Secretary Mike Gill is a business leader with four decades of experience as an entrepreneur, a technology executive, an investment banker, and a public servant.
He was tapped by Governor Larry Hogan to lead the Maryland Department of Commerce (formerly the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development) in January 2015. Prior to his appointment, Mike Gill led Evergreen Advisors, an investment bank, as chairman and principal. Previously, Gill founded Hoyt Capital, an investment and advisory firm serving startups and growth companies. Mr. Gill was also a founder of First Page, which was acquired by Metrocall; served as chairman of Curtis Engine, a Baltimore power generator company; and was chairman of Bluefire Security Technologies, a mobile cybersecurity developer, from 2006 to 2008. In 1984, Gill founded AMERICOM, a Baltimore-based provider of cellular products and services to businesses in the area. Under Gill’s leadership, AMERICOM expanded nationwide with more than 1,200 team members. In 2000, it was acquired by Solectron. He started his career with IBM and held a number of positions in sales and marketing. He then became Director of Data Systems in the mid-Atlantic region for Ernst & Young.
Gill served on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents from 2004 to 2009, heading the audit committee and technology transfer and commercialization workgroup. His past and present board memberships also include the Calvert Hall Board of Trustees, Baltimore County Economic Development Commission, St. Joseph's Medical Center, Bay National Bank, and Towson University of Board of Visitors. He is also a member of the President's Advisory Board at Clemson University.
Gill earned his B.S. in business administration from Towson University in 1974 after first attending Clemson University on a baseball scholarship. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by Towson University in 1996.