Our Chapter’s History
In 1992, the Baltimore Chapter was formed with Morton Hoffman of Morton Hoffman & Associates serving as its founding President. Our members from business, academia and government represent a wide range of professions dealing with some aspect of land economics. The diversity of this membership provides an unusual reservoir of talent, knowledge and expertise to draw upon for educational programs and discussions. This reservoir in turn attracts others with talent, knowledge, and expertise to the educational activities of LAI at both the international and Chapter level.
Our Programs
We host programs with a speaker addressing a timely topic, and engaging discussion. Baltimore LAI Chapter List of Speakers 2019 – 2024 The discussions are just as informative and stimulating as the presentations, given that the unique audience of highly knowledgeable “land economics” experts with diverse interests and perspectives.
Our Membership
Our membership provides tremendous value for many reasons and one remarkable benefit that is our Chapter members receive 8 complimentary lunches as part of their paid annual dues. Chapter members may invite guests and there is a modest lunch meeting guest fee. Please feel free to introduce your colleagues to LAI by inviting them to join us for these valuable educational and networking events. Plus we host a Summer Outing, a Fall Annual Meeting with Keynote speaker, and smaller member-only Salons.
Membership in the Baltimore Chapter, as with all Lambda Alpha International Chapters, is by invitation only. Current members in good standing nominate individuals who have extensive experience in the fields of land economics, architecture, engineering, real estate, planning, government, academia, real estate, land use and zoning law, etc.
Here is an Overview of LAI and Baltimore Chapter 2024.
Our Format
We meet monthly on the 3rd Wednesday of the month with the following programming throughout the year:
1. Monthly Lunch Programs with speakers with topic/book/article they will talk about to get the discussion going – then it goes from there with plenty of audience participation and discussion. We schedule the meetings to run for 1.5 hours. About 10 -15 min in the beginning is devoted to introductions. Then we turn the floor over to the speaker for the program. Plan on about 30-45 min with the balance devoted to Q&A. The luncheon meetings provide continuing opportunities for chapter members to stay abreast and develop and nurture personal friendships and business relationships with other members and invited guests.
2. Site visits where we visit and tour a project. The speaker gives a talk about the project focusing on either it’s development history, financing, unique features, project challenges, lessons learned or some combination thereof. Our Summer Outings are usually focused on a nonprofit organization.
3. Salons to complement monthly programs that bring together small groups of members for a discussion over a meal at a member’s home or other location. The Salons deepen LAI member knowledge, broaden understanding of selected topics, and develop camaraderie with fellow members.
4. Annual Meeting with chapter business, awards, a keynote speaker, and social gathering time.
And from time to time we host a symposium on topics of interest, for example: transportation for the region; technology, smart growth and the future form of Baltimore; and regional housing.
Interested in Learning More?
If interested in learning more about our membership, or would like to nominate a candidate, queries may be directed to Ken Rice, Vice President for Membership.
The Chapter maintains an opt-in-only email list to announce future meetings and other upcoming events. If you would like to receive the e-Alerts, please contact us.
We welcome your suggestions for speakers and presentation topics. Please forward to Brandon Schultz, Vice President for Programs