President

Morgan State University Alumni Association's Harford County Chapter held a meet and greet in Havre de Grace recently where the featured guest was the university's new president, David T. Wilson. Held at La Banque De Fleuve on May 29, the event was hosted by Morgan alumni County Executive David Craig and Bruce and Theresa Lewis of Total Urgent Care. Leaders of the local chapter and the national association are both hoping to increase enrollment and donations among the extensive network of Morgan alumni in Harford and Cecil counties, and having the opportunity to hear from and meet the new president certainly enhanced that effort, organizers said.

Former Baltimore County Executive Donald P. Hutchinson has agreed to stay on as president and CEO of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, dropping the "interim" designation he has held since being hired in 2007. Hutchinson, 63, took the post with a 15-month mandate to straighten out the zoo's finances and help find his permanent replacement. "We are so pleased that he is having so much fun running the zoo that both he and the board have decided to extend his tenure," said zoo Chairman Eric Orlinsky.

The former president of Dell Inc.'s IT services division has been elected CEO by the board of directors of Micros Systems Inc., a Columbia-based provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, the company announced Monday. Effective Jan. 2, Peter Altabef will succeed A. L. "Tom" Giannopoulos, who has served as the CEO since 1993. Giannopoulos will continue in his role as executive chairman of the company until June 30, 2014, when he will retire, the Micros Systems said.

I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial, "Another Fiscal Cliff?" (Jan. 4). As a businessman, I am outraged that certain Republican extremists in the House are prepared to trash our economy in order to gain their political objectives. We have a long and honorable tradition in the U.S., and that is to never negotiate with criminals and hostage takers. The president must continue that tradition. The business community will strongly support the president as he rejects blackmail attempts by tea partyers.

Your recent article on University of Maryland Baltimore County President Freeman Hrabowski was a wonderful tribute to an extraordinary leader ("Freeman Hrabowski's UMBC legacy grows as he celebrates 20 years as president," Sept. 1). His energy, passion and commitment came through in the stories and comments from others that were included in the article. While there are obviously lots of additional aspects of his story, there is one omission that I think is important to correct. When Mr. Hrabowski was still at Coppin State University, the person who recognized his great potential and brought him to UMBC was then-President Michael Hooker.

As devotees of Barack Obama know all too well, qualities that made him so attractive as a candidate - an affinity for subtle arguments, a tendency to carefully weigh his options - have at times proved less useful in his role as president. That carefulness has been read as indecisiveness. The subtle arguments have sounded, to some ears, like hedging. In response, the president has simplified his rhetoric. The nuances of the 2009 Cairo speech about relations between the U.S. and the Muslim world have given way to chest thumping over killing Osama bin Laden.

I BELIEVE I have identified the fundamental problem with presidential politics in this country. It's a take-off on that old joke about being in a club: I wouldn't want to have anything to do with a club that would have a member like me.The last person we need for president of the United States is someone who really wants the job. Think about it. Everyone knows what kind of job it is: long hours, dangerous exposure to lots of nut cases and, worst of all,...

Lawrence F. Maykrantz has been appointed president of St. John Properties Inc. of Baltimore, one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the region, effective immediately. Formerly senior vice president and chief financial officer of St. John Properties, Maykrantz replaces Edward A. St. John, who founded the predecessor company of St. John Properties, MIE Properties, in 1971. St. John becomes chairman of the board of the firm, which owns and has developed more than 14 million square feet of real estate in Maryland, Colorado, Louisiana, Virginia and Wisconsin.

GOP candidate Newt Gingrich announced last week he was running for president and, hours later, he was accused of being a racist -- or at least of using coded racist slurs  due to his calling President Barack Obama "the food stamp president. "  (See Joan Walsh's article in Salon here for additional details.)  NBC's David Gregory confronted Gingrich about his use of the phrase on "Meet the Press" Sunday. Here's how Gingrich responded:  "That's bizarre," he said.