Cheryl Washington is the President and Chief Executive Office for East Baltimore Development, Inc. (EBDI), which is the non-profit 501(c)(3) organization charged with overseeing the $1.8 billion revitalization of an 88- acre portion of East Baltimore adjacent to Johns Hopkins medical campus. EBDI was established in 2002 by the Mayor and Baltimore City Council with the mission of positively transforming a targeted East Baltimore neighborhood by creating new and enhanced economic, housing, employment, business and human development opportunities for current and future residents.
As President and CEO, Ms. Washington provides the vision and leadership necessary to implement the master plan for this large mixed-used and mixed-income community revitalization effort. Ms. Washington has been with EBDI since 2004 and has provided leadership on every aspect of the organization by always keeping the core values of community engagement, economic inclusion, and responsible redevelopment at the forefront of every decision. Harnessing the strength and power of this public-private partnership, Ms. Washington prides her leadership style as being collaborative, inclusive, and solution-oriented. In addition to overseeing the administrative, financial and operational functions of the organization, Ms. Washington serves as the lead negotiator in real estate development transactions and sets the programmatic and policy agenda for EBDI’s human and community services work. During her tenure, EBDI was the 2020 recipient of the Greater Baltimore Committee’s 2020 Bridging the Gap Achievement Award in Diversity in Leadership.
Prior to her current appointment, Ms. Washington was the Chief Operating Officer at EBDI and had the primary responsibility of advising the President & CEO and other key members of the executive and senior management team on operational, administrative, human resources, internal and external communications, economic inclusion and workforce development. She served as the management liaison to the Board of Directors and the various Board committees and served as Corporate Secretary. In addition, she served as grants manager and liaison to funders and other stakeholders regarding grant applications, reporting, payments, and other matters that may arise; as well as the liaison to external stakeholders regarding communications, marketing and branding strategies and the planning of all events to be held in the EBDI project area.
Ms. Washington also managed economic inclusion and workforce development programming, policy development, and compliance monitoring. Under her leadership, EBDI has exceeded its goals related to local and minority business contracting and local hiring. Moreover, EBDI’s economic inclusion and workforce development model has been commended by Congressman Cummings as setting the pace for inclusion across the country and has been emulated by other redevelopment projects and jurisdictions.
Prior to EBDI, Ms. Washington was the Executive Director of Aunt Hattie’s Place, Inc., a residential leadership program for boys in foster care. She received her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in 1996 and was admitted to the Maryland State Bar later that same year. She graduated magna cum laude from Norfolk State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications.
Ms. Washington currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the East Baltimore Community School and the Advisory Board of Fulton Bank, National Association. From 2011 through 2014, she was a Mayoral appointed member of the Governing Board for Baltimore City Head Start and served as Secretary and Chair of the Board during her tenure. Previous board service was with Outward Bound and Girl Scouts of Central Maryland. In 2013, Ms. Washington was honored to be a recipient of the Daily Record’s Top 100 Women of the Year Award. Ms. Washington was a member of the Class of 2000 Greater Baltimore Committee LEADERSHIP program and the Class of 2003 of Leadership Maryland. Ms. Washington has been a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. since 1992.