Power Moves: Meet Greater Baltimore Committee’s new CEO

Power Moves is a column where we chart the comings and goings of talent across the region. Got a new hire, gig or promotion? Email us: baltimore@technical.ly.

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After three years with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development’s economic development arm, the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, Thomas is moving farther southeast to take the CEO position at the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), the economic growth org that represents over 500 businesses, nonprofits, foundations and civic institutions. Thomas was selected from a national search after the GBC was impressed by his two decades of experience in leading economic development strategies and public-private partnerships in cities across the country, including New York City and Los Angeles.

The change follows GBC merger with the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore this past spring.

“We merged two organizations to work together intentionally, strengthening our communities and the region’s economy,” GBC Board Chair Calvin Butler said in a release. “Our next milestone was to secure a dynamic leader to define a new vision for inclusive economic development and growth. Mark’s proven experience, leadership and collaboration with stakeholders across business, government, nonprofit organizations, academia and the broader community will be critical to advancing the initiatives building the region’s assets.”

During Thomas’s three-year tenure at the PRA, he was responsible for initiatives such designing strategies to pursue opportunities for business investment, and securing business victories that led to over 8,000 jobs and $2 billion in capital investments for the southwestern Pennsylvania region, according to the org. He’s also credited with helping businesses reopen safety as COVID-related restrictions eased after 2020. Thomas said he’s grateful for his time at the PRA and says he’s grown from the time he’s spent in the Commonwealth.

“My travels within the counties of southwestern Pennsylvania and globally on the Pittsburgh region’s behalf have made it clear that this community holds a special place for so many people,” Thomas said in the announcement. “Serving this community has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life and it fundamentally changed my understanding of our country and economic development.”

Fearless has a new chief delivery officer

Downtown Baltimore’s Fearless announced Ravi Gourineni was appointed as chief delivery officer. In this role, he will lead teams and work to scale the digital service firm that focuses much of its work on the federal government.

“The one thing I absolutely love about Ravi is his approach to pulling out the best in people to make them better,” said John Foster, COO of Fearless, in a statement. “It’s a subtle skill that requires care, listening, and tons of personal interaction. This is at the heart of our approach at Fearless and excited to have Ravi leading our teams and customers towards this idea.”

Gourineni’s previous role was director of federal civilian portfolio at DC’s Nava. He was also previously a program management consultant for the US Department of Veterans Affairs. He has over 20 years of experience working with government contracting companies.

“With the government, I feel I’ve accomplished something at the end of the day,” Gourineni said in a statement. “You can immediately see the results of people using a system you helped build. It’s very meaningful. That’s harder to see in the private sector. Government work is more people-centric.”

He will also help support Fearless as it graduates from the federal 8(a) Business Development program at the end of 2022.

BigBear.ai changed up its C-suite

BigBear.ai, the Columbia-based data and advanced analytics company, announced that Amanda “Mandy” Long would become CEO and member of the board of directors, effective Oct. 12. Long is taking over the role from Dr. Reggie Brothers. Long has 15 years of experience working with software and hardware companies. Her most recent previous role was as VP of IT automation at IBM.

“I am honored to be named CEO of BigBear.ai, a dynamic company whose technology and expertise is trusted to solve so many critical challenges for our customers — from protecting our nation to helping hospitals deliver the right care at the right time to children who need it most,” Long said in a statement. “The opportunity to support the company in productizing our unique technology assets, scaling into a market leader, and capitalizing on the rapidly growing demand for AI/ML solutions in every sector is a dream come true.”

Peter Cannito, chairman of the BigBear.ai board of directors, said Long has an “impressive record of building global technology portfolios and driving revenue growth and adoption of AI products.”

The company recently announced a series of other new C-suite leaders, including Dan Jones as the new chief products officer, Sean Ricker as chief accounting officer, André Hentz as chief transformation officer and Tony Barrett as president and general manager of federal markets. Other recent news from BigBear.ai includes a nine-month-long, $14.8 million deal with the United States Army to be the sole source prime contractor for its Global Force Information Management system.

All these changes come a year after the company announced it was going public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company GigCapital4.

Other leadership changes in the Baltimore region:

• Calvin G. Butler was promoted to president and COO of Exelon Corp., which owns Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. Butler was previously senior executive VP and COO. Chris Crane was previously president and CEO of the company, but remains as its CEO. Jeanne Jones was also promoted from senior VP of corporate finance to executive VP and CFO. She is taking the position over from Joseph Nigro.
• Maximus, a partner company to governments, announced that Dr. Arvenita W. Cherry, its VP for diversity, equity, and inclusion, has been named the new president of the Maximus Foundation, effective Oct. 1. Cherry will also take over the role of chairman of the board of directors from Dr. John Boyer later this fiscal year.
• Real estate company AvalonBay Communities Inc. announced Chaz Mueller has been appointed to the board of directors effective Nov. 1. As part of this change in the board, board member Alan B. Buckelew will be retiring from the board and will not stand for re-election in May 2023.
• Chesapeake Technology International announced Dr. Jay Mooreman as its new CEO at the end of September. Mooreman has over 20 years of experience in the technology space and has previously worked for Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent and LGS Innovations.
• Cybersecurity firm Tenable announced Patricia Grant as its new CIO at the end of September. Grant has almost 30 years of experience in this industry and previously worked at ServiceNow as the VP of digital technology operations.
• emocha Health announced Erica Drohan would be the next CFO of the company after Vincent Crowe’s retirement from the position in June. Drohan was previously the VP of finance for the company Perch.

Atiya Irvin-Mitchell is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Heinz Endowments.