John Colvin
Senior Fellow, School of Public Policy

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John Colvin is a Senior Fellow in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. He received his undergraduate degree in business from the University of Maryland and attended graduate school at George Washington University. For the past 25 years, he has been active in the development, construction and management of multi-family residential apartment complexes, suburban office buildings and strip shopping centers. He is licensed as a real estate broker and a mortgage broker-banker.

Colvin held the position of managing general partner and general partner in 25 multi-family residential and commercial real estate investment properties located throughout the metropolitan Baltimore area. In 1997 the residential portfolio was merged with Berkshire Realty Company, Inc., a New York Stock Exchange REIT, and he has become a regional partner. He retains a position as executive officer or director for various real estate development companies trading under the Questar name. He is past president of the Maryland Builders Association and the  Home Builders Association of Maryland, as well as a past director of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.

­­­In 1989 Colvin was selected “Builder of the Year” by the Home Builders Association of Maryland, and in 1990 he was selected by Governor Schaefer to represent the housing industry as a commissioner on the Governor’s Commission on Growth in the Chesapeake Bay Region (20/20 Commission). In 1991 he was appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Landlord-tenant Affairs; in 1992 to the Governor’s Lead Paint Poisoning Commission; and in 1993 the Governor’s Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Commission. In 1994 Colvin established and became president of the Maryland Mitigation Foundation, and Governor-Elect Glendening assigned him to the Environmental Policy Committee of his Transition Team. Between 1991 and 1994, he served as chairman overseeing industry endorsements for all state elected officials, and was the national representative for the State of Maryland to the National Association of Home Builders.

In 1995, he was appointed by Mayor Schmoke to the “Friends of the Watersheds” Commission, reappointed by the Governor to the Lead Poisoning Prevention Commission, and Trustee for the National Multi-family Council. In 1996 he became the Build-PAC Trustee for the State of Maryland and member of the Steering Committee for 1,000 Friends of Maryland. In 1997 he was appointed by the Governor to represent business on the Rural Legacy Advisory Board and the state Housing Finance Review Committee.