Maryland Secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development R. Michael Gill speaks to the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland

Hollywood, MD — “Economic development is a team sport,” Maryland’s chief business cheerleader told the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland at its April 23 quarterly meeting. Maryland Secretary of the Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) R. Michael “Mike” Gill was guest speaker at the dinner meeting at Sotterley Plantation in Hollywood. He said to the assemblage of elected leaders and government officials about the state’s economic development efforts: “It’s everything coming together and we are all on the same page.”

Gill was highly complementary of the recommendations of the so-called Augustine Commission created by legislative leaders, including Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller [D – Calvert/Prince George’s] who was sitting at a table right of front of him (Gill) as he spoke. He called the 125-page report “a blueprint for prosperity.” He said the message to the state from the commission, chaired by retired Lockheed Martin Corp. chairman and CEO Norm Augustine, is “You have to be more competitive.”

One of the Augustine Commission recommendations embraced by Gill is the creation of the post of Secretary of Commerce to head the department he now runs. He called the idea a “rebranding” of the state’s economic development efforts.

Gill said it is his boss Governor Larry Hogan’s belief that the economy in Maryland will start to pick up in the next six months with revenues rising in parallel. He said the Augustine Commission will reconvene shortly and make a follow-up report before the next session. He predicted the report will call for a reduction in the corporate tax rate to make Maryland more competitive with Virginia. The comment brought loud applause from those attending the meeting.

Gill said that business regulations in the state are not the problem, but “it’s how we implement the regulations.” He said state agencies needed to be more customer-friendly.

With the legislative session over, Gill said he will go around the state and ask each county’s economic development agencies, “How can we help you?”

Gill said it wasn’t that he was unconcerned about Maryland losing large corporation such as Marriott, but he agreed with Senator Steve Waugh [R: 29th District] that the state’s economic success will come by creating 20,000 jobs one at a time” through small business growth.

According to the DBED website, “Gill is a business leader with four decades of experience as an entrepreneur, a veteran of large technology firms, and a public servant. He was tapped by Governor Larry Hogan to lead the Department of Business and Economic Development in January 2015. Prior to his appointment, Gill led Evergreen Advisors, an investment bank, as chairman and principal starting in 2008. Previously, Gill founded Hoyt Capital, an investment and advisory firm serving startups and growth companies. Gill also founded First Page, which was acquired by Metrocall; served as chairman of Curtis Engine, a Baltimore power generator company; and was chairman of Bluefire Security Technologies, a mobile cybersecurity developer, from 2006 to 2008. In 1981, Gill founded AMERICOM, a Baltimore-based provider of cellular products and services to businesses in the area. Under Gill’s leadership, AMERICOM expanded nationwide with more than 1,200 employees and annual revenue topping $70 million in 2000, when it was acquired by Solectron. Gill remained with the electronics manufacturer as a business development executive until 2003. Earlier in his career, he spent time in sales and marketing at IBM, as Director of Data Systems in the mid-Atlantic region for Ernst & Young, and with American Teleservices, the majority shareholder of Cellular One.

“Gill served on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents from 2004 to 2009, heading the audit committee and technology transfer and commercialization workgroup. His past and present board memberships also include the Calvert Hall Board of Trustees, Baltimore County Economic Development Commission, St. Joseph’s Medical Center, Bay National Bank, and Towson University of Board of Visitors. He is also a member of the President’s Advisory Board at Clemson University. Gill earned his B.S. in business administration from Towson University in 1974 after first attending Clemson University on a baseball scholarship. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Towson University in 1996.”

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com