Business Development Manager Chris Pineda Departs Dundalk Renaissance

Dundalk Renaissance Corporation announces the departure of Business Development Manager Chris Pineda, whose last day will be July 12th.  Pineda, who first joined DRC as the Community Engagement Coordinator in August, 2017, has worked with business and community stakeholders to manage a rebranding of the Dundalk Main Street as the Historic Dundalk Town Center, assisted businesses with storefront improvements, established a Food Truck Festival, and managed our recently-launched business incubator, The Forge.

“Chris expects more from everyone he encounters, and he has pushed current and would-be business owners, property owners, community leaders and other volunteers, and our own organization’s team to work smarter to achieve more. His persistence in exploring as many options as necessary to resolve challenges, and his no-nonsense approach to making things happen will be sorely missed. He has been a tremendous asset to our work in the Town Center and throughout the community,” said Amy Menzer, Executive Director.

Among Chris’ accomplishments:

  • Recruiting a new business, Dude’s Snack Attack, to 75 Shipping Place and working on their behalf to negotiate their lease with Blue Ocean. Chris has also been working behind the scenes to recruit several other potential new tenants.
  • Working with 6 Historic Dundalk Town Center businesses to make physical improvements to their storefronts and interior points of sale: Zallies, Pinland Bowling, Dundalk Cosmetic and Family Dentistry, Avara’s Hair Academy, and Center Place Learning Center. Storefront improvements were funded by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
  • Managing the startup operations of The Forge, our newly-launched business incubation and community resource space, including organizing business development workshops and one-on-one counseling, and recruiting our first retail incubator tenant, Blue Breeze Bath Boutique.
  • Coordinating community and business stakeholders to provide input on a rebranding of the Main Street as the Historic Dundalk Town Center, to reflect the importance of the Center in the cultural and social life of the community as well as its role as a commercial center.
  • Coordinating a 2019 update of our Market Study to provide data to document the viability of a grocery store in the Town Center.
  • Establishing a very successful new Food Truck Festival in the Town Center, which we look forward to hosting again in 2020. Chris also organized a wide range of other family-friendly events that draw people to the Town Center, such as DRC’s Family Fall Festival, Holiday Hoopla, and Makers Markets.
  • Raising over $50,000 in funding to support improvements to the Town Center. He applied for an additional $650,000 in proposed projects that are still under consideration for funding.
  • Supervising DRC’s Senior Community Service Employment Program team member, Joan Parrish.
  • Managing Alternative Sentencing and other volunteer programs, through which DRC oversaw 492 volunteers who donated 3,231 hours to clean up 15 tons of trash in the Main Street.
  • Connecting community association leaders with groups of volunteers to support community clean-up days.
  • Contributing to DRC’s social media and online presence, including updates to our website, dundalkusa.org, and Facebook page.

“Working as a staff member at DRC has been a great experience. Since I began at the organization, I hit the ground running with the work that needed to be done, and since then I have grown so much. The accomplishments of my work have been successful through the partnerships and the collaboration of those around me – the work we do can’t be done by just one person, it takes multiple stakeholders to engage and drive the mission of the organization. It is because of the work and the guidance I’ve had at DRC that I’m able to move up in a new position” said Chris Pineda, Business Development Manager.

Pineda is the new Executive Director of the Bel Air Downtown Alliance, where he will lead a staff of 2 focused exclusively on their Main Street. “I’m excited to start my new position as the Executive Director and continue the Main Street work at a neighboring business district. I’ll be working with the board and staff to implement strategies and continue to shape the town and organization in a positive way”, states Chris.

“I wish Chris well in his future career. It has been a pleasure to mentor him and to learn from him during his time here, and I am excited to see what he accomplishes next,” said Amy Menzer, Executive Director. “We also know that while he is moving on, he is not moving away, and he remains personally invested in Dundalk’s future,” Menzer said.

See the full position description for Dundalk Renaissance’s Business Development Manager and to apply.