![[photo, Catherine E. Pugh, Mayor, Baltimore, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/05sen/images/1198-1-06922b.jpg)
CATHERINE E. PUGHMayor of Baltimore, Maryland, December 6, 2016 to May 2, 2019. Resigned May 2, 2019.
Member, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Baltimore City, 2016-17; Board of Estimates, Baltimore City, 2016-19; Board of Legislative Reference, Baltimore City, 2016-19. Co-Chair, UniverCity Partnership Initiative, 2016-19. Member, Maryland African American Museum Corporation, 2016-19. Board of Visitors, R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland Medical System, 2016-19. Chair, Baltimore Regional Transportation Board, 2017-19 (member, 2016-19). Member, Central Maryland Regional Transit Plan Commission, 2018-19. Chair, Board of Directors, Baltimore Metropolitan Council, 2019 (member, 2016-19; vice-chair, 2018).
Member of Senate, representing District 40 (Baltimore City), January 10, 2007 to December 5, 2016. Majority Leader, 2015-16 (deputy majority whip, 2008-11; deputy majority leader, 2011-14). Member, Finance Committee, 2007-16 (chair, transportation subcommittee, 2008-15; chair, health subcommittee, 2013-16); Joint Audit Committee, 2007-16. Chair, Special Committee on Substance Abuse, 2011-13 (vice-chair, 2007-10). Member, Executive Nominations Committee, 2013-16; Joint Oversight Committee on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, 2014-16; Legislative Policy Committee, 2015-16; Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review, 2015-16; Joint Committee on Behavioral Health and Opioid Use Disorders, 2015-16. Assistant Deputy Majority Whip, 2007. Member, Joint Committee on Health Care Delivery and Financing, 2007, 2010-14. Senate Chair, Joint Committee on Fair Practices, 2007-09; Joint Committee on Welfare Reform, 2008-11. Co-Chair, Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight, 2009-11. Vice-Chair, Senate Committee on Reapportionment and Redistricting, 2011-12. Member, Maryland Economic Development and Business Climate Commission, 2014-16; Joint Committee on the Selection of the State Treasurer, 2015. Co-Chair, Public Safety and Policing Work Group, 2015-16. Chair, Baltimore City Delegation, 2015-16 (vice-chair, 2011-15). Member, Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, 2007-16 (1st vice-chair, 2008-10; chair, 2010-12). Chair, Democratic Caucus, 2011-16. President, Women Legislators of Maryland, 2012-13 (treasurer, 2007-08; 2nd vice-president, 2008-09, 2010-11; president-elect, 2009-10; 1st vice-president, 2011-12; chair, endorsement committee, 2011-13). Member, Conference of State Legislatures (communications, financial services & interstate commerce committee, 2007-16; legislative effectiveness committee, 2008-16); Southern Legislative Conference (human services & public safety committee, 2008-16). President, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, 2015-16 (president-elect, 2012-15).
Member, Maryland Home-Ownership Preservation Task Force, 2007; Governor's Wellmobile Program Advisory Board, 2007-16; Task Force on the Minority Business Enterprise Program and Equity Investment Capital, 2008-09, 2010-12; Task Force to Study Motor-Vehicle Towing Practices, 2008-09; Maryland State Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council, 2008-15; Pimlico Community Development Authority, 2008-16. Co-Chair, Task Force to Study the Procurement of Health and Social Services by State Agencies, 2009-10; Task Force to Study the Procurement of Health, Education, and Social Services by State Agencies, 2010-12. Chair, Task Force to Study the Impact of Adjunct Faculty on Graduation Rates at Historically Black Institutions, 2011-12 (member, 2012-13). Member, Task Force to Study High-School Dropout Rates of Persons in the Criminal Justice System, 2011-13; Abuser Registry Work Group (DHMH), 2012; Work Group on Lead Liability Protection for Rental Property, 2012. Member, Special Review Committee on Coppin State University, 2012-13; Task Force to Study Maryland Insurance of Last-Resort Programs, 2012-14. Co-Chair, Maryland Commission on Cybersecurity Innovation and Excellence, 2012-14. Member, Council for the Procurement of Health, Educational and Social Services, 2012-16; Clean Energy Program Task Force, 2013-14; Clean Energy Technical Education Task Force, 2013-14; Telemedicine Task Force, 2013-15; Task Force to Study Methods to Reduce the Rate of Uninsured Drivers, 2014-15; Maryland Cybersecurity Council, 2015-16; Task Force to Study Exemptions from Higher Education Ethics Requirements and Procurement Rules to Facilitate Technology Transfer, 2015-16; President's Advisory Council, Baltimore City Community College, 2015-18.
Member of House of Delegates, representing District 40, Baltimore City, June 21, 2005 to January 10, 2007. Member, Environmental Matters Committee, 2005-07 (housing & real property subcommittee, 2006-07; land use & ethics subcommittee, 2006-07; local government & bi-county agencies subcommittee, 2006-07). Member, Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, 2005-07; Women Legislators of Maryland, 2005-07.
Member, Maryland Aviation Administration Small and Minority Business Council, 2005-06. Former member, Baltimore Metropolitan Council Advisory Committee.
Member, Baltimore City Council, representing District 4, 1999-2004 (urban affairs committee; chair, taxation subcommittee on economic development; vice-chair, land use & planning committee). Board of Directors, University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, 2001-19.
Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1950. Morgan State University, B.S. (business administration), M.B.A. President and CEO, C. E. Pugh & Company (a public relations consulting firm), 1988-. Founder and former managing editor, African American News, Baltimore. Former dean and director, Strayer Business College (now Strayer University), Baltimore. Member, Ashburton Community Association, 1990-. Host, "Another View," WTGW-TV, Philadelphia, 1994. Delegate, Democratic Party National Convention, 2000, 2008, 2016. Founder, Baltimore Marathon, 2001; Fish Out of Water Project, Baltimore, 2001; Need to Read Campaign, Baltimore; Baltimore Design School, 2011. Member, Hampden Family Center, 2002-; Baltimore Reads, 2002-; Moveable Feast, 2003-. Chair of Development, Associated Black Charities, 2005-. Chair, Board of Directors, Maryland Center for Arts and Technology, 2005-. Member, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Author, Mind Garden: Where Thoughts Grow (2005), and the Healthy Holly children's book series. Minority Business Advocate of the Year, U.S. Small Business Administration, 1994. Notable Black Woman of Maryland Award, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 1990. Benjamin L. Hooks Keeper of the Flame Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 2000. Legislator of the Year, Baltimore Police Department, 2003. Maryland's Top 100 Women, Daily Record, 2005, 2010, 2016 (Circle of Excellence). Legislator of the Year, Baltimore City Paper, 2010. Public Service Award, The Arc Baltimore, 2013. Outstanding Rural Health Legislator Award, Maryland Rural Health Association, 2014. Partner America Small Business Advocate Award, U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2017 Marcia Lamb Inner City Innovation Award, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, 2018.
On June 19, 2020, Ms. Pugh pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to a charge of perjury, stemming from the sale of her self-published “Healthy Holly” children’s book while she served as a State Senator. She was sentenced to six-months in jail, the term to run concurrently with the earlier sentence she received from the U.S. District Court.
On June 26, 2020, Ms. Pugh began serving her concurrent sentences at the Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville, Alabama, a low security facility. By January 2022, she was transferred to the Baltimore Field Office of Residential Re-entry Management, which manages offenders living in halfway houses and serving in home confinement.
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