2026 MEDA Fall Conference

Allison Akers is the Director of Marketing and Communications for Anne Arundel based systems integrator Vision Technologies. In this role, Allison is responsible for overseeing overall marketing direction, brand management, corporate communications, and strategic growth of the company.

Allison deeply believes in giving back. Allison serves on the MEDA Board of Directors and serves as the co-chair of the MEDA Young Leaders Group. Allison also serves as Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Chesapeake Chapter Board, is the chair of Vision Technologies’ Charity Committee as well as a committee member of the Women’s Network Employee Resource Group, is a member of Fort Meade Alliance Rising Stars, and recently finished serving on the University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business Alumni Chapter Board.

Allison is passionate about economic development and celebrating successful business growth in Maryland, developed through her prior work as Marketing and Outreach Manager for Anne Arundel Economic Development. Prior work also includes Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Maryland State Judiciary, time in grassroots marketing and events management for the MD, DC, VA region for Road Runner Sports, and a brief stint in the music marketing industry. She graduated from West Virginia University in May 2022 with an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications and holds a B.S. in Marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She is a proud Terp through and through.

More than two decades of leadership and management in government, politics, law, and communication, with specialized knowledge in real estate, land use and transportation planning and parks and recreation.

Ms. Beaver has served as the Carroll County Deputy Director of Economic Development since 2001. Prior to that Ms. Beaver held several Carroll County workforce development roles serving Carroll County businesses and citizens for a total of 27 years.
Selected as a Leadership Maryland Class of 2021 member and elected MEDA secretary in April 2021, Ms. Beaver also currently represents Carroll County at the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore Advisory Board, the Baltimore Gas & Electric Carroll County Advisory Council, the Carroll Transit Advisory Council, and the Mid-Maryland Workforce Development Board. Previously, Ms. Beaver was a founding member, board member, and Secretary of the Carroll Technology Council (now Carroll Technology & Innovation Council) for 16 years.
Ms. Beaver holds degrees from Kutztown University and Towson University and resides in Westminster.

Catherine Buell is the Managing Principal of Wellness Real Estate Innovations (WREI), a strategic advisory firm pioneering health-focused real estate and community development solutions. WREI partners with real estate and healthcare entities to integrate wellness, housing innovation, and community development into the built environment.

A 2024 Harvard Loeb Fellow and visiting instructor at the Harvard School of Continuing Education, Catherine focuses on emerging models at the intersection of health and housing.

Previously, she concieved of and launched Amazon’s $2 billion Housing Equity Fund (now $3.6 billion), which has preserved and created more than 21,000 affordable homes across Seattle, Arlington, and Nashville. Her career spans public and private leadership roles, including President & CEO of Atlanta Housing, Chair of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board, and Executive Director of the St. Elizabeths East Campus.

Through WREI, she advances wellness-oriented development and helps clients create resilient, inclusive, and thriving communities.

Megan J. MacLennan Cook was born and raised in Massena, New York, the youngest of four girls. After graduating from high school she attended the University of Rochester where she graduated with a degree in Biology. After college she worked in the department of Pediatric Cardiology studying embryonic cardiac development, and co-wrote many abstracts and papers on her research. Once her husband Landy completed medical school they moved to Burlington, Vermont to continue their education. Megan received her Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Vermont, while her husband completed his Pediatric residency. The couple then moved to Taos, New Mexico (for the adventure and to ski) where she worked at the Taos Orthopedic Institute assisting the sports medicine fellows in their research. In the fall of 2003 the family moved to Easton to be closer to family.

Since arriving in Easton their family has grown and Megan has devoted her time to her family and the community. She’s served on numerous boards including the East End Neighborhood Association, Historic Easton, the Avalon Foundation, Junior Achievement of Talbot County, and the Parent’s Associations at both Easton Elementary and The Country School. She co-chaired the community built playground project at Idlewild Park known as Project Idlewild, was the Project Manager for Play in Color, and is the co-founder of CarePacks of Talbot County,

Currently, she is the Finance Chair for the Neighborhood Service Center Board, Secretary for The Gunston School Board of Trustees, Assistant Coach of the The Gunston School’s Boys and Girls Tennis teams and Co-Coordinator for Meals on Wheels and Director of Personal Services for the Easton Rotary Club. She also works at the Y on Washington as the Tennis League Director.

In 2009 Megan was elected to represent the 4th Ward on the Easton Town Council, a position she proudly held for 11 years before running to fill the Council President position in 2020 vacated upon the death of the honorable John Ford.

Megan was elected Mayor in May of 2023.

Megan and her husband Landy live on South Aurora Street with their three children.

Secretary of Housing and Community Development since March 2, 2023. Acting Secretary of Housing and Community Development, January 18 to March 2, 2023.
Member, Governor’s Executive Council, 2023-; Commerce Subcabinet, 2023-; Governor’s Subcabinet on Infrastructure, 2023-; Smart Growth Subcabinet, 2023-.

Member, Maryland Affordable Housing Trust, 2023-; Interagency Committee on Aging Services, 2023-; Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Assistance Board, 2023-; Behavioral Health Advisory Council, 2023-; Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code Advisory Council, 2023-; State Children’s Environmental Health and Protection Advisory Council, 2023-; Interagency Disabilities Board, 2023-; Commission on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Communities, 2023-; Financial Education and Capability Commission, 2023-; Maryland Efficient Grant Application Council, 2023-; Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, 2023-; Maryland Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 2023-; Interagency Council on Homelessness, 2023-; State Coordinating Committee for Human Services Transportation, 2023-; Law Enforcement Coordinating Council, 2023-; Work Group on Low-Income Utility Assistance, 2023-; Council on Open Data, 2023-; Rural Maryland Council, 2023-; Interdepartmental Advisory Committee on Small, Minority, and Women Business Affairs, 2023-; Two-Generation Family Economic Security Commission, 2023-; West North Avenue Development Authority, 2023-.

Member, Climate Change Commission, 2016-18; Local Government Advisory Committee, Chesapeake Bay Program, 2016-23.

President, City Council, Salisbury, 2013-15. Mayor of Salisbury, 2015-23.

Member, Natural Resources Conservation Advisory Committee, Wicomico County, 2009-11; Waterfront 2020 Design Committee, City of Cambridge 2009-12; Board of Housing Adjustments and Appeals, City of Salisbury, 2010-13; Salisbury-Wicomico Planning Commission, 2011-15.

Born in Salisbury, Maryland, July 3, 1982. Attended James M. Bennett High School, Salisbury, Maryland; University of Maryland, College Park, B.S. (architecture), 2004; Carnegie Mellon University, M.A. (urban design & environmental policy), 2007; Oxford University, M.S. (nature, society, & environmental policy), with distinction, 2008. Served in U.S. Army. President, Maryland Municipal League, 2021. Single; two children.

Yonah Freemark is Principal Research Associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. He leads Urban’s practice area on Fair Housing, Land Use, and Transportation. He has written extensively in the media, including for CNN, The New York Times, Planning, CityLab, Next City, and Vital City; he also founded the national website The Transport Politic. Yonah is a member of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) Social Science Advisory Board. He is a fellow at the Climate and Community Institute.

Freemark is an urban planning scholar whose work centers on a single animating question: how do local governments, operating within fragmented, multi-level systems of authority, shape the outcomes of transportation, housing, and land-use policy—and who benefits or loses as a result? Across two decades of peer-reviewed scholarship, Urban Institute reports, and journalism, Freemark returns repeatedly to the tension between local political control and broader societal goals like affordability, equity, and environmental sustainability. His research is comparative by instinct (frequently setting the United States against France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), empirical in method (relying on original datasets, geospatial analysis, and quantitative causal-inference techniques), and consistently attentive to the mechanisms—zoning codes, municipal veto power, subsidy design, metropolitan governance structures—through which local political conflict translates into concrete, unequal outcomes on the ground. Whether the topic is zoning reform in Chicago, the location of subsidized housing in Paris, the politics of transit investment, or the regulation of autonomous vehicles, Freemark’s work asks how institutional structure and local political preference interact to produce winners and losers in metropolitan life, and it does so with an eye toward actionable policy reform.

Freemark graduated from Hillside High School in Durham, North Carolina. He attended Yale University as an undergraduate, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. He received masters’ degrees in city planning (MCP) and transportation (MST) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in 2013. He received a PhD in urban studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2020. Between 2008 and 2010, Freemark researched community engagement processes in Paris, where he studied the planning and construction of the Rive Gauche project, a model for neighborhood involvement in development decision-making. He worked at Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) as an associate and project manager between 2013 and 2016.

Kathryn Howell is the Director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and an Associate Professor, Urban Studies & Planning Program. Prior to coming to NCSG, she was the co-founder and co-director of the RVA Eviction Lab and an associate professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Howell’s research unpacks concepts of physical and cultural displacement and power in changing communities and investigates ways that policy and planning can be used to address these issues. Specifically, she interrogates the polices, governance structures and roles of tenants and advocacy in the preservation of affordable housing. Further, she investigates ways that redevelopment, implementation and maintenance of cultural landscapes can facilitate or abridge the right to the city for communities of color. Her book, Affordable Housing Preservation in Washington, DC: A Framework for Local Funding, Collaborative Governance and Community Organizing for Change focuses on the ways tenants can be centered in policies and practices that keep housing affordable as cities change. As the co-founder of the RVA Eviction Lab, a community-responsive data initiative at VCU, she engaged with a range of community partners to ensure data supported housing justice efforts of organizers, service providers and policy advocates.

Before pursuing a Ph.D., Dr. Howell worked for Maryland and Washington, D.C. housing and community development agencies focusing on affordable housing preservation, state program monitoring and inclusionary zoning.

Matt Miller serves as the Executive Director of the Cumberland Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), where he leads strategic initiatives that are driving economic growth, attracting investment, and advancing transformative redevelopment throughout the City of Cumberland. Under his leadership, the organization has become a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and sustainable community revitalization, helping position Cumberland as a model for rural economic development and small-city renewal.

With more than ten years of experience in economic development, five of which in executive leadership, Matt has led a diverse portfolio of redevelopment projects, strategic planning initiatives, workforce development programs, and business retention and attraction efforts that have strengthened Cumberland’s economic foundation. His work has focused on revitalizing historic commercial corridors, repurposing underutilized public assets, expanding entrepreneurial opportunities, and aligning workforce development with the evolving needs of regional employers. Through these efforts, he has helped attract new investment, support local businesses, and create opportunities that enhance the quality of life for residents throughout the region.

Matt has extensive experience securing and administering competitive federal, state, and private grant funding, successfully managing complex, multi-partner projects from concept through implementation. His expertise includes economic development strategy, public-private partnerships, organizational leadership, project management, stakeholder engagement, and intergovernmental collaboration. He is known for building consensus among diverse stakeholders, fostering strong relationships across the public and private sectors, and delivering practical, results-oriented solutions to complex community challenges.

Throughout his career, Matt has remained committed to advancing sustainable economic growth while preserving the unique character and heritage of Appalachian communities. His leadership emphasizes innovation, accountability, transparency, and measurable outcomes, with a focus on creating long-term opportunities for businesses, residents, and future generations.

Beyond his professional responsibilities, Matt is actively involved in community service and civic leadership. He serves on the boards of the Maryland Economic Development Association, Carver Community Center and the Allegany College of Maryland Foundation, and is a longtime member of the Western Maryland Jaycees, where he has dedicated years of volunteer service to community improvement initiatives and leadership development.

Early Life & Education
Michael O’Connor was born in Frederick. He graduated from Saint John’s at Prospect Hall High School (now Saint John’s Catholic Prep) in 1984, and Saint Bonaventure University, with a double major in history and mass communication, in 1988.

Employment
Michael spent nearly 20 years in local media as a reporter, news director, talk show host, senior producer, and moderator with WJEJ, Hagerstown (1988 to 1989), WFMD-WFRE, Frederick (1989 to 1997), and Comcast (Adelphia, GS Communications) Cable Channel 10, Frederick (1997 to 2006). Prior to becoming Mayor in 2017, Michael served as the business manager at Saint Katharine Drexel Roman Catholic Congregation in Frederick. He also spent nine years as adjunct faculty at Frederick Community College (2000 to 2009).

Community Services
Michael was first elected to the Board of Alderman, in 2009, and re-elected in 2013. He has been the chair of the Streets and Sanitation Committee, and the aldermanic liaison to the: Airport Commission, Celebrate Frederick and Delaplaine Visual Arts, Center Boards, Historic Preservation Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Commission. He also represented the Alderman on the Blight and Vacant Property Task Force.

Board Membership
Michael is a member of the Community Action Agency and Tourism Council Boards, the Maryland Municipal League Board of Directors and Legislative Committee, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors.

Volunteer
In the community, he has been a volunteer with various organizations including: Aspire Frederick, The Frederick County Workforce Development Board, Frederick Jaycees, Friends of Catholic Education, Knights of Columbus, Saint John’s Catholic Prep, Saint Katharine Drexel

Personal Life
Michael resides in Neighborhood Advisory Council 6 with wife, Tammy, their two daughters, and two dogs.

D. Reed, AICP (they/them) is Greater Greater Washington’s Maryland policy director. Over the past four years, they’ve helped pass legislation making housing more plentiful and accessible in Maryland. For a decade prior, they were a transportation planner working with communities all over North America to make their streets safer. Their writing has appeared in publications including Washingtonian, CityLab, and Shelterforce, as well as Just Up The Pike, a neighborhood blog founded in 2006. They received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Maryland. D. lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with Drizzy, a rescued pitbull mix and occasionally fosters dogs.

Ebony Stocks is the former Executive Vice President with the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corporation, an organization that provides business services that help attract, retain, and expand businesses in the County. She previously administered the County’s premier $50 million economic development tool, the Economic Development Incentive Fund which leveraged over $1 billion in capital investment and created over 13,000 jobs. Ms. Stocks is a Certified Economic Development Finance professional who has managed several financing and incentive programs. Ms. Stocks has worked in commercial lending providing non-traditional financing to rapidly growing small businesses. Ms. Stocks has a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics.