Otis Rolley (born August 5, 1974) is an American economic development, urban planning, and public sector leadership expert and philanthropist. He is currently serving as president and chief executive officer of the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) since June 2025. He previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation, Newark CEDC, and was director of the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities for North America. [1] [2]
Otis Rolley was raised in Jersey City, New Jersey. He earned a B.A. in political science and Africana studies with honors from Rutgers College in 1996, and a master’s degree in city planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998. [2]
Rolley moved to Baltimore in 1998, where he began his career as a business development officer with Empower Baltimore Management Corporation (EBMC). He left EBMC same year and was appointed as an executive assistant to the deputy housing commissioner during the administration of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. [3]
He was appointed assistant commissioner of operations for Baltimore City Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) by Mayor Martin O’Malley in January 2000. One month later, he was promoted to deputy housing commissioner, serving until January 2001, when he was appointed first deputy commissioner for HCD and the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC). Rolley was responsible for the administrative operations of HCD and HABC, managing eight divisions with about 2,000 employees and a $100 million operating budget. [3]
In 2003, Rolley was appointed as director of the Baltimore City Department of Planning, becoming the youngest person to hold the position at the age of 29. [4] He was responsible for the city’s physical planning and its long-term development plan, managing the city’s $370 million capital budget. During his term in office, he developed a comprehensive master plan that was adopted by the Planning Commission and the City Council. [3]
In 2006, Rolley served as co-director of the transition committee of Mayor Sheila Dixon and was later appointed as chief of staff. [5] In 2007, Rolley served as founding president and chief executive officer of the Central Maryland Transportation Alliance (CMTA), a nonprofit organization focused on improving the transportation system in Maryland. [6] In 2010, Rolley served as a senior manager at the Urban Policy Development (UPD), a national public-sector management firm where he led research on the feasibility of an affordable housing trust fund in Maryland and Columbia, and developed a strategic plan for urban school districts in several states. [7] [3]
In 2014, the mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, appointed Rolley as chief of staff and assistant director to the deputy mayor for housing and economic development. [5] In the same year, he was appointed interim chief executive officer of Brick City Development Corporation (BCDC) (since renamed Newark Community Economic Development Corporation, Newark CEDC) before being named substantive president and CEO. [8] During his term, Newark CEDC provided technical assistance to over 600 businesses across Newark wards, introduced an online licensing application that reduced business license processing time from one year to 31 days, over 100 new businesses opened, and reported a $1.5 billion development pipeline. [3]
Rolley joined the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities in 2016 as its North American managing director, providing technical assistance to 29 member cities across the United States and Canada to mitigate environmental and socioeconomic challenges. Rolley was named one of the 100 Top Black Urbanists in America in 2018 and was appointed senior vice president of The Rockefeller Foundation in 2019, coordinating its U.S Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiatives. [9]
In 2022, Wells Fargo appointed Rolley as head of social impact, leading Wells Fargo Foundation and coordinating community engagement and enterprise philanthropy. He is the first African American to lead the Wells Fargo Foundation. In 2024, Rolley joined Kingdom Capital as a social impact advisor, advising on the development and execution of philanthropic strategy. [10] [11]
Rolley was appointed president and chief executive officer of Baltimore Development Corporation in June 2025. [12] [13]
Rolley is chair of the Baltimore Hotel Corporation and serves on boards including the West North Avenue Redevelopment Authority, Visit Baltimore, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Charles Street Development Corporation, and the Stonewall Community Foundation. He is also an advisory board member for Black Girls Vote and a member of the Board of Governors of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. He has also served on local and national boards, including the Asset Funders Network, the Municipal Employees Credit Union of Baltimore, Living Cities, and the executive committee of the Families and Workers Fund. [8]
In 2011, Rolley ran for mayor of Baltimore as a Democrat, finishing third in the Democratic primary. [14]