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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | John T. Willis |
| Address |
Westminster, Maryland , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
November 01, 1946
(78 years)
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| Contributor | U Ole Polecat |
| Last Modifed | Mr. Matt
Feb 09, 2021 06:06pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | The Governor appointed John T. Willis to be Secretary of State on January 18, 1995. Mr. Willis was unanimously confirmed by the Maryland State Senate on February 3, 1995, and confirmed for a second four year term on February 12, 1999.
Born November 1, 1946, Mr. Willis attended public schools in Maryland graduating from Westminster High School in 1964. Mr. Willis graduated cum laude from Bucknell University with a B.A. in Economics in 1968. He received his J.D. in 1971 from Harvard Law School with an emphasis on Constitutional Law.
In the United States Army, Mr. Willis served in the Judge Advocate General Corps from 1968 to 1971 at Fort Devens, Massachusetts and Fort Meade, Maryland. In the U.S. Army Judiciary, he was Clerk to the Army Court of Military Review, and served with the Defense Appellate Division, 1971-1974. Mr. Willis completed his tour of duty as the Legal Assistance Officer at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, 1974-1975. As an attorney he engaged in private general practice in Westminster, Maryland and Baltimore City from 1975 to 1990 with extensive experience in small business, real estate, zoning and land use law. He was Chief of Staff to the County Executive of Prince George's County from 1990 to 1994.
Mr. Willis is an author, historian, and widely recognized expert on the Maryland electorate and the State's demographics. An Adjunct Professor, he is currently teaching Government and Public Policy at the University of Baltimore and has taught in the Business and Economics Department at McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland) College. In addition, Mr. Willis frequently lectures throughout the State. His published works include Presidential Elections in Maryland, Lomond Publications, Inc., 1984; "The United States Court of Military Appeals: Born Again", 52 Indiana Law Journal 151 (1976); "The United States Court of Military Appeals: Its Origin, Operation and Future", 57 Military Law Review 27 (1972). He was a contributing author to Western Maryland: A Profile, T. H. Hattery, Ed., (1980), and Justice and the Military, H. E. Moyer, Jr., Ed., (1972). From December 1973 to August 1974 he edited The Advocate, a bi-monthly newsletter for military defense counsel.
Secretary Willis has been a member of and chaired numerous State Commissions and Committees. He is the Chair of the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee which developed recommendations for the new Maryland legislative and congressional districts. Secretary Willis chaired the Governor's Special Committee on Voting Systems and Election Procedures in Maryland (2001), served on the National Association of Secretaries of State Election Reform Task Force and serves on the Election Reform Subcommittee of the Council of State Governments. Secretary Willis also served as Vice Chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State Elections and Voter Participation Committee. He served on the Commission to Revise the Election Code from 1996-1998 which led to the modernization and recodification of Maryland's election laws. Secretary Willis currently chairs the Governor's Commission on Maryland Military Monuments and serves on the Maryland Gives! Task Force created by the Governor and the Maryland General Assembly to conduct research on the non-profit sector and charitable giving and make recommendations about promoting and improving charitable giving throughout the state. He also serves on the Advisory Board to the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy and the Maryland Association of Non-profits Advisory Committee on Ethics and Accountability in the Non-profit Sector.
In his capacity of Maryland Secretary of State, Secretary Willis represents the State of Maryland in a variety of intragovernmental, intergovernmental and international activities and affairs. He was a member of a trilateral exchange program among government and private sector leaders with comparable states in Germany and Japan and has traveled on behalf of the State. Secretary Willis chairs the International Relations Committee of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
Secretary Willis is a member of the Maryland Historical Society, the Carroll County Bar Association, the Maryland Bar Association and a past President of the Carroll County Arts Council. From 1987 to 1989, he served on the Democratic National Committee and was Vice Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. At Democratic Party National Conventions, he served on the Rules Committee in 1976, 1984, and 1992, as a Delegate in 1988, 1996 and 2000, and as an Alternate Delegate in 1980. He served as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for Carroll County having been elected with the highest number of votes in the primary election on September 14, 1982. In 1992, he was a member of the Electoral College for the State of Maryland. Secretary Willis was elected Chair of the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State and serves as their representative to the Democratic National Committee.
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