Kenneth "Ken" Ulman (born May 4, 1974) is an American attorney, founder and CEO of a consulting firm, Margrave Strategies, and former Democratic politician in

Howard County, Maryland Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 287,085. As of the 2020 census its population rose to 328,200. Its county seat is Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Colu ...

. Prior to working in the private sector, Ulman served as

county executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

for Howard County from 2006 to 2014. He also represented the 4th district as a

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

member from 2002 to 2006. Ulman previously worked in the office of Maryland Governor

Parris Glendening Parris Nelson Glendening (born June 11, 1942) is an American politician and academic who served as the 59th Governor of Maryland from January 18, 1995, to January 15, 2003. Previously, he was the County Executive of Prince George's County, Mary ...

as liaison to the Board of Public Works and secretary to the Cabinet.

Early life and education

Born May 4, 1974, in

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland. It is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. Columbia began with ...

, to Diana and Louis "Lou" Ulman, Ken Ulman grew up in Columbia and attended Centennial High School. His father is a lawyer and former chairman of the Maryland Racing Commission, which oversees

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

and

off-track betting Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) is sanctioned gambling on horse racing outside a race track. U.S. history Before the 1970s, only the state of Nevada allowed off-track betting. Off-track betting in New York was ...

in Maryland. A three-time cancer survivor, his brother, Douglas Ulman, founded the during college and was CEO of the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Foundation from 2007 to 2015. While attending college at

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

, Ulman studied government and politics and interned at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. He received a bachelor's in 1997 and was admitted to

Georgetown Law School The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and t ...

. During law school, he served as director of the Maryland Board of Public Works determining state school construction allocations He received a in 2001 and was admitted to the

Maryland State Bar Association The Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Maryland. The association pursues the following mission: "to effectively represent Maryland’s lawyers, to provide member services, and to promote profes ...

. He initially joined his father's law firm taking cases on a contract basis before entering local politics in 2002.

Political activity

Ulman worked on campaigns to elect

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

in 1996, Maryland Governor

in 1998, and

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. She was the first female lieutenant g ...

in 2002. Ulman first ran for political office in 2002, when he sought the district 4 County Council seat that was being vacated by Mary Lorsung. Ulman won the Democratic primary by 50 votes and beat Republican opponent, Joan Lancos, in the general election. Ulman served a four-year term as a Council member in Howard County. In 2006, Ulman ran for county executive against Republican Party opponent Christopher Merdon and Independent candidate C. Stephen Wallis. A major theme of Ulman's campaign was his claim he played a role in preventing the closure of Columbia's

Merriweather Post Pavilion Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor concert venue located within Symphony Woods, a lot of preserved land in the heart of the planned community of Columbia, Maryland. In 2010, Merriweather was named the second best amphitheater in the Unit ...

. Ulman won in the general election with 52% of the vote and was sworn in on December 4, 2006, at age 32, becoming the youngest person in Maryland to be elected as county executive. During his tenure as county executive, Ulman served as chairman of the Baltimore Regional Transportation Board and the Baltimore Metropolitan Council. He was also on the board of directors of the Maryland Association of Counties and County Executives of America. On June 3, 2013, Ulman announced that he would be running in 2014 for lieutenant governor of Maryland as the running mate of gubernatorial candidate and incumbent lieutenant governor, Anthony Brown. After being defeated by the Republican ticket of

Larry Hogan Lawrence Joseph Hogan Jr. (born May 25, 1956) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 62nd governor of Maryland since 2015. A moderate member of the Republican Party, he was secretary of appointments under Maryland governor Bo ...

and

Boyd Rutherford Boyd Kevin Rutherford (born April 1, 1957) is an American politician, businessman and attorney serving as the ninth lieutenant governor of Maryland since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Rutherford was nominated by President George W. Bu ...

, Ulman left public office in December 2014 at the end of his term as Howard County Executive and founded a consulting firm, Margrave Strategies.

Election history

References

External links

* . Howard County, Maryland official website. Archived from th
original
on February 26, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulman, Kenneth 1974 births Georgetown University Law Center alumni State cabinet secretaries of Maryland Living people Maryland lawyers Maryland Democrats People from Columbia, Maryland University of Maryland, College Park alumni Howard County Executives