
M&T Bank & The Baltimore Sun's
2023 Business & Civic
Hall of Fame
The 8th annual Hall of Fame honors the achievements of (14) fourteen outstanding business and civic leaders who have spent their careers investing in the transformation and growth of Maryland.
Nominations for this prestigious award were solicited from readers and a Selection Committee comprised of prior Hall of Fame honorees and the Baltimore Sun editorial board.
The 2023 class of inductees will be presented with a special award at a cocktail and dinner reception.
2023 Hall of Fame | The Center Club
Thursday, June 8, 2023 | 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Invitation Only
We are proud to announce this year's beneficiary, Roca Baltimore, will receive a portion of the event net proceeds.
For sponsorships, please contact
Shawn Jen Hyatt,
shyatt@baltsun.com | 443.277.7060
- or -
Dick Cass
Sheela Murthy
2023 HONOREES

Dick Cass retired last year after 18 years as president of the Ravens, running the entire business side of the team, while supporting area organizations. The Ravens, & Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation, donated millions during his time at the helm to multiple groups, including the United Way of Central MD, Baltimore Community Foundation and the Maryland Food Bank.Mr. Cass also led the way on a $120 million upgrade to the fan experience at Ravens stadium, among many other efforts.

Whiting Turner President & CEO Tim Regan invested $1 million to transform Target’s shuttered site at Mondawmin Mall into a community hub for job training, tutoring and mentoring, and co-founded TouchPoint Baltimore, a space for non-profits funded by WT & BGE. His board seats include GBC, UMCP School of Engineering, and University of Maryland College Park Foundation.

The Harvard-educated founder & president of the Murthy Law Firm focuses on U.S. immigration law, helping others navigate a process that she went through, coming to this country as a native of India. A frequent speaker on complex immigration issues, invited to present around the globe, she has received numerous awards. Also a noted philanthropist, contributing to nonprofits working with women, children & immigrants through the MurthyNAYAK Foundation, which she established with her husband.

Tony Hawkins has been described as “pure Baltimore,” educated at City College High School, and Morgan State and Johns Hopkins universities. He was the first general manager of Harborplace, and saw it through 15 successful years. Today, the former Rouse Co. VP is rooting hard for its revitalization. In 1998, he was named chair of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, and founded the Hawkins Development Group. He serves on the board of trustees of the SEED School.

Mary Catherine Bunting volunteered at Mercy as a teenager and went on to earn degrees in sociology and nursing, working full time at Mercy. A generous gift allowed Mercy to build its 18-story main hospital facility, named in her honor.

In January, Bob Gehman retired as CEO of the Helping Up Mission, which he ran for 28 years, expanding the faith-based nonprofit’s reach and its mission, which today is to transform individuals struggling under the weight of drugs, alcohol, poverty or homelessness through a spiritual recovery program. Under Mr. Gehman’s leadership, the Baltimore nonprofit has increased its available number of beds more than tenfold, and added a new Center for Women and Children, which opened earlier this year.

Mike & Patti Batza gave generously in Baltimore for decades. Mr. Batza is chairman of Heritage Properties, a founding partner of Meridian Healthcare and serves on the boards of Kennedy Krieger, Mercy Medical Center, St. Mary’s Seminary & University, the National Aquarium and Archdiocese of Baltimore. Mrs. Batza is on the board at Goucher.

Sherrilyn Ifill is president and director-counsel emerita of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which she led from 2013 until last year, when she stepped down to write a book about “America’s ongoing embrace of white supremacy,” according to publisher Penguin Random House. The civil rights attorney and activist is credited with leading the LDF through it’s greatest period of growth and transformation. She grew up in NYC, the youngest of 10 children, but has called Baltimore home for 3 decades.

The chairman of Attman Properties Company, Leonard Attman has 60+ experience in real estate, building commercial properties & apartments throughout MD. He founded FutureCare Health & Management. The UMD graduate serves on the Maryland Stadium and boards of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center and Sinai Hospital.

Leslie King Hammond is an artist, author, curator and scholar who serves as graduate dean emerita at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the founding director of its Center for Race and Culture, launched in 2008 to facilitate research into the ways in which race, culture and identity influence art and the interpretation of it. She is a member of the board of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and has received numerous grants, fellowships and awards.

Kevin J. Cullen, an oncologist specializing in head & neck cancers, plans to retire this year as director of the UMD Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he oversees a staff of 275 doctors & researchers. Under his guidance, the center received the highest designation from the National Cancer Institute; nearly tripling research funding; and doubling clinical trials. Dr. Cullen’s own lab studies the ways head & neck cancers resist chemotherapy, in hopes of bettering targeted treatments.

Terry M. Rubenstein served as Executive Vice President of the Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds from 1998, until her retirement in 2011. Before that, she worked as a developer and journalist in radio and at The Baltimore Sun, and as a real estate developer. She has been an active volunteer and philanthropist throughout her life, and serves on multiple boards, including as treasurer of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

A Baltimore native, retired bishop John R. Bryant has pastored 3 churches, including the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Baltimore, which he’s credited with reviving. He has shepherded more than 100 women and men into the ministry during his tenure at the pulpit, including his daughter and son. He graduated from Morgan State University, served in the Peace Corps, before earning a Master of Theology degree from Boston University & Doctor of Ministry Colgate Rochester Divinity School.

INVESTING
IN THE COMMUNITY
Each year, Baltimore Sun Media selects a deserving non-profit to receive a portion of the Hall of Fame event net proceeds. We are proud to announce this year's beneficiary, Roca Baltimore.
Learn about Roca's mission to disrupt racism and violence by engaging young adults and systems at the center of urban violence to address trauma, find hope, and drive change, here.
PAST HALL OF FAME
HONOREES
2022
HONOREES
Andre M. Davis
Wanda Q. Draper
Rebecca Alban Hoffberger
Earl and Darielle Linehan
Maggie McIntosh
Deborah Phelps
E. Albert Reece
Paul B. Rothman
Sabina Kelly
Jay Perman
David K. Wilson
2021
HONOREES
James Piper Bond
Thomas & Barbara Bozzuto
Donald Fry
R. Michael Gill
Linda Gooden
Alvin C. Hathaway Sr.
Jeanne Hitchcock
Cathy Hughes
Donald Hutchinson
Sabina Kelly
Jay Perman
David K. Wilson
2020
HONOREES
Marin Alsop
H. Furlong Baldwin
Thelma Daley
Brian J, Gibbons
Michael D. Hankin
Carla Hayden
Freeman Hrabowski
Gary C. Kelly
Neil Meltzer
Ozzie Newsome
Mary-Ann & Walter D. "Wally" Pinkard Jr.
Mary Ann Scully
2019
HONOREES
Robert C. Embry Jr.
John B. Frisch
Larry Gibson
Sandy Hillman
Brian C. Rogers
Senator Paul Sarbanes
Kurt Schmoke
Mary Pat Seurkamp
Leonard & Roslyn Stoler
Otis Warren Jr.
John Waters
2018
HONOREES
Norman R. Augustine
The Honorable Robert M. Bell
Chet Burrell
Joseph Haskins Jr.
Mark & Patricia Joseph
Diane Bell-McKoy
Patricia J. (PJ) Mitchell
Ronald R. Peterson
Edward St. John
Ronald M. Shapiro
2017
HONOREES
William (Brit) Kirwan
Henry A. Rosenberg Jr.
David Cordish
Doreen Bolger
Betsy & George Sherman
Barbara Mikulski
George L. Russell Jr.
Michael Cryor
Lainy LeBow-Sachs
2016
HONOREES