Greg Fitchitt has been promoted to regional president, overseeing all of The Howard Hughes Corp.'s operations in Maryland.

Fitchitt, who had previously been the developer's local vice president of development, succeeds John DeWolf, who died a month ago. Fitchitt had been the public face of HHC's most recent projects in Downtown Columbia, which the developer inherited from its previous iteration, The Rouse Co.

Jim Rouse envisioned Columbia, in Howard County, Maryland, as one of the country's first-ever master-planned communities.

“We are fortunate to have Greg’s talent and leadership at the helm of Columbia to propel forward our dynamic vision for the community and continue the visionary legacies of Jim Rouse and John DeWolf,” HHC President Grant Herlitz said in a statement.

Fitchitt spearheaded HHC's pitch to get a $90M Tax Increment Financing package from the state of Maryland to pay for infrastructure supporting the 14M SF redevelopment of the area. At the time the TIF passed in 2016, Fitchitt and HHC were preparing to begin construction on Phase 3 of the project, which is expected to bring 1.7M SF of mixed-use development to Downtown Columbia with openings starting in 2019.