The Maryland Chamber’s Board of Directors announced the 2012 inductees into the Maryland Business Hall of Fame. They will be honored during the Maryland Chamber’s Annual Meeting & Business Hall of Fame Awards Dinner, which will be held on April 30 at the BWI Marriott. This year’s honorees are:
Betty Buck
President of Buck Distributing Company, Inc.
Buck Distributing was founded in 1946 by Betty’s father Irwin Buck. She was named President in 1986, and under her direction the company continued to grow to become one of the largest woman-owned and operated Miller Brewing Company distributers in the country, employing more than 100 people with annual sales of more than $49 million. In 2007, Betty became the first woman to chair of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. She was also the first woman chair of the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
William R. Roberts
Regional President for Maryland and Washington, D.C, Verizon (Retired)
Born and raised in Talbot County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Roberts began his career with C&P Telephone Company in Washington, D.C., in 1980 as a business office manager. He went on to hold positions of increasing responsibility in operations, human resources, marketing, public affairs, and government relations at C&P and Bell Atlantic before assuming responsibility in 2000 for Verizon’s public policy initiatives in Maryland as president. Roberts was named region president for Verizon Maryland and Verizon Washington, D.C., in December 2007. He retired at the end of last year. Roberts chaired the Maryland Chamber of Commerce from 2003 to 2005.
Lawrence A. Shulman
Founding Partner, Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy & Ecker, P.A.
Shulman is a founding partner of Shulman Rogers, one of the largest, most respected law firms in the Washington Metropolitan Area. He is a nationally recognized commercial real estate and leasing specialist, lecturer and a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. Shulman served on the Maryland Chamber’s board of directors from 1992 to 2004. A strong advocate for education, Shulman chaired the Chamber’s Task Force on Higher Education in 2004 and 2005, and he represented the Maryland Chamber on the state’s Commission to Develop the Maryland Model for Funding Higher Education.
The Maryland Business Hall of Fame was established in 2000 to recognize the accomplishments of entrepreneurs and business executives throughout Maryland whose contributions, in business and in the community, have helped to advance the quality of life for Marylanders and the state’s business climate.
More information on the April 30 Annual Meeting will be available soon. Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact Jan Krueger for details at (410) 269-0642, (301) 261-2858 or jkrueger@mdchamber.org.
