b'From the President and CEO 2025 Annual ReportFirst, congratulations to all our nearly 90 graduates in 2025 from our two programs, Executive and Emerging Leader! It was a fun year with two highly engaged classes who continued the tradition of seeking personal and professional growth . We are excited to have you all join our alumni family and continue your journey as an active member of Leadership Maryland .Over the past few years, we have been intentional about creating more alumni gatherings taking place across Maryland . This year we ended up offering nearly 50 different events all over the state with nearly 800 alumni in attendance . It is gratifying to see the excitement and support of our alumni and feel the growing energy about the organization .In the coming year, we have a full slate of new events planned so if you havent joined us lately, we hope you will do so soon . Be on the lookout for more details in our monthly e-newsletter and on our website . David A. Fike 16 (LM) LMAnother one of our objectives over the past few years has been to increase our income in other ways outside of tuition and membership . Growing this other income allows us to keep tuition costs down and offer more scholarships for both of our programs . I am pleased to report we have made greatPresident & CEOstrides in this area with numerous new sponsors and foundation grants . In fact, in the past three years, this category has grown fourfold . We sincerely thank all of our valued sponsors and we welcome you to consider sponsorship, too . Next, I must emphasize the support we are receiving from alumni on our various committees .This year we had more than 125 alumni participate on one of our 10 different committees . This is spectacular engagement and is of tremendous assistance to our staff . Your time commitment, ideas, and energy are greatly appreciated . In fact, its fun to see the camaraderie forming among alumni from different classes and programs . We thank all of you who gave to the organization in this way over the past year and we encourage other alumni to join us on our collective journey of shaping Leadership Marylands future . Last, I want to thank those who have become Lifetime or Sustaining Members, and those who have paid for their annual memberships this year . Last year, we were excited to share that we had the largest paid membership in our history . I am pleased to announce we just beat last years record with a new all-time high . It is exciting to see this support, and we thank you . We feel it is your way of recognizing all the hard work our staff and board are doing to improve the organization, and it confirms that our efforts to enhance member benefits are working. All of this makes our staff even more energized for the coming year!Heres to you, and to a successful 2026!Sincerely,David A . Fike 16 (LM)President & CEO2 Leadership Maryland 2025'