BMORENEWS.com

Ackneil Muldrow, II

(BALTIMORE - September 7, 2009) - Tomorrow's Soiree will feature six key players in the regional minority business community. Among them is Ackneil Muldrow, II.

So, who is he?

Ackneil M. Muldrow, II, is the retired President and Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Development Credit Fund, Inc., ("Fund") a $14.0 million commercial lender/loan fund manager that makes loans to small and minority-owned businesses in the mid-Atlantic Region. The fund was established in 1983 by the, then, six major commercial banks in Maryland and closed in August 2005. The initial revolving loan fund was setup at $7.5 million. Fund was successful in contracting with organizations to manage their loan funds. The Fund managed a $4.0 million Empowerment Zone revolving loan fund for the federally funded Empower Baltimore Management Corporation, the Baltimore City recipient of a $100 million U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development grant.

Additionally, the Fund managed a $1.7 million Community Development Block Grant Fund economic development loan program for the City of Baltimore's Department of Housing and Community Development and a $500,000 U.S. Small Business Administration Microenterprise Loan Fund. Through a unique partnership between NIKE, Inc., the global athletic specialty-marketing firm, and the Maryland Department of Business and Community Development, the Fund was the administrator of a $1.0  million business development loan fund. The objective of this initiative was to promote diversity and the development of minority entrepreneurs that sell athletic specialty products in inner city communities. The Fund was known as "The Leading Lender to Minority Businesses" in the Mid-Atlantic area..

In 1983, Mr. Muldrow left Commercial Credit Company, one of the nations leading commercial finance firms, after being employed for more than 17 years, but with a brief interruption in service. During his initial affiliation with Commercial Credit, he established the company's first affirmative action program. Engineering a career change, he joined the Company Treasurer's Department as a manager of bank relations and commercial paper sales. There he called on the major commercial banks and corporations on the East Coast of the U.S. He was the first African American to hold such a position in a major commercial finance company.

Desiring to be an entrepreneur, he left the company to form a property and casualty brokerage business with two prominent Baltimore businessmen. After two years, he returned to the Commercial Credit Capital Corporation division as a lending officer to manage the debt side of a tax shelter leveraged lease and commercial loan portfolio. Prior to his business career, he was a public school teacher and then a department manager for a national retailer.

He is an active speaker in the community of subjects as small business and social responsibility issues. He has counseled many young professional persons about business opportunities and being a good and productive citizen. He has been a lecturer at the University of North Carolina's Kennan-Flager Business School; Morgan State University Earl G. Graves School of Business School; The California Thrift Association, Council for Urban Economic Development; Federal Reserve Bank of New York Community Bankers Conference; and, The Johns Hopkins University School of Continuing Education where he presented "Corporate Politics: The Greatest Game of Your Life”.

Mr. Muldrow is currently a Director of Bon Secours Baltimore Health System; Bon Secours of Maryland Foundation; Baltimore Marketing Association; Baltimore Economy and Efficiency Foundation; Lambda Alpha International, International Governing Board; Lambda Alpha International, Baltimore Chapter (an honorary land economics society); Neighbor To Family, Inc. (Daytona Beach, FL); Penn-North Plaza, Inc.(a 66-unit senior citizens housing facility), and Stevenson University (formerly Villa Julie College).

He has held board or trustee positions with world renowned Walters Art Gallery and Chairman of the Walters' African American Steering Committee; Arena Players, Inc. (the oldest continuously operating theatre in the nation); Greater Baltimore Medical Center; UMBC Research Park Corporation; Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture; The Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce and The Woodholme Foundation. He has been a member of the National Railroad Treasurers Association and the USA-ROC (Republic of China) Economic Council, a bi-lateral trade advocacy association. In his civic-professional life he is a Founder and the Baltimore Marketing Association, Inc., one of the Baltimore region's premier corporate business associations for minority and other business professionals. He serves on the Vestry of St. Katherine of Alexandria Episcopal Church of Baltimore.

Mr. Muldrow has had a very broad civic interest in Baltimore and the State of Maryland as he served on the State's first Lottery Commission. And, he was a member of the University of Maryland's Chancellor's Advisory Board; University of Maryland Medical System, James Lawrence Kernan Hospital and the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Also, he served as Director of the publicly traded Waverly, Inc., a worldwide publisher of medical books and journals, which was acquired by Walters Klower & Co. of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

A graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, he has done further study at Morgan State University and the Johns Hopkins University. He and his wife, Ruth, reside in the Mt. Washington community of Baltimore City. They have two children and one grandson and one granddaughter. Now in quasi-retirement, he is a consultant to small businesses and a community volunteer.

Tags: banking, business, MBE's