Alicia Wilson is Vice President of Economic Development for Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore, Maryland. She leads a core team focused on developing and implementing Hopkins’ institution-wide strategies and initiatives as an anchor institution in and around Baltimore, and the elevation and expansion of Hopkins signature commitment to the city through investments in economic and neighborhood development, healthcare, and education.
Prior to joining Hopkins, Alicia served as the Senior Vice President of Impact Investments and Senior Legal Counsel to the Port Covington Development Team. Port Covington is a 235-acre redevelopment project located in Baltimore, Maryland and is one of the largest urban revitalization efforts in the United States. As Senior Vice President of Impact Investments and Senior Legal Counsel, Alicia ensured that the $5.5 billion Port Covington Development Project generated a measurable beneficial social and environmental impact alongside a financial return for its equity investors in the project (i.e. Goldman Sachs, Kevin Plank, and other equity investors in the Port Covington Development Project). She led a team focused on measuring and reporting the social and environmental performance and progress of the Port Covington Project to maximize both performance and impact, while ensuring transparency and accountability to stakeholders.
Prior to being promoted to Senior Vice President of Impact Investments and Senior Legal Counsel, Alicia served as Vice President of Community Affairs and Legal Advisor to Sagamore Development Company, a Plank Industries Company. During the 2016 Baltimore City Council legislative session, Alicia drafted key pieces of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) legislation and served as the principal negotiator of the two largest Community Benefit Agreements in the history of Baltimore associated with the passage of a $660 million TIF bill, the largest TIF awarded in the history of the United States. The negotiations of the community benefit agreements involved over 200 stakeholder groups representing tens of thousands of residents from across the City of Baltimore.
Prior to joining Sagamore Development Company, Alicia was partner at the downtown Baltimore law firm of Gordon Feinblatt, a full-service, and the sixth-largest, law firm in the state of Maryland. When Alicia made partner on the eve of her seventh year of practice, she made history by becoming the first African-American to be named partner in the sixty year history of the firm. Alicia is a talented trial attorney and sought-after legal advisor to individuals and business owners on all aspects of real estate, financial services, and employment and labor law matters. In her legal practice, Alicia established herself as a shrewd negotiator and savvy architect of complex deals.
Alicia is actively involved in civic and charitable organizations. She currently serves on the boards of the Center for Urban Families, the University of Maryland Foundation at Baltimore, , the University of Maryland School of Law Board of Visitors, Baltimore Corps, Open Society Institute, the Walters Art Museum, the National Diverse Attorney Pipeline Program, and the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Most notably, Alicia was recently elected as Chair of
the CollegeBound Foundation and as such is the first CollegeBound Foundation alum, first woman, first African-American and youngest Board Chair in the thirty history of the organization. Additionally, Alicia also serves as Parliamentarian within the Harbor City Chapter of the Links, Incorporated.
Alicia is a graduate of Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. At the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Wilson was a Blaustein and Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar and, in 2003, was named the Harry S. Truman Scholar for the state of Maryland. She is the first student in the history of UMBC to be awarded this honor. The Truman Scholarship is a National Award bestowed upon one college junior from each state that demonstrates exceptional leadership potential and who is committed to making a difference through public service.
After graduating from UMBC, Alicia was named the 2004 Andrew Levy Leadership Scholar at the University of Maryland School of Law. In late 2004, she was also named the 2004 George L. Russell Scholar at the School of Law. While in law school, Alicia served as the co-captain of the Maryland Law National Trial Team and led her team to be ranked the number one trial team in the country.
For her accomplishments and public service, Alicia has received numerous awards and honors. Most recently, Alicia was named the 2019 Whitney M. Young Award Recipient by the Greater Baltimore Urban League, a 2019 Distinguished Women by the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, and as one of Maryland’s three most inspiring voices by Community Law In Action. In 2018, Alicia was recognized as an Unstoppable Women by the UWAC Collective, as one of two Power Women of the Year by the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, and as Community Advocate of the Year by the Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce.
Her professional and civic leadership has propelled her to the forefront of local and national media attention. In 2019, Alicia was profiled in Forbes magazine as the “The Black Millennial Lawyer Making Michelle Obama More Accessible to Baltimore’s Youth.” Also, in 2019, Alicia was featured in the Maryland Daily Record as one of the Top 50 Influential Marylanders. In late 2018, the National Business Journal named Alicia as one of the nation’s Top 50 Influencers under 40 and in that same year Black Enterprise produced a television feature on Alicia for her work in securing the $660 million tax increment financing for the Port Covington Project. In early 2017, Wilson was featured and honored by WBFF Fox 45 as one of Baltimore’s four Champions of Courage. And, in 2016, the Baltimore Sun profiled Alicia as one of “Baltimore’s 25 Women to Watch.”