2021 MEDA Fall Conference

Danny graduated from Crisfield High School, received an Associate Degree in Accounting from Wor-Wic Community College and Business Administration at Salisbury University.

Danny is the current Executive Director for the Somerset County Economic Development Commission for the past 12 years. His position entitles him to focus on the retention and expansion of existing employers and the recruitment of new businesses to assist in the economic growth of Somerset County. He was previously employed with the State of Maryland in the Department of Labor, Licensing, & Regulation Agency for 12 years and formerly worked at the Carvel Hall Plant in Crisfield as Human Resources Manager, Time & Motion Study Observer for 10 years until its closing. He also owned & operated the Circle Inn Restaurant in Crisfield for 10 years.

He was the Past-Chairman of the Crisfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Somerset County Economic Development Commission. Danny serves as a board member for the Maryland Economic Development Association, Lower Shore Workforce Alliance, and was formerly a councilperson for 8 years at the City of Crisfield. He is also active as a High School Sports official in soccer & basketball.

Danny was raised in Fruitland, Maryland until 1975 then later moved to Crisfield, Maryland. He moved to the Princess Anne area in 2008. He is married to his wife, Cheryl who is a private music teacher, has a son Keith who graduated from University of Maryland College Park majoring in Electrical Engineering, and has two grandchildren Daniel Ryon, and Kaiden Nickolas. He enjoys all types of sports, cooking, playing trumpet in church, & spending time with his family.

Ms. Beaver has served as the Carroll County Deputy Director of Economic Development since 2001. Prior to that Ms. Beaver held several Carroll County workforce development roles serving Carroll County businesses and citizens for a total of 27 years.
Selected as a Leadership Maryland Class of 2021 member and elected MEDA secretary in April 2021, Ms. Beaver also currently represents Carroll County at the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Advisory Board, the Baltimore Gas & Electric Carroll County Advisory Council, the Carroll Transit Advisory Council, and the Mid-Maryland Workforce Development Board. Previously, Ms. Beaver was a founding member, board member, and Secretary of the Carroll Technology Council (now Carroll Technology & Innovation Council) for 16 years.
Ms. Beaver holds degrees from Kutztown University and Towson University and resides in Westminster.

Renée M. Winsky is the president and founder of Bay One Group, LLC. Formed in 2012, the firm assists clients with a variety of subject matters, including leadership development, economic development, entrepreneurship, government relations and advocacy, technology transfer and commercialization, university collaborations and partnering, and small business start-ups.

From September 2013 to March 2022, Ms. Winsky served as President and Chief Executive Officer for Leadership Maryland, a professional development program dedicated to building a better Maryland by harnessing the strength of the leaders throughout the state.

Prior to joining Leadership Maryland, Ms. Winsky served as the Executive Director of the Chesapeake Innovation Center, CEO of the Tech Council of Maryland, and as the President and Executive Director of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). She has held positions with the Information Technology Association of America (now TechAmerica), National League of Cities, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, Maryland Municipal League, and City of Greenbelt, Maryland.

Ms. Winsky is a member of the Maryland Venture Fund Authority, a Governor Larry Hogan appointment. She serves on the Maryland Innovation Initiative and Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Funding Authorities as Senate President Emeritus Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. appointments. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Maryland Economic Development Association, where she is Treasurer, and The Maryland School for the Blind, where she is Secretary. She has served in volunteer, leadership and governance roles with the Maryland Chamber of Commerce Legislative Committee, Chesapeake Innovation Center, Maryland Association of CPAs, Maryland Business Incubation Association, Maryland Health Care Product Development Corporation, State Science and Technology Institute, UMBC Research Park Corporation, West County Chamber Government Contractor’s Guild, Technology Councils of North America (TECNA) and the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Ms. Winsky is a graduate of the University of Maryland and a graduate of the Leadership Maryland Class of 2005, where she is also a Lifetime Member.

Ebony Stocks
Executive Vice President
Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation

Biography

Ebony Stocks is the Executive Vice President with the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, an organization that provides business services that help attract, retain, and expand businesses in the County. She previously administered the County’s premier $50 million economic development tool, the Economic Development Incentive Fund which leveraged over $1 billion in capital investment and created over 13,000 jobs. Ms. Stocks is a Certified Economic Development Finance professional who has managed several financing and incentive programs. Ms. Stocks has worked in commercial lending providing non-traditional financing to rapidly growing small businesses. Ms. Stocks has a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.

Anirban Basu is Chairman & CEO of Sage Policy Group, Inc., an economic and policy consulting firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland with an office in Indonesia. The firm provides strategic analytical services to energy suppliers, law firms, medical systems, government agencies, and real estate developers among others.

In 2014, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan appointed him Chair of the Maryland Economic Development Commission (2014-2021). He also serves as chairman of the Baltimore County Economic Advisory Committee. He is also the Chief Economist to Associated Builders and Contractors and Chief Economic Advisor to the Construction Financial Management Association. He serves or has served similar functions for Visit Baltimore, Maryland Realtors, and Marcum, LLP.

He has lectured at Johns Hopkins University, most recently in Global Strategy, and has also taught international economics, urban economics, micro- and macroeconomics at Hopkins. His radio show can be heard weekdays on 88.1FM, WYPR, Baltimore.

In both 2007 and 2016, the Daily Record newspaper selected Mr. Basu as one of Maryland’s 50 most influential people. The Baltimore Business Journal named him one of the region’s 20 most powerful business leaders in 2010.

Mr. Basu has been on many boards over time, including First Mariner Bank, the Baltimore City Public School System, Port Discovery, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and Union Memorial Hospital. He is currently on the boards of the University of Maryland School of Law, St. Mary’s College, the University System of Maryland Foundation, the Center for Emerging Media, the Lyric Opera House and the Archdiocese of Baltimore School System.

Mr. Basu earned his B.S. in Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1990. He earned his Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and his Master’s in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. His Juris Doctor was earned at the University of Maryland School of Law. His doctoral work was completed at UMBC with a concentration in health economics.

Samuel Shoge currently serves as Executive Director of the Kent County Chamber of Commerce, a position he has held since the Spring of 2020. In addition, Shoge is the principal and founder of Shore Studios, LLC, a drone photography and videography company he started in 2017.
Sam began his tenure with the Kent County Chamber during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and immediately pivoted the chamber to crisis communications. Shoge coordinated weekly conference calls with Kent County’s business leaders and representatives from local government agencies managing the community’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. Over several months, hundreds of callers dialed in to get updates on the spread of COVID-19 locally and learn about valuable business resources. In addition to overseeing a crisis communications campaign, Sam managed the modernization of chambers operations and procedures. A new member management software was onboarded, a new website created, and new marketing and communication platforms were added.
Prior to joining the Kent County Chamber of Commerce, Sam was the economic development coordinator for the Talbot County Department of Economic Development and Tourism. In this position, Sam helped oversee the launch of a new brand for the department, the creation of a new website and marketing collateral, a 65% leasing of a 224,000 square foot former manufacturing facility that is now owned by the County, and the development of a 5-year strategic plan. In addition to the passionately undertaking the duty of assisting small businesses and start-ups expand, Shoge played a role in the creation and designation of several business incentives including two Enterprise Zones, an Arts & Entertainment District, and Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE).
Before Talbot County, Sam was an assistant director of admissions at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. This position had Sam traveling throughout the Greater DC Metropolitan Area and the Southeast to recruit graduating high school students. In addition, Sam served as government relations coordinator for Potomac and Chesapeake Association for College Admission Counseling and actively led legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of the association. While working at Washington College, Sam was elected to a 4-year term on the Chestertown Town Council where he represented Chestertown’s largest and most diverse ward.
With a passion for community service, Sam has served in various roles on public and non-profit boards and committees. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health and Chesapeake College Foundation where he chairs the Alumni Engagement Committee. Furthermore, Sam Shoge served on the Chestertown Planning Commission, co-founded the Kent County Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals, was on the board of Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties, and served as a volunteer firefighter.
Sam is a graduate of Elon University and holds a B.A. in environmental studies. He is from Kent County, MD and resides in Chestertown with his wife and daughter.

Ron is the Chief of Staff for Pacific Community Ventures. He comes to PCV with a demonstrated commitment to equity-oriented community economic development.

Prior to PCV, Ron led a civil rights initiative in Cleveland, OH with local Small Business Development Centers, a Venture Capital Firm, and Chambers of Commerce representing the historically underestimated to improve support for Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs entering the innovation space. Ron has also worked on entrepreneurial ecosystem and community improvement district development in New York City and the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. This work ranged from program development, fund management, and operational startups/scaleups. This works comes from his passion for correcting market failures for communities of color that are accustomed to disappointment.

Ron is a proud graduate of Morehouse College, Stanford University, and NYU Law.

Todd Fawley-King is Montgomery Planning’s real estate specialist. In this role Todd supports master planning efforts by conducting market analysis and evaluating the potential of the real estate market. Todd produces studies and reports to highlight how current trends affect the supply and demand of real estate product in Montgomery County. Prior to joining Montgomery County Planning Todd worked for a real estate consulting firm for 4.5 years supporting clients around the United States. Todd focused on the intersection of real estate, innovation, and academia by supporting university clients look at using their real estate portfolio to support their core mission of education and research.

Naddia Clute is a bilingual business consultant for the MD SBDC covering the area of Montgomery County. She brings over 10 years of hands-on working experience with small businesses in the area that include business administration, operations, accounting, financing, employee recruitment and human resource management. She joined the SBDC in September of 2020 to provide financial support to businesses impacted by Covid-19 and transition into Montgomery County mid-December.

Naddia provides a variety of support from a pre-venture business stage, ready to open for business, financing, clients ready to hire employees, clients looking to obtain minority certification with the state, accounting, and recordkeeping using QuickBooks. In addition, Naddia is very familiar with different web applications that can help business owners in the area of business management, project management, time tracking of employees, proposal writing etc. Furthermore, Naddia’s bilingual skills also allow her to support and take the lead with the Hispanic Business Center.

Erin Roth is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Maryland Department of Labor’s Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning. In this role, she helps lead the division, which oversees a budget of approximately $110 million of federal and state funds and 460 employees. Ms. Roth provides direct management to the division’s various offices and programs, including policy, communications, and key initiatives such as EARN Maryland. Throughout her tenure with the Division, Ms. Roth has led major initiatives and innovations for the state’s workforce system to ensure businesses and job seekers have the opportunities and support needed to thrive in today’s economy. She has chaired Maryland’s statewide policy committee for implementation of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and is a recognized thought leader on workforce development. Roth holds a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies from Loyola University Maryland, a Master’s in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University, and is a graduate of Leadership Maryland.

As the Vice President of Workforce Development for Humanim, Inc., Kanika Feaster-Gordon has been an advocate within the Baltimore community for over 15 years, addressing issues related to disadvantaged job seekers and their access to quality career training and employment opportunities. Through her career in business development and program management, Kanika holds a specialized expertise in workforce development programming practices, career
readiness training methods, and community/mass recruitment outreach strategies. In her role at Humanim, Kanika oversees youth with disability and adult workforce training programs. In this capacity, Kanika designed and regionally expanded Humanim’s award-winning Administrative Assistant career training program, receiving the Towson University BTU partnership award in 2020.

Kanika’s workforce roots includes capacity building with Caesars Entertainment’s Horseshoe
Casino Baltimore, to implement and manage a comprehensive community outreach and
recruitment strategy, which resulted in the hiring of over 1,000 Baltimore city residents for
employment at Horseshoe Casino.

For the past 3 years, Kanika has served on the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
Baltimore Practice Advisory Governance Committee, which coordinates quarterly convenings to
support workforce practitioners to discuss ideas, challenges and foster plans for change throughout the workforce community. Kanika recently represented Humanim in the Stand Together Foundation Catalyst Network, which recognizes organizations and leaders from across the country whose work disrupts how we talk about and tackle poverty in America.

Kanika is a founding member of The Project 200 Employment & Training Center which provides
workforce infrastructure support to an African American mega church with a 10,000+-member
congregation.

A graduate of Associated Black Charities Emerging Leaders Board Pipeline Academy, Kanika
proudly serves as the Community Relations Chair on the Board of Le Mondo; a non-profit arts
collective theater company.

Kanika is regarded as a powerful leader and strong community activist who is passionate about
building pathways to economic equity, opportunity, and independence.

Lisa Rawlings is a Baltimore native who has worked at the intersection of higher education and workforce development for fifteen years. She currently serves as the Director of Job Readiness & Workforce Initiatives at the University of Maryland Baltimore’s Office of Community Engagement. Prior to that, she worked at Prince George’s Community College.

Jonathan Hutcherson is a strategic executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience leading a talented team dedicated to digital greatness.
Jonathan founded Exclamation Labs at the dawn of the internet revolution; today, the company is an industry leader in creating enterprise-level web applications. Headquartered in Cumberland, Maryland, Exclamation Labs has transformed online business for major brands such as Gerber Life Insurance Company, GE Capital, Dun & Bradstreet, Choice Hotels International, Nestle, and the National Science Foundation.
Excited by the opportunity experienced in the banking sector, Hutcherson has shifted his attention to growing Exclamation Labs in support of Provision Identity Access Management system. The only IAM designed specifically for banks, Provision keeps banking systems secure by automating the management of user permissions. Exclamation Labs works with banks across the country and has formed partnerships with the world’s largest financial core service providers. Exclamation Labs was recently recognized with the 2020 FIS Impact Award for Innovation, presented by FIS Global.
Outside of Exclamation Labs, Jonathan volunteers his time focusing on improving economic development in Western Maryland. He serves as Convener for the Western Maryland IT Center of Excellence, an organization created to link regional IT leaders with economic development initiatives. He is also the Chair of the Cumberland Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors and serves on the UPMC Western Maryland Board of Directors. Jonathan holds a BS in Graphic Design from Frostburg State University.

Venkat has worked with Crystal Steel Fabricators for the most recent
year of his 26-year career in the field. He has extensive experience
with all facets of operations management, including, but not limited to:
safety, quality, production, lean, financial analysis, ISO 9001, facility
management, materials management, personnel management and
production metrics & KPI’s. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil
Engineering and is a Licensed Professional Engineer. He also holds
the Project Management Professional Certification.

Ruth Baker is Dean of Continuing Education and Workforce Development at Wor-Wic Community College, where she oversees a wide variety of vocational and enrichment courses, from Certified Nursing Assistant to truck driving to computers. Prior to joining Wor-Wic in 2006, she spent ten years at Salisbury University’s Business, Economic, and Community Outreach Network (BEACON), an outreach entity of the Perdue School of Business. At BEACON she worked on economic and community development projects, including implementation of the Shore Transit public transportation system. Prior to moving to Salisbury in 1994, Ruth worked in Washington DC as a senior consultant and manager for the Office of Government Services in the management consulting group of Price Waterhouse LLC. Ruth has a BA from Yale University with a major in history and a master in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Autumn Becker is the Director of the Western Maryland IT Center of Excellence at Allegany College of Maryland, which links regional Information Technology industry leaders with economic development leaders to encourage business retention, expansion, and the attraction of new business within the IT sector in rural Western Maryland. With the support of the competitive grant initiative Employment Advancement Right Now (EARN) Maryland, a skills-training and economic-development initiative of the Maryland Department of Labor, the IT Center’s main focus is to prepare a strong workforce through multiple innovative pathways. The 22-member partnership representing IT business, education, government, and economic development creates and delivers a workforce training program responsive to industry workforce needs and includes internship delivery. To date, the partnership has been awarded over $1.5 million in funding to support their workforce training plan and has funded approximately 650 seats of training since 2014. The Western Maryland IT Center of Excellence was presented with the 2019 Innovation Award presented by the Community Colleges of Appalachia.
Autumn presented at the Community College of Appalachia’s 2019 Conference, “Community Colleges: Catalysts for Entrepreneurship, Economic Development, and Empowerment.”

The Center also focuses on workforce pipeline development through programs like Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), Girls Who Code clubs, and Robotics & Engineering in Allegany County-Together: REACT (a county wide youth robotics and engineering initiative). Autumn is passionate about youth STEM education and serves as a Board Member for REACT and a volunteer for Allegany County’s 4-H Tech Club. She is active in the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce and serves as the Vice Chair of the Education Committee and Chair of the Leadership Allegany Rising program, which is a leadership development program for high school Juniors. Autumn is a graduate of the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Allegany Program and holds a Master’s degree in Education and a Bachelor’s in Communication from Frostburg State University.