For the first time in 12 years, former Howard County Executive and MACo President Ken Ulman will be in the private sector, as he launches an economic development consulting firm, Margrave Strategies.

Coverage from The Baltimore Sun:

Ulman’s first job: helping the University of Maryland in College Park try to remake itself into a tech hub that rivals Silicon Valley in California or Cambridge in Massachusetts.

“I wanted something where I can’t wait to get out of bed in the morning and go to work, and that’s the way I feel about the University of Maryland,” Ulman said in an interview.

…

University of Maryland officials said they want to lure start-up companies — and so they want new grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants and businesses to create a community engaging enough for top talent to set up shop near the state’s flagship university.

“Our graduates take all of their talents and their skills, and they go somewhere else,” UM President Wallace Loh.

As Loh describes it, campus leaders want the University of Maryland to be a primary economic driver of jobs in Maryland, and they hope Ulman can begin building it.

To read more about Ulman’s future, visit The Baltimore Sun online.