Wilbur Cunningham
Chairman

Wilbur E. Cunningham is Vice President of the Living Classroom Foundation. He served in the Baltimore City Council for ten years where he chaired the Land Use Committee, the Health and Environment committee and represented the City Council on the Planning Commission. Following his service in the City Council, he was the Economic Coordinator for Mayor Kurt Schmoke.  Cunningham has served as President of the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside Community Association, Housing Chairman of CPHA, and on the Board of NECO, Northeast Real Estate Conservation Project.  He was also president of the Baltimore City College Alumni Association. Both of his children attended Baltimore City Public Schools beginning in Kindergarten and culminating with graduation from Baltimore City College High School.

Robert B. Hopkins
Citizen Representative

Robert B. Hopkins, a lifelong Baltimore resident, is a partner in the Baltimore office of the international law firm of Duane Morris, where he practices civil litigation. He is also the Vice President of Baltimore based American Maritime Cases and is on the Boards of the Maritime Law Association of the Unites States and the Admiralty Law Institute. He is an active member of the Saint Davids Church and lives in the Fourth District with his wife and two children.

Darlene A. Kennedy
Citizen Representative

Darlene Kennedy is an attorney. A graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, Darlene received her LL.M. in Tax Law from the University of Baltimore in 1996. She has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Howard University, Catholic University, and the University of Baltimore, and for four years was a member of the faculty at the Regent University School of Law in Virginia. She has served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice (Tax Division) and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Office of Public and Indian Housing). Ms. Kennedy is an advocate of community service and has volunteered with numerous organizations, including the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women and Baltimore City’s Foster Care Review Board. She is presently a member of Unsealed Initiative, an organization advocating legislative change to adoption laws in New York State. Darlene and her family first moved to Baltimore's Westside in 1992.

Hector L. Torres
Citizen Representative

Hector L. Torres is President of Prosaber Consulting, specializing in emergency management and preparedness. For 29 years, Mr. Torres served as a Baltimore City Fire Fighter, where he rose through the ranks, culminating his career as a Battalion Chief and as chief spokesperson for the department. He has also been involved in State-wide Hispanic / Latino affairs. He served as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs and as director of Catholic Charities’ Esperanza Center, formerly the Hispanic Apostolate / Immigration Legal Services.

In his 35 years of city residency, Hector has been very active in his community. He currently serves as a member of the Advisory Board to the University of Maryland School of Social Work, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Public Policy External Advisory Board, the Baltimore Area Health Education Center, the St. Agnes Hospital board and the 1st Mariner Bank board.

In the past, he has served as the Chair of the President of the City Council’s Advisory Committee on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, and as a board member of United Way of Central Maryland, Associated Catholic Charities and Centro de la Comunidad. In 1999, he served as the Chair of the Baltimore City Census 2000 Hispanic Task Force.

Victor Bonaparte
Citizen Representative

Victor Bonaparte is currently a Socio-Economic Planner for the Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Baltimore Region. A lifelong resident of Baltimore City, he is an active member of the Hillsdale Heights Neighborhood Association. A 1992 graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee Leadership Program, he has served on the boards of Liberty Medical Center, Bon Secours Hospital, Civic Works and the International Book Bank. He has broad experience in Capital Planning and Budgeting in local and state government. Prior to assuming his present position at the BMC, he was a capital projects planner at the Baltimore City Planning Department, rising from staff planner to Deputy Director. Along the way, his responsibilities included serving as Chief of the Capital Improvement Planning, Commissioner of the Department of Transportation and the Mayor’s Capital Projects Coordinator before retiring from city government in 1996. Following his career with Baltimore City, he held positions at the Maryland Department of Planning, serving as the Secretary’s Designee to the Public School Construction Program and Director of Capital Planning and Development Review from 1997 to 2002. He holds a B.S. Degree from Morgan State University and a MGA from the University of Maryland University College.

Benjamin Glenn
Citizen Representative
benglenn5@netzero.com

Benjamin G. Glenn Sr. is presently serving as International Representative of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, an organization in which he is a thirty- six year member. He also servers as a Trustee of the Mid- Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenter and Recording Secretary for Carpenters Local 132. He has devoted his life to all aspects building. He served as Assistant to the President and COPE Director of the Baltimore AFL- CIO. He was born in Baltimore City and still live in Baltimore City. He served on the board of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Maryland and is a member of the Gardenville Community Association.