Biography
Rand retired April 1, 2012 as CEO of Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT), a NYSE Real Estate Investment Trust with a value of over $5 Billion, after a 19 year career with the Company and its predecessors. Rand's work experience included 39 years in the creation of real estate value through direct responsibilities in residential and commercial companies, including Vice President of Real Estate for the Walt Disney Company in Paris, France where he was responsible for all non-theme park development at Euro Disney and for all Disney Company real estate in 42 cities throughout Europe.
He has served on the Board of Directors and as Chairman of The National Aquarium, the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, NAREIT, and KEYW Holding company. He was also on the Advisory Board for UMBC. He was Chairman of the award-winning Maryland 9/11 Memorial project. He recently retired as Chairman of the Maryland Commission on Public Art and still serves on the Board of the National Cryptologic Foundation.
Rand earned a BA Degree from Ohio Wesleyan University. He then served in the US Army as a Special Forces advisor in Vietnam to a Vietnamese Special Forces Unit. Following that, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Rand’s parents discovered Branch Lake in 1980 while visiting Paul Wight, who they knew from the Punta Gorda Florida Yacht Club. They bought two lots on Branchview North and returned the next year with a Ford pickup truck and a house trailer and proceeded to build their camp - physically building it - doing everything except the foundation and the shingles. Rand has been coming to the lake since 1981 and his father’s house is still in the family. In 2003 Rand bought a camp on Walls Farm Way, tore it down, designed the new house and construction was completed in September of 2005. The Griffin Family camps now also include his sister’s house, also on Branchview North.
Rand has served on the BLAI Board since 2014, was President from 2016 – 2018, and began serving again as President on April 1, 2023. He is very committed to improving the water quality of Branch Lake and the overall Lake environment that we all so enjoy. Rand and his wife Holly spend mid-June to mid-October every year enjoying all that Branch Lake has to offer.