Prince George’s County State of the Market

Suzanne was born and raised in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Suzanne graduated from The American University with a B.S.B.A. degree in Accounting and Finance. She is a licensed certified public accountant, and was an owner and partner in Hillman & Glorioso for over 30 years. Through her work at Hillman & Glorioso, a boutique public accounting firm specializing in real estate, Suzanne honed her expertise in business organization, internal controls and structured finance. During her distinguished career, Suzanne has been an active member of the community, having served on the Board of Directors to First Union Bank and its predecessor State National Bank of Maryland (1982-1989), where she was a member of the both loan and audit committees. Suzanne has also been an active alumni at American University, serving on the Advisor Counsel to Dean Tuttle at the Kogod School of Business (1990-1992) and later on the Board of Directors for American University (1992-2000). Since 2010, Suzanne has served on the Board of Trustees for the University of Maryland College Park Foundation. In addition to her many philanthropic endeavors, Suzanne founded the Hillman Entrepreneurs program with her husband David. The Hillman Entrepreneurs Program is a scholarship initiative targeted to students who have an interest in entrepreneurship and a desire to start a business or lead a company. The goal is to support and develop ethical leaders who want to give back to their local communities. The program awards scholarships to students at Montgomery College, Prince George’s County Community College and The University of Maryland at College Park.

Ken Ulman serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development and President of the Terrapin Development Company. In his roles at the University of Maryland and Terrapin Development Company, Ken strives to realize the concept of “Greater College Park.” Ken brings together the private, public and institutional sectors to turn College Park into the next great college town by creating a vibrant downtown community, dynamic academic spaces and create a public-private research hub for tech talent. In his time working for the University of Maryland, Ken has been integral locating major companies such as Cybrary, Adobe, Capital One, IonQ, WeWork, and Trader Joes in College Park. Ulman also teaches BSOS and Government and Politics 388, Innovation in the Public Sector, where he is honored to have taught brilliant UMD students for the past 8 years. Ulman previously served two terms as Howard County Executive, where he earned a reputation for a leadership style that blends innovation and common sense, with a goal of providing the most efficient and effective government services possible. During his time in public office, Ulman took Maryland’s sixth largest jurisdiction to new heights in education, healthcare, environmental protection and economic development. Ken has won numerous awards, and was named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine, a Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver by Government Technology Magazine and a Regional Visionary by the Greater Baltimore Committee. Ken is a past president of the Maryland Association of Counties and served as chairman of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, as well as serving on several boards including Shock Trauma, the Merriweather Arts and Culture Center, and the College Park City University Partnership. Ken lives in Columbia, Maryland, with his wife, Jaki, a fellow Terp herself, and has two daughters, Maddie and Lily. Maddie is a senior at the University of Maryland College Park.

Dr. Gina Merritt is an award-winning, experienced real estate developer specializing in community development. She has been involved in over 8,000 units of housing in various stages of development, managing the entitlement process, structuring and securing the required financing, managing the design, and the overall construction process. Dr. Merritt has expertise in managing large development projects with complicated financing and ownership structures. She has also underwritten over $4.0 billion in real estate transactions. Her real estate development expertise includes mixed-use development, apartments, condominiums, single-family homes, and public-private real estate transactions. NREUV's recent real estate advisory engagements include consulting for the University of Virginia on its Affordable Housing Initiative and consulting for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority on their Sustainability Study. NREUV is also managing over $300M in development for its own account. Project Community Capital®(PCC), an award-winning economic empowerment platform, was founded by Dr. Merritt in 2008 and redesigned in 2021 to include the Collective Impact Model. PCC is an innovative platform that bridges the social capital required to connect residents and businesses of underestimated communities with employment and economic opportunities. PCC works with developers, contractors, and public agencies to place individuals in construction and permanent employment. PCC also hosts Heighten the Hustle™, an entrepreneurship accelerator that helps stand-up businesses that operate informally within a neighborhood we serve with our real estate projects. Dr. Merritt earned a BBA from Howard University, MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a Doctorate in Social Innovation at the University of Southern California. Dr. Merritt's recent industry recognitions include the Stevie Award for Changemaker of the Year-Race, Baltimore Business Journal's Leaders in Diversity Award 2022, Enterprising Women of the Year Award 2022, and the Social Innovation Summit Award-Economic Empowerment 2022. She resides in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband and daughter.

Mr. Harold W. Johnson II is a Managing Partner at Cober Johnson & Romney, a legal, consulting, and development firm located in the Washington, DC area, focused on development, communications, law, and leadership. He leads the development division of CJR. He focuses on economic and community development, real estate development, and strategies for government projects. Mr. Johnson has managed the capital assets and operations of over 30+ million square feet and counseled owners in the management, planning, finance, and development of over $5 billion in real estate assets. Mr. Johnson is considered an expert in the area of real estate development and asset management, and is a Gerson Lehman Group (GLG) Council member and GLG Educator. Mr. Johnson has sold over $100 million in commercial real estate and over 2,000 acres of land for development. He has overseen the entitlement and directed the planning and rezoning of over 1,000 acres representing over $3 billion in development and creating thousands of homes and millions of square feet in new mixed-use communities. He is currently leading and managing the development of the largest P3 project in Prince George’s County, Towne Square at Suitland Federal Center. Johnson was previously appointed a Director of the Washington Convention Center Authority where he held fiduciary responsibility for the daily oversight of the existing convention center and the planning, financing, and development of the new $800 million, 2 million sq. ft. Washington Convention Center. He has been program manager and chief planner of a $2.1 billion government capital improvement program. He has served as in-house Director of Development and Operations Executive to a large 17,000 member church providing advice on real estate acquisitions and development, including a campus development project and total project portfolio valued at $95 Million.