Shpritz Leaving BWI Partnership

By Len Lazarick



When the breakfasting members of the BWI Business Partnership heard the announcement that executive director Neil Shpritz was retiring in October after nearly 11 years on the job, the crowd did something unheard of at the relentlessly upbeat Spirit of Success breakfasts emceed by the jovial Shpritz. They booed. Loudly.

Then, when Shpritz himself returned to the podium, the members gave him a standing ovation. "It's been a great ride for everyone," said Shpritz, who admitted he was somewhat at a loss for words. "Talking to the board members one on one" as he told them of his decision in mid-June "was really tough."

"What an outstanding job he has done," said Partnership Chairman Sam Heffner, the developer who created the first office parks near the airport. "We have been very fortunate to have Neil."

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet Owens said she was "terribly disappointed" when she heard the news. "I know you're not supposed to say this, but he is absolutely irreplaceable. He's one of a kind. He will be very difficult to replace."

While Shpritz credits many other people for the success of the organization, he led the effort that created the BWI Business District as a unique identity, first establishing the boundaries - I-97, Route 32, I-95 and the Baltimore Beltway - and then persuading then-Gov. William Donald Schaefer to put up the signs marking the district. At first, people laughed at the signs, like the one near Columbia south of Route 175 on I-95, announcing the previously unheard of destination.

"That was quintessential Neil," said Dick Story, CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, who's known Shpritz 25 years. "Declare something and then set about proving it."

The concept of an airport business district began to take hold as Shpritz renamed what was the BWI Commuter Assistance Center, an organization dedicated to getting workers to the growing number of businesses based there, calling it the BWI Business Partnership. The monthly breakfasts became known as a place where movers and shakers from business and politics came to network and hear newsworthy keynote speakers. The meals were unique for business organizations in another way: There was no charge for members, since Shpritz did not believe in "nickel and diming" businesses that had already paid dues.

"Neil is one of those unique personalities who you meet in a career who you can't forget and who you absolutely must admire," Story said. Known for introducing half the room at breakfast, "he has a way of endearing himself with an audience that nobody else could get away with.

"He is just a delightful person; he has a way of finding the silver lining that nobody else sees," Story said.

"We're all crushed" about his departure, said Katherine "Kay" Hill, the community relations director for the National Security Agency whom Shpritz invariably described as "the only living person with a highway named after her," referring to the long-planned improvements to Route 32 in front of NSA. Hill said that when she needed something done, Shpritz would always "know the person to go to. É He's going to be hard to replace."

Shpritz, who has a law degree, has a vast Rolodex of contacts from four decades doing economic development in the Baltimore area for state, local and private agencies, except for a four-year sojourn doing similar work in Arizona.

But Shpritz, who turns 67 this month, made no secret of his plans to retire to Florida, where he and his wife Phyllis bought a home in Delray Beach last year. Since then, every few weeks Shpritz would spend a week in Florida, and was grateful when Southwest Airlines, whose growth at BWI coincided with Shpritz's build-up of the Partnership, added even more cheap direct flights to West Palm Beach.

Heffner said the Partnership board has already set up a search committee to find a replacement for the irreplaceable, but if that doesn't happen by October, he said, "we will pay Neil to come up on Monday and fly back on Thursdays."