Women To Watch 10.12.25 - Flipbook - Page 15
25 WOMEN TO WATCH
Cristina Lopez
55, chief operating officer, Greater Baltimore Committee
One of Cristina Lopez’s earliest memories of witnessing inequality in
economic development was when she was 8 years old visiting Ecuador with
her father and sister. As she walked with her family in an open-air market,
a vendor approached her dad, begging him to take her child because he was
from the United States and she could not afford to raise her.
Lopez recalls the “profound effect” this experience had on her at a young
age, stirring questions of systemic needs and prompting her to join organizations such as Last Mile Education Fund and the Baltimore Community
Foundation.
“This is the kind of thing that really inspires me because I think economic
development, both at a macro and a micro level, is just so important,” she said.
“That’s what the American dream is really about.”
Drawn by the vision of bringing economic development to Baltimore, for
the past 15 months she’s been instrumental in hiring a team to support this
goal, while simultaneously thinking about strategy and implementation.
“The idea that we will help to bring economic activity, economic development to Baltimore, both in the form of business growth, employment growth,
and with the civic agenda that we have is really exciting,” Lopez said.
— April Santana
HALDAN KIRSCH/FREELANCE
Patricia Fitzhugh
55, chief financial officer, Maryland Public Television
Known to many as “Dr. Patty,” Patricia Fitzhugh makes community support
her mission as the chief financial officer of Maryland Public Television and
the founder of New Day Ministries, where she brings comfort to over 200
families through grief recovery support groups. Fitzhugh, an associate pastor
at her church, offers free virtual sessions, helping people not only locally but
also internationally.
“I think that one of the joys that I experienced is watching persons come
into the group who are really broken, really devastated by loss, in despair, and
then watching over the course of time, how they begin to have that glimmer
of hope in their eyes,” she said.
As the CFO of Maryland Public TV, Fitzhugh brings her coaching expertise
to her leadership and management role. Taking a “people centered” approach,
Fitzhugh believes in recognizing her team members for all their unique qualities. With funding for public media undercut by the Trump administration,
Fitzhugh says she’ll bring more of her grief coaching approach to the office.
“You take it one day at a time,” she said.
— Gabriella Fine
LLOYD FOX/STAFF
WOMEN TO WATCH | 2025 | 15
