As the former president of the Mercantile Bank in Easton, as well as a former officer in the United States Air Force, Mid-Shore Community Foundation President W.W. “Buck” Duncan is quite comfortable with meeting high standards of performance. And in looking back on the community foundation’s own record in fiscal year 2013, he has good reason to be pleased with the extraordinary distribution of over $2 million in grants to support nonprofit organizations in Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester Counties. But it would be hard to characterize him as satisfied.

In his interview with the Spy, Buck talks about last year’s successes, particularly in the area of education scholarships for the Mid-Shore’s new generation, but also highlights the foundation’s need to be more impactful in land and water conversation and providing the basic services like housing and food as the region recovers from the recession.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length

Marcy Dunn Ramsey is a busy person these days. With a one person show at the Massoni Gallery finishing up this weekend, the curation of an art exhibition with RiverArts next month, and also the Chair of the board at the Chester River Association the artist talked to the Spy on how these very separate dots are connected to her love of the Chester.  With a Washington College class in poetry taking place in the background, Ramsey highlights in the importance of the river and the long term commitment needed to protect it.

The video is approximately seven minutes in length

It took a major recession for Shore Bancshares, the parent company of CNB, Talbot Bank, Avon Dixon Insurance and several other agencies on the Shore, to finally promote itself as one large financial service organization. For more than hundred years, the corporate marketing decision was to have subsidiaries fly their own separate, exceptionally strong, brand flags rather than tout the $1 billion collective.

But, as Bancshares CEO Scott Beatty shares with the Spy, the need to educate its customer base about the fully integrated financial services and one-stop shopping was an essential strategy to attempt to level the playing field with much larger regional and national competitors. While each part of the company will continue with their own special brands, the parent is finally getting some attention.

In a candid interview, Easton native Beatty talks about the recession’s impact, Maryland’s reputation of being unfriendly to commerce, changing culture, and the importance of being local in an increasingly global financial services market.

The video is approximately six minutes in length

Drew McMullen, a co-founder and president of the Sultana Projects, has been one of the strongest advocates within the organization to fight off “mission creep” for the sixteen year educational institution. Tempted, as so many nonprofits are these days, to stray from their traditional roots in the ongoing chase for philanthropic support, Sultana has religiously stayed the course in sticking with what they know best – teaching kids about the treasures and environmental challenges of the Chesapeake Bay.

So it was interesting that McMullen and the Board of the Sultana, conservative stewards of the organization’s mission, have made a major decision to double their educational programs and expand their physical footprint in downtown Chestertown to the tune of $3 million dollars.

In his interview with the Spy, Drew talks of the rationale for building an educational center with the first platinum LEED classification for the Eastern Shore, as well as Sultana’s role in keeping Chestertown vibrant in the years to come.

The video is approximately ten minutes in length

While Maureen Kelley McIntire is now well known as one of the best caterers in town, for thousands of undergraduates as well as landlords, bar owners, and sandwich shops, Kelley was, and will always be for many of them, the public face of Washington College. As the Vice President for Student Affairs for over thirty years, it fell on Kelley to act in loco parentis for students when they got into trouble, from bar brawls, bad checks, smoking pot or being late on rent, at a time when almost 30% of the student population was living off campus.

In her interview with the Spy, Kelley talks about her own concept of loco parentis and how it influenced her ability to manage student life in the midst of profound cultural changes, including drugs, alcoholism, and sex, during her three decades. She also opens up the question of how a town coexists with a college and vice versa.

The video is approximately five minutes in length.