BALTIMORE — Mark Anthony Thomas has only been in Charm City a little more than a year and it's already made an impression on him. Even though he's had a career that's put him in a few major cities, he still ranks Baltimore at the top.
"[I'm] surrounded by love, community and excitement," Thomas said. "It's everything you want in a city and everything I wanted at this point in my life, both professionally and personally."
Now, he hopes that community will support him, while he attempts to help write a new chapter in Baltimore's history, as the new president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee. He's the first black man to hold the position.
He's on an assignment to paint a different picture of the Baltimore region to the world. It's an image he says has been "beat up" for decades.
"I knew I wanted to take on something that would put all of the things I've done in my career to the test," he said.
A career journey that has paved his way to success with similar missions in places like Los Angeles, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.
"I had developed a reputation as the problem solver in unimaginable situations," Thomas said. "Problem solving is not for everybody, but you have to have hope, you have to be willing to stick through, you have to be able to handle the pressure that comes with running toward a fire that others run away from. I feel ready for that."
One of the major issues he and the GBC team plan to tackle is the heavy presence of vacant buildings in the city. "It becomes the image that people identify with Baltimore," Thomas said. "That impacts whether a small business can get a loan, because people think you're in an area that people don't come to."
Click here to get a look at the 12-step multi-year plan the GBC has in place to help create a "stronger and more prosperous" Baltimore region.
He's aiming to replace that image with cranes in the sky, symbolizing development and progress. Thomas credits his optimism to seeing first hand what ground breaking leaders and change makers can do. He remembers growing up around figures like Maynard Jackson, the first Black mayor of Atlanta, civil rights leader and politician Andrew Young, former Spelman College President, Johnnetta Cole, and Coretta Scott King.
Like her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Thomas joined Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. They've served as a network of brothers around the country, that he’s been able to lean on since his college days at the University of Georgia.
He credits their support as a big reason for his success so far.
"The fraternity has helped me build confidence, it’s helped people believe in me," Thomas said. "When I travel out of Georgia everyone knows what I’m doing in Maryland and so I get more praise and people praying that I’m successful. You're fundamentally a part of a community where people want you to be successful, they're willing to put all the energy behind mentoring you and getting you to the next level."
Mark estimates that to see progress on some of the projects he and the GBC are implementing as a a part of a 12-step multi-year plan, they're looking at creating more jobs in the Baltimore region, working with community partners to make the city a safer place to live and building up Baltimore’s transit system.
For residents to see some real impact being made, he believes it's going to take at least three to five years.
"I want the [us] to be, universally, the best at what we do in the world and for people here to look 50 years from now to say the GBC actually changed some aspect of the society that people are proud of."