Governor Wes Moore Appoints Celeste Alexander-Frye, of Calvert County, to CSM Board of Trustees
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore appointed Celeste Alexander-Frye, of Calvert County, to serve the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) as trustee, effective Oct. 10, 2023. Alexander-Frye replaces trustee Jay Webster, whose term ended last summer.
Alexander-Frye has a distinguished career with extensive experience leading people and project teams. For nearly 25 years, she has been planning, developing, and implementing state-of-the-practice and emerging information solutions that address business needs, opportunities, and challenges through her business, Alexander Frye Consulting, LLC, which supplies software engineering and support to the Department of Defense, other Federal government agencies and corporations.
“I am an ardent supporter of our Community College and have seen how these institutions are a critical pathway to future success,” said Alexander-Frye. “I am eager to get to work serving my community and collaborating with the other members of the CSM Board of Trustees.”
Alexander-Frye brings to the Board of Trustees a unique perspective of identifying future needs and ushering in large scale change across the enterprise that will be an asset to CSM. She is also an active volunteer teaching elementary, middle and high school students’ food and consumer science under the 4-H Program-Calvert County University of Maryland Extension; a member of the Concerned Black Women of Calvert County; and a former Vice-President (current member) of the Calvert County Democratic Women’s Club.
Alexander-Frye also has a demonstrated passion for ensuring students of all backgrounds have a pathway to accessing higher education and skilled trades. In 2019, while aiding her child with submitting scholarship applications she realized that the completely manual process was a hinderance to students who face the greatest challenges with financing their higher education and training. She reached out to the Concerned Black Women of Calvert County to volunteer her technical ability in the development of an automated portal for students to submit scholarship applications. The resulting Calvert Local Scholarship Application allows qualified students to choose from 103 different local scholarships offered to graduating Calvert County Seniors. The portal increased scholarship submissions across all 4 Calvert County high schools, ensures students that may need assistance with documenting a qualified application receive help and has delivered over $270,000 in savings for their higher education at colleges, universities, and trade schools.
Alexander-Frye has lived in Calvert County for 19 years. Her children graduated from Calvert County public schools and have attended the University of Maryland School of Engineering and Cornell University School of Engineering.
Before welcoming Alexander-Frye to the CSM leadership team, the board of trustees unanimously approved and issued a proclamation to honor exiting board member Jay Webster, of Calvert County. Webster was appointed to the board in 2016, served as vice chair starting July 1, 2019 and became chair July 1, 2020. He is also vice president and part owner of Marrick Properties, Inc., providing oversight to senior management, and developing and implementing creative strategic development for the homebuilders since 1984.
Webster through his business, Marrick Homes, helped to elevate the CSM Foundation Annual Golf Classic to Southern Maryland’s premier golf tournament for more than 22 years. Webster also made a profound impact on students’ education – supporting athletics, the trades, nursing, technology, scholarships, and the arts with donations totaling nearly $400,000, of which included CSM’s first endowment in support of the trades. Through his community involvement, Webster was instrumental in the creation of the Prince Frederick Campus garden and partnership with Farming 4 Hunger.
CSM’s trustees also include: Pamela Cousins and Christy Lombardi of Calvert County; Shawn Coates, Jose Gonzalez and Cordelia Postell of Charles County; and Ken Abell, Cathy Allen and Sonja Cox of St. Mary’s County. Serving as secretary/treasurer to the board is CSM President Dr. Yolanda Wilson and Board Liaisons Vice President of Policy, Government Relations, and General Counsel Craig Patenaude, Esq.; and Chief of Staff Larisa Pfeiffer, Ed.D. For information about the college’s leadership, visit https://www.csmd.edu/about/leadership/.