New Chair and Vice Chair Elected to Harford Community College Board of Trustees

Sharon Markley Schreiber

Christopher Payne

Sharon Markley Schreiber has been elected Chair of the Harford Community College Board of Trustees and Christopher Payne has been elected Vice Chair for 2026-2027.

Schreiber, who formerly served as Vice Chair, was appointed to the Board in 2020 and reappointed to a second term in 2025. She is the executive director of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education (MBRT), a 30+ year nonprofit coalition of leading employers that have made a long-term commitment to support education reform and improve student achievement to meet workforce needs in Maryland.

Ms. Schreiber previously served as the interim president and chief operating officer of the Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC), a regional economic and civic organization. Her term included overseeing the merger of the GBC with the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore, where she was the COO. Earlier roles span 20 years in education, including director of education and innovation for the Maryland Department of Commerce, vice president for public affairs and strategy at Stevenson University, and special assistant to the president at Notre Dame of Maryland University. Ms. Schreiber is a graduate of Leadership Maryland (’21) and the Greater Baltimore Leadership (’11) programs.

She holds a BA degree from Notre Dame of Maryland University, attended Maryland Institute College of Art and Harford Community College, and completed the Harvard Management and Leadership in Education graduate program. A Harford County native, Ms. Schreiber and her husband reside in Aberdeen and have three adult children. Her mother, Marjorie Markley (nee Edwards), is one of four members of the first graduating class from Harford Community College—then Harford Junior College—in 1959.

Christopher Payne was first appointed to the Board in January 2019 to fill a vacancy and reappointed in 2021. Mr. Payne has over 20 years of experience in the areas of electrical, software, and systems engineering and has demonstrated expertise in algorithm and software development; people, project and customer relationship management; and subcontract negotiations and oversight. He currently serves as Director of Engineering with Northrop Grumman Corporation Mission Systems Sector in Annapolis, MD, where he has worked since 2004. He previously worked for BAE Systems, Inc. in Patuxent River, MD.

Mr. Payne is a native of Rochester, NY, and resides in Joppa, MD with his wife Barbara and three children. Mr. Payne holds an MS degree from the University of Wisconsin in Platteville and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Hampton University. He is also a graduate of the Project Management Certificate Program at UC Irvine. Mr. Payne is life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and also serves on the Rochester Institute of Technology Employer Advisory Board.