Fort Benning, Ga. He and his wife later moved to Cockeysville, where they lived for 30 years before moving to Timonium six years ago. He worked as the general manager of the Baltimore office of Crawford & Co., a risk management company, from 1969 until his retirement in 1989.

As the Columbia Festival of the Arts welcomes its third leader in three years, some changes are in the works for the 10-day event in June. The group's new managing director, Nichole Hickey, is expanding the festival's focus on the visual arts and enhancing LakeFest, a free, family-oriented arts event at the Columbia Town Center lakefront. "What we've really been able to do as a festival is re-emphasize what we see as our centerpiece, which is LakeFest," said Anne Stuart, president of the festival board of trustees.

John Stix, former artistic director at Baltimore's Center Stage who taught acting for the last 30 years at The Juilliard School in New York City, died of a heart attack Saturday at a hospital in Hackensack, N.J. He was 83 and lived in Sneden's Landing, N.Y. The St. Louis native was a 1942 graduate of Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he earned a bachelor's degree in musicology. After Army Signal Corps service in Europe during World War II, he earned a master's degree in fine arts from the Yale School of Drama.

In the late 1980s, developers were breaking ground for new shopping centers in the United States at the rate of four a day. In 2004, only three regional malls are expected to open the whole year. That vast quieting of jackhammers is at the root of the billion-dollar deals transforming the face of the shopping-center industry. The latest was Friday's announcement that General Growth Properties of Chicago, the second-largest U.S. mall owner, plans to acquire the Rouse Co., the retail pioneer in Columbia, for $7.2 billion in cash.

Commercial Real Estate Jeffers promoted to VP, Cole joins NAI KLNBNAI KLNB Management promoted Bryant Jeffers to vice president, property accounting, and appointed Robert L. Cole Jr. as building engineer. Jeffers manages the accounting group and is responsible for preparation of month-end statements, general ledger and the creation and review of annual budgets. A certified public accountant, the Reisterstown resident is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Cole oversees preventive maintenance and repair of building systems, controls and equipment, and supervise new systems installation in Baltimore-area managed buildings.