Marylanders on the Move: December 22, 2011 [Daily Record, The (Baltimore, MD)]

Foundation hires Webb-Williams

Robyn M. Webb-Williams has been named vice president of the Doctors Community Hospital Foundation, of Lanham, which seeks individual and corporate contributions as well as planned-giving opportunities. Webb-Williams has served as a senior member of national nonprofit organizations, including the National Fair Housing Alliance and the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, raising funds for issues concerning health care, housing and civil rights. She is a member of the Association for Fundraising Professionals and serves on the board of directors for the YWCA of the National Capital Area in Washington, D.C.

Robyn M. Webb-Williams

Education: Bachelor's degree and master's degree in elementary education, Wagner College; paralegal certification from Long Island University.

Resides in: Baltimore

Recent vacation: Paris

Hobbies: Gardening, decorating, reading and dancing.

Favorite books: "The Shadow of the Wind" and "The Angel's Game," both by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

Most recently read: Stieg Larsson trilogy

Favorite food: anything French, including French fries!

Favorite movie: "Monsoon Wedding," and almost every movie made by the Coen brothers and Guy Ritchie.

Favorite quotation: "Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition he or she has overcome to reach his goals." -- Dr. Dorothy I. Height

Accounting

Cynthia W. Taylor has been promoted to supervisor in the audit, accounting, and consulting department of Ellin & Tucker. Taylor's responsibilities include assisting on audits and reviews of financial statements for privately held businesses and not-for- profit organizations.

Reznick Group recently appointed two new principals in its Baltimore office: Adam Kleeman is a CPA with 18 years of experience providing audit, accounting and consulting services in the commercial and multi-family real estate industries. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland. Lucas Matesa is a CPA with 12 years of experience providing audit and accounting advisory services with a focus on multi-family and commercial real estate financed through low-income housing tax credits and historic tax credits. He has a bachelor's degree from Mount St. Mary's University.

Architecture

Mahan Rykiel Associates, of Baltimore, has added three staff members: Morgan Handley has worked at a design build firm and interned at the Landscape Architecture Foundation; he will work primarily with Mahan Rykiel's retail studio. Grace Ryan works in the firm's higher education and health care groups; she is a graduate of the University of Maryland. Andrew Scott is working at the firm through Purdue University's Cooperative Education Program.

Awards

AARP Maryland State Director Hank Greenberg has been named Consumer Advocate of the Year by the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition for his advocacy for Maryland consumers and his work to protect access to energy for seniors and low-income families.

Howard County has honored individuals, nonprofit organizations and a local business for their work as volunteers this year: Volunteer of the Year: Jacques Fein, a founder of the Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust who has worked with the Jewish Federation of Howard County, the county's former Hate Bias Impact Panel and counseled youthful offenders who committed hate crimes; Youth of the Year: Rupini Shukla, a senior at Oakland Mills High School who leads a homework support group, mentors students and is a peer mediator; Non-Profit Organization of the Year: The Arc of Howard County's Team Embrace. Business of the Year: Brightworks Wealth Management; Community Builder Award: Laurel Conran and Lisa Chertok; Patriot Award: Don Downer.

Jackson Yang, founder and CEO of Columbia-based ATR Corporation and ATR Solartech, was named Maryland's Clean Energy Entrepreneur of the Year at the second Maryland Clean Energy Summit in recognition of his creation of ATR Solartech and its development and manufacture of highly efficient clean-energy devices built around the company's tracking solar technology. Yang received several engineering degrees from the University of Maryland. He taught mechanical engineering at the university for 38 years and founded and led its Robotic and Structural Dynamic Laboratories.

Gladys Jones, director of administrative services for the Prince Frederick Campus of the College of Southern Maryland, has received the Concerned Black Women of Calvert County's Harriet Tubman Woman of the Year Award. Jones is the chair of the Calvert County Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the United Way of Calvert County Finance Committee, the 5th Congressional District Women's Network Advisory Committee and the Calvert County Compensation and Review Board, and is secretary of the National Congress of Black Women, Calvert County chapter. She has bachelor's and master's degrees from Sojourner-Douglass College.

Boards

Fred Sherrill has been named president of the board of directors for Monarch Academy Public Charter School, in Glen Burnie, and Michael Wodka has been elected to the board. Sherrill is vice president and financial advisor with RBC Wealth Management, of Annapolis. He previously was regional vice president of Bridges Learning Systems. He also has held leadership positions at Redefining Actions & Decisions Educational Programs and the Aspen (Colo.) School District. Wodka is assistant director of design with the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. He also has been a member of The Children's Guild board.

Cathy Purple Cherry, of Purple Cherry Architects, of Annapolis, has been appointed to the AutismOne board of directors. AutismOne is a national nonprofit charity organization started by a small group of parents of children with autism. Cherry, whose son has autism, has devoted a studio of her firm to designing buildings for people with special needs.

Community Foundation of Harford County has elected Kathleen A. Beck and Kenneth M. Ferrara to three-year terms on its board of directors. Beck is vice president-wealth management for PNC Bank in Baltimore. She previously worked at J.P. Morgan Securities, and at T. Rowe Price Associates in Owings Mills. Beck has an MBA from Loyola University Maryland and a bachelor's degree from the University of Baltimore. She serves on the boards of Advocates for Children and Youth and Family and Children's Services-Harford County. Ferrara is vice president and executive director of the Upper Chesapeake Health Foundation. His 20 years of fundraising experience includes directing individual capital giving and annual giving programs at Loyola University Maryland. He has an MBA from Loyola's Sellinger School of Business and Management and a bachelor's degree from Loyola.

The Corporate Volunteer Council of Montgomery County has chosen its leaders for 2012. Board officers: president, Will Schroeder, Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker; VP Finance, Scott Dinkel, Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union; VP Administration: Rebecca Reyes, Catalyst Health Solutions; VP Communications, Laura Rowles, Gaithersburg Germantown Chamber of Commerce; VP Membership, Theresa Testoni, Governor's Commission on Service and Volunteerism; VP Programs, Kallie Wasserman, NIH Charities; immediate past president, Matt Hodgson, hodgsonConsulting; and general counsel, Ray McKenzie, The Law Office of Raymond T. McKenzie. Directors: Debbi Jarvis, PEPCO; Debbie Lazovick, Target Marketing Group; Gary Rosenthal, The Gary Rosenthal Collection; Gloria Arnold, Bethesda Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce; Helaine Barry, M&T Bank; Kasey Kaseman, Kaseman's Consulting; Kelly Gibson Caplan, Washington Gas; Liz Huntley, MedImmune; Louise Allentuck, Allentuck Landscaping; Mitchell Wool, Bean Bag Deli and Catering; Ron Dimaranan, Mid- Atlantic Federal Credit Union; Teresa Witt, Adventist HealthCare; and Tim Kerns, TerpSys.

Mike Croxson, president of CareOne Services and chief operating officer of Ascend One Corp., of Columbia, has joined the board of directors of Better Business Bureau Greater Maryland. Croxson is treasurer of the board of directors of The Columbia Foundation, and past president of the board of directors of Maryland Works. CareOne Services is a subsidiary of the Ascend One Corp. family of businesses, which help consumers get out of debt, strengthen their finances and better manage their money.

Bruce Yarwood has been added to the board of directors of CFG Community Bank, of Baltimore. He had been president and CEO of the American Health Care Association. Before that, Yarwood led a management consulting and issues advocacy firm that specialized in managed health care and long-term care issues, served as an executive in a large nursing home corporation and a trade association, and held leadership roles in the California Department of Health.

The Maryland Humanities Council has elected seven new members to its board of directors: Diedre L. Badejo, inaugural dean of the Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Baltimore; Gordon Cooley, Western Maryland regional president of PNC Bank; Michael S. Glaser, professor emeritus at St. Mary's College of Maryland, where he taught literature and creative writing and was an administrator for nearly 40 years; Peter Kelly-Detwiler, senior vice president of energy technology services for Constellation New Energy; Heather Sarkissian, business strategist at Community Analytics and former CEO of mp3Car; Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Stephen J. Sfekas, who previously practiced health care law for 35 years with the Office of Attorney General and in private practice; and Joseph R. Urgo, president and professor of English at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

David A. Goldner, a managing partner at Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates, a Baltimore CPA and consulting firm, has been appointed to the board of directors of BKR International, a global association of independent accounting and business advisory firms. Goldner is a CPA, a Certified Financial Planner and a Certified Valuation Analyst. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland and a master's degree from the University of Baltimore. Goldner is on the investment committees of the Komen for the Cure Maryland and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Maryland.

Brad Callahan, CEO of Travel Advantage Network, of Millersville, recently received the Volunteer of the Year Award from the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland. Callahan was recognized for his volunteer contributions, having just finished his second three-year term on the BBB's board of directors, including his role as an advisor to the Executive Committee. He recently received the Spirit of the University award from Towson University for his volunteer work, which includes serving on the Founder's Fund. Callahan's Travel Advantage Network, a wholesale-priced vacation accommodations program, encourages volunteerism and community giving by its staff.

Harbhajan (Harry) S. Ajrawat has been sworn in as president of MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society. In 2006 Dr. Ajrawat joined several other urologists to form MidAtlantic Urology Associates, headquartered in Greenbelt, where he is president and CEO. He has served as president of the Prince George's County Medical Society, the Indian American Medical Society of Greater Washington, and the Indian American Urological Association of North America.

Campaigning

Robert M. Infussi Sr. has joined CampaignON, of Towson, as senior political advisor. CampaignON, which officially launched in November, melds integrated software technology, creative marketing, and advisory services for local and state candidates. Infussi has managed winning campaigns, secured funds and mapped strategies for candidates on both sides of the aisle. He served as chief of staff for two county executives in Maryland, and worked on the staff of a third as deputy director of economic development. Infussi coordinated constituent services as district director for then-Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and later served as political advisor to Ehrlich during his successful campaign for governor.

Consulting

Howard S. Freedlander, deputy state treasurer for external affairs for the past eight years, has joined The Artemis Group as a senior consultant focusing on procurement and state policy issues. Freedlander, a retired Maryland National Guard colonel, served as executive officer/director of public affairs and legislative liaison for the Military Department. He serves on the boards of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and Leadership Maryland.

Douglas M. Adams has been appointed a senior project manager in the Baltimore office of Dewberry, which provides architecture, engineering, and management and consulting services to public- and private-sector clients. Adams will focus on the need of local and state government for geographic information systems. He has served as the GIS manager, coordinator, and program manager for Harford County and Baltimore County, and took part in the initiation and operation of the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee. Adams has bachelor's and master's degrees from Towson University, where he teaches GIS database design. He is a geographic information system professional and certified in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library Foundation.

Steve Simon recently joined Van Eperen & Co., a communications consulting firm in Bethesda, as a vice president. Simon had worked as a public relations consultant operating his own firm, Simon Public Relations, after serving as public information director for Montgomery County Public Schools, as a director of communications for Montgomery College, and a public information officer for Montgomery County government. He was managing editor of The Chronicle Express Newspapers in Montgomery County. Simon is a former president of the Maryland Council of Community College Public Relations Officers. He serves on the boards of Identity Inc. and A Message of Hope Cancer Fund Inc. Simon majored in radio and television broadcasting at Montgomery College and the University of Maryland, College Park.

Education

Makeba L. Clay has been appointed executive director of diversity and equal opportunity by the College of Southern Maryland. Most recently, she was director of the Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding at Princeton University. Before that, she was director of the Leadership Institute for International Public Policy and associate director of student affairs at the University of Maryland. Clay has served as assistant director of the department of residence life at McDaniel College and at Johns Hopkins University. She has served on the boards of the American Council on Education Women's Network, Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore, and Princeton in Africa, and is the immediate past president of the National Association of Black Women in Higher Education.

Catharine B. Rommel has been named director of outreach and student evaluation by Jemicy School, of Owings Mills. Rommel will be responsible for outreach and also testing, evaluating, and providing curriculum recommendations for all new Jemicy Lower and Middle School students. She has a bachelor's degree from Loyola University Maryland and a master's degree of education in school improvement and leadership from Goucher College. Rommel is a past president of the Maryland branch of the International Dyslexia Association.

Two Community College of Baltimore County students recently received $2,000 Tools for Tomorrow scholarships from Grainger, an international distributor of industrial supplies. Faran Masood is a computer aided design drafting student who works part-time as a laboratory assistant and tutor. Claybourne DeVaughn is in the construction management program at CCBC Catonsville and has completed an apprenticeship with the Mid-Atlantic Carpenters Training Center.

Anne Arundel Community College has been named to a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan advisory board created to form a dialogue with and build partnerships between national business leaders and higher education institutions. Andrew L. Meyer, vice president of learning at AACC and the college's representative on the new board, has served in leadership roles on the boards of the National Council for Continuing Education and Training, and the Global Corporate College. He is the AACC representative for the League for Innovation in the Community College.

Health Care

Deborah Keller has been appointed vice president of human resources by Quality Health Strategies, of Easton, a holding company for a group of organizations dedicated to transforming health systems. Keller most recently was vice president of human resources for Strayer Education in Herndon, Va.

Insurance

FinSecure, of Towson, has added three assistant vice presidents of sales: David Cassel for the Northern Mid-Atlantic region, Chuck Cook for the Midwest, and Scott Harris for the West. FinSecure, a member company of W.R. Berkley Corp., provides insurance for financial institutions -- predominately small to medium-sized banks, savings and loans, and credit unions.

Landscaping

Ruppert Landscape, of Laytonsville, has been named Landscape Subcontractor of the Year by the Associated Builders and Contractors' Metro Washington and Virginia Chapters in the Excellence in Construction Awards program for the seventh time. Ruppert Landscape provides commercial landscape construction and management in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina.

Marketing

Heather [not][not][not]Border has been hired as senior designer of Warschawski, of Baltimore. Border previously was a print and interactive graphic designer at Harvey & Daughters, and a graphic designer at Pivec Media and Graphic Design.

Pharmaceuticals

Cary J. Claiborne has been appointed chief financial officer of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, of Bethesda. Claiborne had been Sucampo's interim CFO since March. He previously was president, CEO, CFO and on the board of directors of New Generation Biofuels, of Columbia. Before that Claiborne had been CFO of Osiris Therapeutics. He began his career at General Electric, where he became president and CEO of New Enterprise Wholesale Services at GE Capital. Claiborne also served as VP-Financial Planning & Analysis of MCI Corp. and The Home Depot.

Public Relations

Himmelrich PR, of Baltimore, has added two staff members: Garrett Berberich has joined the firm as account coordinator; he most recently held customer service positions with M&T Bank. Jamie Wagner is now an account associate; she previously held positions with Stanton Communications in Baltimore and Olive PR Solutions.