Otis Rolley likes to make cities function smoothly. His latest job is president and CEO of the Baltimore Development Corporation, the city’s economic development agency. Mayor Brandon Scott appointed him to the role last June. Rolley had previously served as the city’s planning director from 2003-2007 and relishes his latest assignment. But he has no illusions about its challenges.
“Downtown is in many ways the living room, or the parlor of the city. There’s a lot that needs to be done and was neglected in the past,” he says. “But the whole house matters. We need to be equitable.
“In the past Baltimore Development Corp.’s economics were just about the sale of real estate and that was misguided. We need to offer technical assistance to our entrepreneurs.”
He remains optimistic about Baltimore. “This is not Detroit. Baltimore has to be its own brand. We are open for business learning how to say ‘yes.’ We are the last affordable city on the East Coast.”
As to Baltimore’s current economic situation, he says, “I’m not delusional. Not everything will be done overnight.”
The former mayoral candidate (he ran in the Democratic primary in 2011) wears a lot of hats — he is chair of the Baltimore Hotel Corporation; a board member of the West North Avenue Redevelopment Authority, Visit Baltimore, Downtown Partnership, Charles Street Development Corporation and the Stonewall Community Foundation; and an Advisory Board member for Black Girls Vote.
He has a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is also a Rutgers University graduate. Rolley and his partner, Jason, live in the Otterbein neighborhood. He is the father of three children: Nia, a Spelman College graduate; Noah, a McDonogh School senior; and Grace, a sophomore at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
