2018 MEDA Fall Conference

As Senior Vice President of Administration and Corporate Affairs, Aaron directs Tradepoint Atlantic’s external affairs and activities that include public affairs, community relations, government relations and marketing. He also oversees Tradepoint Atlantic’s internal administrative operations to include human resources and site security operations. Prior to Tradepoint Atlantic, he held the role of Director of Corporate Affairs for Erickson Living, a national manager and developer of senior living retirement communities.

With a twenty-year career in state and local legislative and executive government roles, Aaron has also worked for and with numerous federal state and local agencies and officials. His service in executive roles in Maryland State and Local Government include nine years as Chief of Staff to the County Executive of Harford County, Maryland’s seventh largest jurisdiction, and as Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of Planning for Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. In addition to his executive roles, Aaron also served as a legislative aide for two State Senators in Maryland’s General Assembly. Prior to his tenure in government, as an Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., a national technology and management consulting firm, Aaron provided program management, public relations and strategic communications support for a Department of Defense client (U.S. Army Environmental Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground).

Aaron received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Public Policy from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. As an Eagle Scout, Aaron learned that community service is an important part of good citizenship. He is very active in the community and serves on the Board of Directors for Dundalk Renaissance Corporation, Board of Directors for the Community Colleges of Baltimore County Foundation, and Baltimore County’s Workforce Development Board. Aaron was appointed by Governor Hogan to serve on the board of the Maryland Public Private Partnership Marketing Corporation to assist with its mission of marketing Maryland to the world. Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh recently appointed Aaron to serve on the city’s Civil Service Commission.

Jayson Knott is Senior Director of the Office of Business Development at the Maryland Department of Commerce. He leads teams responsible for attracting new businesses to Maryland, growing existing Maryland businesses, and providing assistance to Maryland small businesses. Knott began his tenure with the Department in 1998, first working in publications and advertising, and then moving into business development in 2000. Prior to the Maryland Department of Commerce, he spent nine years coordinating publications for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Knott received his BFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1987, and has completed numerous continuing education courses with IEDC. A Westminster native, Knott lives in Towson with his wife and two sons.

Kiesha Haughton is currently the Managing Director of the Maryland Women’s Business Center (MWBC) an SBA certified women’s business center that provides business training and counseling services to women-owned enterprises, enabling them to start, sustain, and achieve scalable growth. Prior to heading up the MWBC, Kiesha gained over 15 years of non-profit and entrepreneurship experience in providing economic development solutions to small businesses, NGOs, and government agencies. She is also the business owner of Abeja International, LLC which focuses on providing management consulting and training services that assist in improving economic development opportunities for small businesses overseas. As the Director for the Central Region of the Maryland Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) Network, she was responsible for the business management and training services provided to small- and medium-sized companies in Baltimore City and Baltimore, Howard, and Anne Arundel Counties. Under her leadership, the Central Region succeeded in becoming one of the top performing regions in the State, which has led to national recognition and a number of awards.

Prior to her accepting the role of Regional Director, Kiesha’s range of services spanned every aspect of starting, operating, and expanding the companies of small business owners. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean and has done international development work with CARE Corps Peru.

Her educational background includes various business training certifications, an MBA from the University of Maryland with a concentration in international business, an MA in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration from the University of Denver, and a BA in Government & Politics and German from the University of Maryland. A Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) through the NASBITE International Certification Program and an active member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Kiesha is a member of a number of boards and currently lives in Montgomery County.

Education & Experience
Brian grew up in Cumberland and graduated from Fort Hill High School, Allegany College of Maryland, and Frostburg State University, where he completed a double major in Political Science and Justice Studies. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Frostburg State. Brian currently works for the Department of Natural Resources at Rocky Gap State Park, where he serves as a Park Ranger.

He also serves in the community as a volunteer, having volunteered in Maryland’s State Parks since 1992, amassing over 12,000 volunteer hours. He serves on Cumberland’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission, the Cumberland Economic Development Commission, the Cumberland Blight Committee, and the Board of Directors of the Fort Hill High School Scholarship Fund, as well as dozens of other community Boards and organizations.
Political Career
Brian was elected to the Cumberland City Council in November 2008 and was sworn into office in January 2009. Brian was elected to a 4-year term as Mayor of Cumberland in November 2010 and was sworn into office in January 2011.
Honors & Recognition
For his participation in the community, Grim has been honored as a “Community Quarterback” by Parade Magazine, the NFL, and the Baltimore Ravens, for outstanding service to the community. Governors O’Malley, Ehrlich, and Glendening, have all recognized Brian to be a community leader, each awarding him with service awards and certificates of appreciation. In 2007, Grim was awarded a Citation by Speaker Busch and the Maryland House of Delegates for dedication to the community.

Grim has also been recognized by President Bush on 2 occasions in 2006 and again in 2007, for his volunteer service, acknowledging him with back-to-back “Call to Service” volunteerism awards, and again by President Obama in 2010 and 2011 with “Call to Service” awards. Grim was named in 2007, by the President of the United States, to be a “Daily Point of Light” Award recipient, recognized nationally for his community service efforts. In 2007, Brian was recognized as one of Allegany County’s “Most Fascinating People” by Allegany Magazine.

Tom Dubel leads Altus Group’s Location & Incentive Strategies services, a division of the firm’s State & Local Tax consulting practice. He has more than 18 years of professional experience in economic development and location consulting, real estate, accounting services, cost segregation and property tax. Tom offers his clients specialized consulting services in network strategy, location and site selection, and real estate negotiation. His expertise also extends to credits and incentives sourcing and development, their negotiation and collection, as well as incentives opportunity reviews.

Managing Director, Business and Industry Sector Development
Steve PenningtonSteve Pennington comes to the Department with extensive experience as a sales leader in the telecommunications industry. His experience ranges from start-ups to large national enterprises where he has led diverse sales teams targeting regional businesses and national accounts as well as teams focused on healthcare and public sector accounts.

​Throughout his more than 30-year career, Mr. Pennington led the sales and marketing efforts at a number of companies, including Americom Inc., USA Mobility Inc., Bay Broadband and Sprint. Most recently, Mr. Pennington led the national business development efforts for Seattle-based start-up ATG Risk Solutions. He has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.​

Current Responsibilities

James J. Clarke is a Senior Vice President in the Tysons Corner, VA Office and has provided site acquisition, development and disposition services to a broad range of industrial and office users along the Eastern United States in his 39 year career. His responsibilities encompass all facets of industrial and office site acquisition, including strategic consulting, site searches for buildings and land and transaction negotiations.
Service(s): Multi-state site searches, industrial, office and land acquisitions, build-to-suit developments and strategic property dispositions for corporate offices, manufacturing and distribution users.

Experience

Jim’s special competency is based on over 39 years of experience in the development and leasing of over thirty-five million square-feet of industrial and office projects located in 14 states. He is recognized not only for his knowledge of the development and build-to-suit processes but also for his success in securing extensive governmental incentives and public entitlements for his clients. As a result, Jim has provided and continues to provide build-to-suit development, real estate site location, and complex disposition assignment services to major national business leaders across the Eastern United States including Aflac, Amtrak, Exxon/Mobil Corporation, Hunton & Williams, International Truck, Mazda, MCI/Verizon, NCR, Motorola, Proctor & Gamble, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile, Travelers, The United States Postal Service, Wal-Mart, and Williams Sonoma.

Education and Affiliations

Jim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has completed post-graduate studies in real estate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Real Estate Development and The George Washington University.

Frank is leading DHCD’s efforts in promoting and supporting investment into Opportunity Zones throughout Maryland. Frank will work with investors, businesses, and local leaders to capitalize on the Opportunity Zone tax incentives. Previously, Frank led the Maryland Venture Fund for several years and led the $100M raise for InvestMaryland in 2012.

Jake was elected in 2014 and was sworn into office as Allegany County Commissioner in December 2014. At the time of his election he was the youngest elected official in the State of Maryland. Jake has served as President of the Allegany County Board of Commissioners since January 1, 2016.

JAKE’S BACKGROUND
Jake was born and grew up in Cumberland, Maryland. He graduated from Allegany High School in 2011. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Maryland-College Park with a B.A. in Government and Politics and is a Fall 2015 graduate with a Master’s in Technology Entrepreneurship from the University of Maryland-College Park, A. James Clark School of Engineering. He works in the insurance industry in Cumberland and holds a Series 6, Series 63, and life and health insurance licenses.

From Spring 2013 until becoming County Commissioner in December 2014 Jake worked in the Maryland General Assembly. Some issues during that time focused on pensions, tax reform, and competitiveness.

Jake has been a member of the Allegany County Republican Central Committee and the Allegany County Republican Club. He has attended many Maryland Republican Conventions as an Allegany County representative. Jake was awarded Allegany County’s Republican of the Year in 2011.

He is a member of Queen City Lodge #131, the Winston Churchill Center, CACIF, Allegany County Board of Health, and the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland.

Jake has been a speaker at many group meetings as well as a guest speaker several colleges including the University of Maryland, George Washington University’s Summer Scholars program, Frostburg State University, and Allegany College of Maryland.

Kim Clark is the Executive Vice President of the City of Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). In her capacity as EVP she oversees neighborhood development, business development, capital budgeting, Small Business Resource Center, Emerging Technology Centers, Baltimore Main Streets program, marketing and research and analytics.

Among her achievements at BDC, Kim helped structure public private partnership financing for several major redevelopment projects, including several Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects; the redevelopment of Belvedere Square, all parcels at Inner Harbor East, Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS) for several major developments, including the Westside and the several grocery store projects. She was instrumental in retaining several businesses of all sizes and assisted smaller businesses with expansions and in the development of the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore.

Kim is the Vice President of the Maryland Economic Development Association, Chair for Mission Advancement of the Urban Land Institute Baltimore Council, Second Vice President and Committee Chair of the Star Spangled Flag House, Board member of the Emerging Technology Centers, Leadership Maryland and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and is a member of the International Economic Development Council. Kim graduated Leadership MD in 2009 and is a Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Class of 2007 graduate.
Kim Clark is the Executive Vice President of the City of Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). In her capacity as EVP she oversees neighborhood development, downtown development, capital budgeting, commercial revitalization, and urban design and planning.

Among her achievements at BDC, Kim helped structure public private partnership financing for several major redevelopment projects, including several Tax Increment Financing (TIF) projects; the redevelopment of Belvedere Square, all parcels at Inner Harbor East, Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTS) for several major developments, including the Westside and the several grocery store projects. She was instrumental in retaining several businesses of all sizes and assisted smaller businesses with expansions and in the development of the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore.

Kim is the Secretary of the Maryland Economic Development Association, Treasurer of the Urban Land Institute Baltimore Council, Board member and Committee Chair of the Star Spangled Flag House, Board member of the Emerging Technology Centers, Leadership Maryland and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and is a member of the International Economic Development Council. Kim graduated Leadership MD in 2009 and is a Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Class of 2007 graduate.

Scott is an entrepreneurial and dynamic commercial real estate investment and finance professional with 17 years of experience successfully executing complex purchase and sale transactions, implementing and managing real estate business units, and raising capital for national real estate operators and developers. He has had direct and integral involvement in transactions with a total capitalized value of over $1 billion. Scott’s diverse experience is across a variety of investment strategies and property types, including: office, retail, multi-family, industrial, mixed-use and large-scale land development. Throughout his career, Scott has been fortunate to work with many of the country’s top developers, operators, private equity funds, pensions, REIT’s, and high net worth real estate investors. Scott currently serves as Senior Vice President of Juniper Solutions; a Cleveland, Ohio based Economic Development & Real Estate Advisory firm.

Prior to Juniper Solutions, Scott was a Director of Real Estate at Candlewood Partners where he was responsible for sourcing and structuring private equity capital for clients looking to make single or portfolio acquisitions, recapitalize an asset, or undertake new ground-up development. Scott was integral in establishing the new real estate practice at Candlewood and led business development and marketing efforts for the real estate group. Before this, Scott co-led CBRE’s Northeast Ohio Private Client Group managing a team of three investment property professionals. Scott and his team were involved in the sale of more than $400 million worth of investment property, representing 3 million square feet of office buildings, shopping centers, industrial facilities, medical office buildings, and apartments. Scott currently holds an active real estate license in addition to his Series 79 & 63 licensing.

Scott is currently a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and NAIOP, Commercial Real Estate Development Association. He is also a current CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) candidate and pursuing his CCIM designation.

Matt helps business leaders clarify their data through the lens of a map, to enable more informed strategic and tactical business decisions. As the President of Datastory Consulting, Matt is a creative story-revealer and story-teller who uses geographic information systems (or “GIS”) technology in new and meaningful ways.

Matt has been working in the GIS field for more than 22 years, with a specific focus on commercial real estate and business decisions since 2008. From 1995-2008, Matt was a leading contributor to the growth and success of Towson University’s Center for GIS, which has become a premier GIS consultancy in the Mid-Atlantic region and helped to establish Maryland’s statewide geospatial infrastructure, known as MD iMap. In that role, he serviced nearly every major state agency in Maryland and a few of its neighbors. Between 2008 2012, Matt laid the groundwork for Datastory Consulting by creating an award winning GIS and Research team for MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services in Maryland. The focus of his work during this time was helping MacKenzie brokers and their clients make well informed real estate decisions using the power of maps. Over time, more and more clients began asking for the team’s services outside of specific lease and sale transactions and in 2013 MacKenzie and Matt together launched Datastory Consulting.

Matt is an active presenter and contributor to industry publications, and has been recognized nationally by Esri (the world leader in GIS) with a Special Achievement in GIS Award (2011) for his creative application of GIS to commercial real estate, and as Esri Business Partner Conference Award nominee (2013 and 2014) for his team’s practical and innovative use of ArcGIS Online cloud-based technology.

Matt is a Certified GIS Professional (GISP) with a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Economics from Towson University (1996) and a Master’s degree in Information and Telecommunications Systems from Johns Hopkins University (2003).

Sandy Sponaugle is a marketing expert, speaker, trainer, and coach for Economic Development Organizations looking to empower their staff with high-impact tactics in social media, Internet marketing, and traditional media.

She helps Economic Development Organizations update their communications efforts and stay relevant to their audiences amidst an ever-evolving communications landscape. She’s passionate about staying up to date with the latest trends in marketing and social media — and shows EDOs how to take the most important and most effective steps to get better results.

Sandy is the CEO/Founder of Platinum PR, an economic development marketing and public relations firm supporting economic development professionals across the east coast. Founded in 2002, Platinum PR employs Sandy’s passion of helping communities grow and diversify their economies and job opportunities for residents. She brings her expertise in communications, social media, marketing, economic development, and tourism to help clients create and implement customized communications plans.

Sandy is a graduate of Shepherd University with a Bachelor of Science in economics and business administration. She previously served as a Research Specialist at the Jefferson County Development Authority in Charles Town, WV and most recently as a Business Development Specialist in the Frederick County Office of Economic Development in Frederick, MD.

Sandy is also a member of the Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), and has instructed the “Marketing & Business Attraction” course as part of the Chesapeake Basic Economic Development Course for the past five years.

To learn more about Platinum PR and our free resources for economic developers – visit PlatinumPR.com