Jon Laria, Managing Partner of Ballard Spahr's Baltimore office, has been selected to serve as Chair of the Baltimore City Chapter of the Maryland Building Industry Association (MBIA), a trade organization with more than 1,300 member firms.

The MBIA works to maximize business opportunities for its members—including home builders, remodelers, developers, and affiliated professionals and service providers—and to serve as a resource for members and the public. The Association's charitable foundation benefits the homeless and others at risk in the community.

MBIA chapters cover the City of Baltimore as well as 11 Maryland counties—Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Charles, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George's and St. Mary's—plus the Eastern Shore and Washington, D.C.

As Chair, Mr. Laria has overall leadership responsibility for the Baltimore City Chapter. Chapters monitor local legislation, policy changes, and new regulations, and advocate for the industry with government and the community.

"I'm honored to be selected as Chair and to advocate for the building and development industry, a critically important driver of economic development and the overall economy of our region," Mr. Laria said. "MBIA will continue to be a strong advocate in Baltimore for an efficient, equitable, and predictable development process. We want Baltimore to be seen as a desirable place to invest and build."

Mr. Laria brings to the chairmanship decades of experience as a real estate attorney and leader in the region's legal, business, and philanthropic communities. He has provided counsel for some of the most important projects in Baltimore and the region, and serves in numerous volunteer leadership positions for government and nonprofits. In Baltimore, Mr. Laria serves as Chair of the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Commission, Co-Chair of the Mayor's Safe Art Space Task Force, and member of the City's Task Force on Drug Treatment. He is the longtime Vice Chair of Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc., co-founder of the Baltimore Development Workgroup, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Greater Baltimore Committee, among numerous other positions. His pro bono contributions have included serving as counsel to the Baltimore City Task Force on Homelessness and to the Light City festival.

In his practice, he represents leading owners, developers, and lenders in all types of commercial real estate transactions, including development, finance, acquisition, and leasing, as well as land use and zoning matters.

About Ballard Spahr

Ballard Spahr LLP, an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 550 lawyers in 13 offices in the United States, provides a range of services in litigation, business and finance, real estate, intellectual property, and public finance. Our clients include Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions, life sciences and technology companies, health systems, investors and developers, government agencies, media companies, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations. The firm combines a national scope of practice with strong regional market knowledge. For more information, please visit www.ballardspahr.com.