Heather Gramm

Heather Gramm
Department of Commerce
Multiple County
https://https://commerce.maryland.gov/

Heather Gramm has over 20 years of experience in municipal, county, and state economic development. As Assistant Secretary for Business and Industry Sector Development with the Maryland Department of Commerce, she oversees State business development efforts across a number of industry sectors, including manufacturing.

Heather provides oversight of domestic and international business development, business attraction, in-state business retention and expansion, strategic industry sector development, economic development finance and tax credit programs, and advocacy and support for military and federal assets in Maryland.

She engages with Commerce teams on transactional deals supporting business retention, expansion, and attraction. This includes ensuring that in-state manufacturing firms are connected with resources like Partnership for Workforce Quality incumbent worker training and More Jobs for Marylanders tax credit program.

Working with legislators and industry stakeholders, she led the State’s Transforming Manufacturing in a Digital Economy Workgroup. She also works regularly with the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland and other industry advocates to make recommendations for making Maryland manufacturing more competitive, including the adoption of Industry 4.0. She worked closely with the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership to propose and establish Commerce’s Industry 4.0 Pilot Program, which ultimately became a permanent resource to support manufacturers’ implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies.

“A strong manufacturing industry is important to the State,” Heather says. “Manufacturing provides living wage job opportunities for entry level workers as well as more highly skilled positions like engineers and managers. Manufacturing helps to support growth in Maryland’s GDP and overall economic vitality.”